Willie Nelson has made history with his latest record by appearing once more on Billboard’s weekly chart of the most popular country music albums, the trade sheet reported Tuesday.
“First Rose of Spring,” Mr. Nelson’s most recent studio album, debuted in fifth place on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart for the week ending July 18, the publication reported.
The feat makes Mr. Nelson, 87, the first artist to have a top 10 country record during each of the seven decades that Billboard has tracked the genre’s popularity, the report said.
Billboard began ranking country records in 1964, and Mr. Nelson made his first appearance inside the chart’s top 10 in 1966 with his album “Country Favorites-Willie Nelson Style.”
The so-called “Red Headed Stranger” has subsequently released more top 10 country albums that any other artist at 53 and counting, Billboard reported. Those include three in 1960s, 14 in the 1970s, 19 in the 1980s, one in the 1990s, six in the 2000s, nine in the 2010s, and his latest.
“First Rose of Spring” was released on July 3. It is Mr. Nelson’s seventieth solo studio album.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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