Some things refuse to rightfully pass, and George Harrison‘s enduring “All Things Must Pass” is one of them. Almost 51 years after its release, the classic 1970 album is in the top 10, thanks to deluxe reissues containing remixed and unreleased material. It lands at No. 6 on the Rolling Stone album chart this week.
It’s the first appearance for the album on that RS chart, which has not been around for a half-century, but over on the Billboard 200, which has, the Harrison album is making its first appearance in the top 10 since 1971.
“ATMP” — available in everything from a two-CD set to a $1,000 “mega” multi-format edition with gnomes in a wooden crate — had 38,400 album-equivalent units for the week. Its actual album sales amounted to 21,700.
But if you might have imagined that the late Beatle was the only one giving artists like the Kid Laroi and Lil Baby a run for their money with half-century-old material, think again. Barbra Streisand‘s “Release Me 2” also nudges into the top 10, in the No. 10 spot. Not all of the songs on the odds-and-ends assemblage of previously unreleased material are that old, but some are even older. Two songs date from 1971, and one even goes back to 1962, while the newest track was cut in 2014.
“Release Me 2” bowed with 23,700 album-equivalent units. You’d be on the right track to guess that, as with the audience for the Harrison album, it was far stronger in sales than streaming. Streisand’s album sold 19,700 full copies for the week. (Song streams were a minimal 407,500.)
Now, to the teenagers. Billie Eilish‘s “Happier Than Ever” stayed on top in week 2, with 77,600 album units, after premiering with 271,500 the week before.
The top debut for the week was Nas’ “KIng’s Disease Ii,” in at No. 3 with 52,500 album units. For a hip-hop album, the Nas release did surprisingly robust album sales, relatively speaking — 21,500 copies — while still getting most of its heft from 36.5 million song streams.
The other album to premiere in the top 20 was country star Chris Young’s “Famous Friends,” in at No. 15 with 19,800 album units.
Holdovers in the top included Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour” at No. 2, Doja Cat and the Kid Laroi at Nos. 4-5, and Morgan Wallen, Lil Durk/Lil Baby and Dua Lipa at Nos. 7-9.
On the Rolling Stone songs chart, there’s also a lack of movement at No. 1, with “Stay” by the Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber holding on in week 5.
The top debuting song — and the only one to premiere in the top 20 at all — was the Weeknd’s “Take My Breath,” in at No. 3. It had 15 million streams for the week, behind the 26.1 million for the Kid Laroi/Bieber chart topper and 19.5 million streams for Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow’s No. 2 “Industry Baby.”
To view the top 200 albums for the week, click here. The top 100 songs can be found here.
