Sammy Hagar Scores His First Top 10 Hits With A Touching Tribute

Sammy Hagar has enjoyed several different lifetimes of popularity in the music world. He got his start leading the hard rock group Montrose, and was later known not just as a soloist, but also as the vocalist of Van Halen — during two several eras, no less.

These days, Hagar is more commercially successful thanks to his live performances and various businesses, but he does still occasionally release music under his own name. His latest effort, a tribute to a lost friend and former bandmate, reaches the Billboard charts this week and earns the rocker a somewhat unexpected smash.

Sammy Hagar Tributes Eddie Van Halen

Hagar recently released the single “Encore. Thank You. Goodnight.” The tune was inspired by a dream he had about Eddie Van Halen, the musician who lent his last name to the hugely successful rock band. Hagar was, of course, a member of Van Halen for several years, and the two knew one another very well. Van Halen passed away in 2020.

According to an interview with Rolling Stone, Hagar said he dreamed about his friend around the time of his passing. He’s been thinking about the vision ever since, and he has now turned it into music as a way to say goodbye again.

“Encore. Thank You. Goodnight.” Debuts

“Encore. Thank You. Goodnight.” debuts on a trio of Billboard charts this week. It appears on three rankings dedicated to pure purchases, as Luminate reports that in its first full tracking frame of availability, the Hagar solo cut sold about 2,050 copies in the U.S.

A little more than 2,000 pure purchases is enough to help “Encore. Thank You. Goodnight.” debut at No. 20 on the Digital Song Sales chart, Billboard’s ranking of the bestselling tunes throughout America.

Sammy Hagar’s First Solo Top 10 Hit

The cut performs significantly better on a pair of genre-specific rankings, where it faced much less competition. Hagar launches “Encore. Thank You. Goodnight.” in the runner-up rung on the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales tally and in third place on the Rock Digital Song Sales roster. In each instance, Hagar collects his first placement on the charts under his own name with this tribute.