‘Strong’ Start: Bruce Springsteen Ties for Most Top Rock & Alternative Albums No. 1s

Bruce Springsteen reigns on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts for an eighth time, as Only the Strong Survive debuts at No. 1 on the Nov. 26-dated rankings.

The set of soul covers begins with 40,000 equivalent album units earned in the Nov. 11-17 tracking week, according to Luminate, with 37,000 of that sum via album sales.

Springsteen first led both lists, which began in 2006, with 2007’s Magic. (His hefty history on Billboard’s charts dates to 1975.)

With eight Top Rock & Alternative Albums rulers, Springsteen matches John Mayer for the most in the chart’s history.

Most No. 1s, Top Rock & Alternative Albums
8, John Mayer
8, Bruce Springsteen
6, The Beatles
6, Coldplay
6, Grateful Dead
6, Dave Matthews (solo and with Dave Matthews Band)
6, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)

Concurrently, Strong starts at No. 8 on the all-genre Billboard 200, marking Springsteen’s 22nd top 10, dating to the No. 3-peaking Born to Run in 1975. Thanks to the No. 2-peaking Letter to You in 2020, he joined the exclusive club of artists with newly charting top 10s in each decade since the ’70s.

Two songs from Strong appear on Rock Digital Song Sales. “Nightshift” bows at No. 8 (1,000 sold) and “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” enters at No. 16 (800). “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” previously made the list (Oct. 15) at No. 24.

“I had so much fun recording this music,” Springsteen mused of the new set. “I fell back in love with all these great songs and great writers and great singers, all of them still underrated in my opinion. And through the project I rediscovered the power of my own voice.”