Elton John Ties Bruce Springsteen With His New Album

Elton John scores another big album in the United States this week, and he has someone to celebrate his latest win with. The musical legend appears inside the top 10 on the Billboard 200 again with Who Believes In Angels?, his collaborative new full-length with Brandi Carlile. This latest set isn’t just any other, average success, though. As the project debuts, it helps him tie with one of rock’s most celebrated names and pull ahead of a few others he’s been matched with for years.

Who Believes in Angels? Debuts Inside the Top 10

Who Believes in Angels? opens at No. 9 on this week’s Billboard 200, the ranking that shows which albums the American public is consuming. It opens with 40,000 equivalent units shifted in its first frame, and, according to Luminate, nearly all of those units — 36,500 to be exact — are pure sales. That’s just enough to place it inside the top 10, which is important to the piano player.

Elton John Ties Bruce Springsteen

Thanks to Who Believes in Angels?, John now claims 22 top 10 albums on the Billboard 200. As he adds one more to his growing track record of huge successes, he matches with Bruce Springsteen for the eighth-most appearances inside the uppermost region on the chart in U.S. history.

John Passes Paul McCartney and George Strait

Before this new project arrived, John was steady with 21 top 10s on the Billboard 200, which at which point he was matched with both George Strait and Paul McCartney — whose solo output is also combined with Wings, according to Billboard. This ranking could change again, though, as both of those stars are still working and releasing new music, and they still claim sizable fanbases.

The Rolling Stones Still Reign Supreme

Even with his new bestseller, John still has a long way to go before he matches the all-time record holders. The Rolling Stones continue to lead the pack, with 38 top 10 albums. That number grew only recently, with the band’s Hackney Diamonds dropping a little more than a year ago. Barbra Streisand claims the second-most top 10s of all time with 34, while Frank Sinatra and The Beatles follow with 33 and 32, respectively.