Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ posthumously debuts at No. 1 as first U.S. chart-topper

David Bowie’s last album, “Blackstar,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, the first U.S. chart-topper for the late musician. "Blackstar,“ which was released two days before Bowie’s Jan. 10 death from a secret battle with cancer, wrested the No. 1 spot from Adele’s blockbuster "25,” which had topped the chart for seven weeks. Bowie’s album immediately won critical acclaim for its experimentalism as the long-reinventing artist developed a dark, hard jazz sound.

I’m very aware of the impact I’ve had in Europe. … But my impression of the reception I’d had in America was, 'Oh, here comes this eccentric limey again.’ I never felt that I’d contributed much to the fabric of American rock.

David Bowie

Yet while Bowie cast a huge influence over U.S. pop culture, he was generally considered an avant-garde artist and did not have the same mainstream success as in Britain and a number of other European countries. His death threw a whole new light on “Blackstar” as it emerged that he intended the album as a final statement full of meditation on a half-century on the cutting edge of music. Amid the outpouring of grief, Bowie not only scored his first U.S. No. 1 album, but also became among the rare artists to have two in the top five, with his greatest hits collection “Best of Bowie,” released in 2002, hitting No. 4.

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