Bruce Springsteen Makes First-Ever Appearance on Hot Country Songs Chart, Returns to Hot 100
Written by djfrosty on July 15, 2024
Nearly 50 years after making his Billboard chart debut, Bruce Springsteen scores a first, notching his initial appearance on the Hot Country Songs survey.
The Boss also returns to the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in over 15 years.
Springsteen achieves his latest chart feats, on lists dated July 20, thanks to his featured role on Zach Bryan’s “Sandpaper,” from the latter’s new album, The Great American Bar Scene. The set surges to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums, Top Country Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Album charts, among others, and No. 2 on the Billboard 200, following its first full tracking week (July 5-11, after it was released July 4).
The collaboration drew 7.1 million official U.S. streams and 22,000 in radio airplay audience and sold 1,000 downloads in its first full week, according to Luminate. It debuts at No. 26 on Hot Country Songs and No. 71 on the Hot 100.
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As Springsteen logs his maiden Hot Country Songs entry, he hits the Hot 100 for the first time since “Working on a Dream” debuted and peaked at No. 95 in February 2009. “Sandpaper” marks his 27th Hot 100 showing, a haul that began in 1975 with his iconic “Born to Run,” which reached No. 23.
Notably, Springsteen showed up to duet with Bryan on “Sandpaper” on March 27 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The song is drawing comparisons to Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” – one of seven Hot 100 top 10s from his Born in the U.S.A. album in 1984-86 – which Bryan has covered in concert.
Springsteen boasts 12 career Hot 100 top 10s. His first, “Hungry Heart,” which reached No. 5 in 1980, was followed by his highest-charting single, “Dancing in the Dark,” which climbed to No. 2 in 1984. He made his most recent trip to the tier with “Streets of Philadelphia,” which rose to No. 9 in 1994.
The 1999 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee has become synonymous with lengthy concerts alongside his legendary E Street Band. He has posted 11 No. 1s on the Billboard 200, among 22 top 10s. The River, which ruled for four frames in 1980, became his first leader and High Hopes his most recent in 2014.
Springsteen, 74, reached critical mass in the mid-‘80s with Born in the U.S.A., which dominated for seven weeks, beginning in July 1984, and has charted for 144 weeks, most recently last month.