Deep breaths, everyone – Adele’s 21 is no longer the #1 album in the country. After 23 nonconsecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, the Brit singer’s hit album finally conceded to Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball. What do we do with our lives now?!
In all seriousness, though, it was a squeaker — Springsteen’s seventeenth studio album tallied 196,000 in sales, while Adele’s 21 nabbed 195,000. So it’s a victory for The Boss, but just barely.
Of course, Springsteen is used to netting #1 albums — Wrecking Ball marks his tenth chart-topping LP. He ties Elvis Presley for the third-most #1 albums for an artist in history, with only Jay-Z (12) and The Beatles (19) surpassing them.
Had Adele continued her chart-topping dominance this week, she would have been at #1 for 24 weeks, and tied with Prince’s Purple Rain soundtrack. But hey, there’s always next week!
Billboard notes that the albums that appear on this week’s list may had a bit of help earning their chart position due to the deep discounting promotion done by the Google Play service (which was matched by AmazonMP3).
The Top 10 Of Billboard’s Top 200 Chart
1. Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball *new
2. Adele, 21
3. Various, Now 41
4. Lady Antebellum, Own The Night
5. Whitney Houston, The Bodyguard
6. Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto
7. Drake, Take Care
8. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV
9. Luke Bryan, Spring Break 4 — Suntan City *new
10. Andrew Bird, Break It Yourself *new
Happy to see Bruce Springsteen at the top! Wrecking Ball is great and so is his new video! http://vevo.ly/AhSidY
I’m loving “Wrecking Ball”! It’s just another brilliant album from The Boss. Go out and get this album now!!
Bruce is really hitting it home with this one… home everywhere. I can’t think of a single person who isn’t affected by some of the concepts in this album… economic hardships, unemployment, etc. He’s taken his story-telling to a new level with this very real and very powerful album. I admire his poise in the poetry and lyrics, standing tall and saying what he truly feels. The music is also incredibly moving, a big sound that is a perfect background for the even bigger words.