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Chart Beat

Bruce Springsteen Makes First-Ever Appearance on Hot Country Songs Chart, Returns to Hot 100

The Boss is featured on Zach Bryan's "Sandpaper," from the latter's new album 'The American Bar Scene.'

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Danny Clinch

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).

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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.

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.

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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.

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.

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Rush performing in 1977.
TIFF
Rush performing in 1977.
Tv Film

Toronto International Film Festival to Premiere New Documentary on Neil Peart of Rush in 2026

The recently announced film honouring the late Rush drummer will be receiving its world premiere on Sept. 16 along with several additional screenings, ahead of its release on CBC on Sept. 23. Plus, Heated Rivalry's Hudson Williams joins TIFF for its In Conversation With... series.

TIFF is celebrating a Canadian rock music legend. The Toronto International Film Festival has released its full programming, revealing that it will host the world premiere of the forthcoming documentary Neil Peart: No One's Disciple, which was announced by CBC last week. The 106-minute film gathers Peart's Rush bandmates Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, plus other famed drummers like Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, The Police’s Stewart Copeland and Tool’s Danny Carey, all of whom honour the late musician's life, legacy, upbringing and illustrious career as part of one of the biggest Canadian bands of all-time.

"That Peart’s parts are so challenging even for such revered players says a lot about the ingenuity and dexterity he brought to Rush’s music," TIFF programmer Jason Anderson writes of the film. "The performances also become one of several means of commemorating a man who — as Dunn’s film reveals — was equally complex. The remembrances and anecdotes of the musicians and other intimates help fill out the portrait that Dunn creates via archival interviews and other footage."

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