Surprisingly, Bruce Springsteen, Not Madonna, The First Artist With #1 Albums In Past Four Decades
It took the almighty Bruce Springsteen to finally break up the Frozen/Beyonce party that had been going down in the top two positions on the Billboard 200 for the past month. High Hopes, the Boss’ 18th studio album, has become his 11th to top the main album chart. The LP sold 99,000 copies in its first week out of the gate. (Incidentally, the Frozen soundtrack drops to #2 while Beyonce dips to #4.)
Billboard points out that Bruce is now the only artist so far to have landed #1 albums in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and the current decade. If you’re like me, then you’re thinking, Surely Madonna had chart-topping albums in each of the past four decades? But believe it or not, Madge somehow skated through the ’90s without a single #1 LP.
Madonna’s three studio albums released in the ’90s charted as follows: Erotica (#2), Bedtime Stories (#3), Ray Of Light (#2). She also had two film soundtracks in the 1990s, I’m Breathless: Music From And Inspired By The Film Dick Tracy and Evita, both of which peaked at #2. Likewise, her 1990 greatest hits, The Immaculate Collection, landed at #2, while the 1995 ballads compilation Something To Remember made it to #6.The Material Girl was back in form by the time the new millennium rolled around, however, as each of her four studio albums released in that decade, from 2000’s Music to 2008’s Hard Candy, all hit the #1 position. Madonna’s most recent studio offering, 2012’s MDNA, kept the streak going into the current decade.
Oh, well — all hail Bruce.
The Top 10 Of The Billboard 200 Chart
1. Bruce Springsteen, High Hopes *new* *1 week*
2. Soundtrack, Frozen
3. Kidz Bop, Kidz Bop 25 *new*
4. Beyonce, Beyonce
5. Jennifer Nettles, That Girl *new*
6. Switchfoot, Fading West *new*
7. Lorde, Pure Heroine
8. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP 2
9. Katy Perry, Prism
10. Imagine Dragons, Night Visions
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