Nearly 50 years after making his Billboard chart debut, Bruce Springsteen has achieved a new milestone by securing his first 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’s latest chart feats, dated July 20, are thanks to his featured role on Zach Bryan’s “Sandpaper,” from Bryan’s new album, The Great American Bar Scene. The album has surged to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums, Top Country Albums, and Top Rock & Alternative Albums charts, among others, and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
“Sandpaper” drew 7.1 million official U.S. streams, 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. This marks Springsteen’s maiden entry on Hot Country Songs and his return to the Hot 100 since “Working on a Dream” debuted and peaked at No. 95 in February 2009. “Sandpaper” is his 27th Hot 100 showing, a journey that began in 1975 with “Born to Run,” which reached No. 23.
Springsteen notably performed “Sandpaper” with Bryan 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,” reached No. 5 in 1980, 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 is 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, with 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.
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