Bittersweet news for those in David Bowie’s industry camp: Blackstar (★), the beautiful album he released on his 69th birthday, is set to become the legendary musician’s first No. 1 album in the US.
According to Billboard , the album is on track to sell more than 130,000 copies in its first week, which would be enough to earn it the top spot on the Billboard 200 charts. Bowie’s last album, The Next Day, is currently Bowie’s highest charting album, having reached the No. 2 spot when it was released back in 2013.
This is expected but heartening news, given the brilliance of his new album. With all of the remembrances being written yesterday and today, much of the world was busy looking back at Bowie’s classic albums from the ’70s and ’80s rather than focusing on the fact that, more so than most legacy musicians, he’d been producing great music up until the day he died.
So, it seems a little unsavory to celebrate the sales of his albums after passing, but it’s an album people need to hear.