The death of a beloved musician often creates a huge, immediate demand for his work. Last week, classic rock fans made David Bowie’s Blackstar #1 upon release, ending the seven-week run at the top for Adele’s 25. Now with Glenn Frey’s passing, numerous works by David Bowie and The Eagles are dominating album sales.
It’s a natural, nostalgic reaction as fans take a step back to recognize how much a part of their lives these musicians have been. When Michael Jackson died in 2009, the artist outsold all others.
Though Adele has returned to her #1 perch atop the StreetPulse chart (with her others at #4 and #24), for the week ending January 22, 2016 shows these Bowie titles in the U.S. Top 50:
#2 Blackstar
#3 Best of David Bowie
#5 Nothing Has Changed
#9 The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
#50 Next Day
The Eagles are represented with:
#26 Very Best of The Eagles
#27 Hotel California
#42 Greatest Hits 1971-1975
Considering that we thought it was a law that classic rock fans were required to already own Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (with domestic sales of more than 29 million copies), that’s remarkable, unless these new sales are to replace well-worn copies.
Best Classic Bands has gotten a sneak peak at the first day sales for the coming week and various Eagles albums have made further leaps: Greatest Hits 1971-1975 has jumped to #14, Very Best of The Eagles to #15 and Hotel California to #21. Debuts were made by One of These Nights at #33 and Vol. 2 Greatest Hits at #35.
In a surprising programming move, CNN is airing the terrific (and comprehensive) 2013 documentary that originally aired on Showtime, History of The Eagles on Saturday night (January 23rd).
