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The hype leading up to Bruce Springsteen’s biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere arriving in theaters was incredibly high, which made its somewhat lackluster performance at the box office disappointing. The film, which chronicles a moment in his career when he had already made it big, but was deciding to follow his artistic instincts over commercial success as he crafted his album Nebraska, was not the blockbuster that many assumed it would be, though reviews were relatively solid.
As Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere continues to drop on the weekly ranking of the highest-grossing films in the United States, Nebraska has been thrust back into the spotlight. This frame, the set — originally released decades ago — debuts on multiple Billboard charts thanks to a huge spike in sales.
Nebraska Sales Surge by More Than 2,000%
Luminate reports that in a recent tracking frame, which is currently represented on the Billboard charts, Nebraska sold about 14,750 copies. The frame prior, before a special re-release tied to the movie became available, it managed a little more than 600 purchases. From one stint to the next, sales of Nebraska grew by just under 2,250%.
Nebraska Reenters the Billboard 200 Four Decades After Debuting
That massive uptick in sales helps Nebraska find its way back to the Billboard 200, the chart company’s namesake ranking of the most-consumed albums in America. Nebraska appears on the roster at No. 26 this week. The Billboard 200 uses a methodology that is heavily swayed by sales, though streaming activity also plays a role in where titles land. In the most recent tracking frame, Nebraska shifted a little less than 18,400 equivalent units, with almost all of them coming from digital and physical purchases.
Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska Soared Into the Top 10
Nebraska debuted on the Billboard 200 more than 40 years ago. The set arrived in October 1982 and has since spent a milestone 30 weeks somewhere on the 200-spot roster. In the past, Nebraska has climbed as high as No. 3, tying with several Springsteen classics like Born to Run and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions within his impressive discography, which features 22 top 10s.
Nebraska Earns Five New Top 10 Debuts on the Billboard Charts
Nebraska also manages a splashy debut on five other Billboard tallies. Impressively, the decades-old project opens inside the top 10 on each and every ranking.
Corbis via Getty Image
Here is a rundown of where Nebraska launches this week on the Billboard tallies:
- Americana/Folk Albums – No. 3
- Top Album Sales – No. 5
- Vinyl Albums – No. 6
- Top Rock Albums – No. 6
- Top Rock & Alternative Albums – No. 7
How Many Top 10 Albums Has Bruce Springsteen Charted?
Among those five lists, Springsteen has collected the greatest number of top 10 successes on the Top Album Sales tally, the ranking of the bestselling titles of any genre, language, or length in the nation. Springsteen is up to 19 placements inside the highest tier on that roster.
Nebraska marks his seventeenth trip to the top 10 on both the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums rankings, his milestone tenth on the Vinyl Albums list, and just his fifth on the Americana/Folk Albums tally.
Nebraska ’82 Expands the Classic Album With “Electric” Cuts
The increase in sales attached to Nebraska isn’t solely thanks to Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. On the same day that the film hit theaters everywhere, the rocker dropped an expanded edition of the record. The updated version, titled Nebraska ’82, includes five discs and even the famed Electric Nebraska recordings. Those takes are not a complete project, as some fans had hoped, but rather a handful of tunes that were recorded as full-band compositions, though Springsteen ultimately opted for the stripped-down, laid-bare acoustic versions.
How Did Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere Perform at the Box Office?
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere has now spent three weeks in theaters in the U.S. The film opened fourth at the box office with a little less than $9 million, which was underwhelming, considering the subject, who remains one of the most successful rockers alive today. The following period, the movie dipped to sixth, with under $4 million. During the weekend that just finished, the Springsteen biopic narrowly held on inside the top 10 highest-grossing pictures in the country with just $2.2 million.
