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Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ Returns to Top Rock Albums Chart at No. 1

The late legend joins John Mayer, Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews as the only acts with six or more leaders.

Tom Petty is back at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Rock Albums chart.

Wildflowers, his second solo album, first released in 1994, was reissued Oct. 16 and re-enters at No. 1 with 44,000 equivalent album units (38,000 via album sales) earned in the week ending Oct. 22, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

Initially intended as a double album, Wildflowers was released with a 15-song tracklist and debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 dated Nov. 19, 1994. It spawned the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart No. 1 “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and four other charting entries: “You Wreck Me” (No. 2), “It’s Good to Be King” (No. 6), “A Higher Place” (No. 12) and “Cabin Down Below” (No. 29). With the re-release (Wildflowers & All the Rest), the tracklist is expanded to 25, with more discs included in the box set that includes home recordings, live versions and alternate takes.

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Wildflowers, which previously peaked at No. 4 on Top Rock Albums (which began in 2006) in October 2017 following Petty’s death, becomes his sixth leader on the tally (solo and with the Heartbreakers) and first since compilation/box set An American Treasure in October 2018.

With six Top Rock Albums rulers, Petty is tied for the second-most No. 1s in the chart’s history.

Most Top Rock Albums No. 1s
7, John Mayer
6, Dave Matthews/Dave Matthews Band
6, Tom Petty/Heartbreakers
6, Bruce Springsteen/E Street Band
5, Bon Jovi
5, Coldplay
5, Bob Dylan
5, Linkin Park

Wildflowers also re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 5, its highest rank ever, following its No. 8 debut and prior peak in 1994. It’s Petty’s eighth top five title and first to enter the region for the first time since Hypnotic Eye became Petty and the Heartbreakers’ lone No. 1 upon its entrance in 2014.

Concurrently, “Leave Virginia Alone,” newly available on the Wildflowers re-release, and a promoted radio single, zooms 17-11 on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay tally and debuts at No. 47 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock Airplay list with 871,000 audience impressions (up 32%).