Bob Dylan's First No. 1 Album Debuts On Multiple Charts, More Than 60 Years After Its Release
Bob Dylan's second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan debuts on three charts in the U.K. this week ... [+] following the wide release of A Complete Unknown. Bob Dylan poses for a portrait to promote the release of his album 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' in January 1964. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
gettyBob Dylan’s sophomore album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan showed that he wasn’t just another exciting artist to watch, he was a fantastic songwriter. The star’s first release, a self-titled affair, was largely composed of covers, but it was his second project that revealed what a talent he truly was.
That set is back on the charts in the United Kingdom this week, where Dylan remains a hero, even though he doesn’t hail from the country. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan debuts on a trio of tallies across the pond, as his catalog surges in popularity thanks to another movie made about the folk musician.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan manages to debut inside the top 40 on the Official Album Downloads chart, where it enters at No. 28. That’s the title’s loftiest position among all three rankings it finds space on this time around in the U.K.
The same project also enters just below the top 40 region on two other tallies at the same time. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is new to both the Official Albums Sales (No. 42) and Official Physical Albums (No. 50) charts.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is sometimes credited under that name, but in other instances, called simply The Freewheelin’, which is the title that’s present on the three aforementioned charts this week. The longer moniker is assigned to the original edition, while it seems that for this latest go-around, the set’s official name has been shortened—though it doesn’t appear to be a different collection.
Dylan’s second full-length debuted on the main albums chart in mid-1964, by which point he was quickly becoming an exciting new voice in the global music industry. It cracked the top 10 about a year later, and finally hit No. 1 in April 1965.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is one of several classics from the singer-songwriter that debut on the U.K. charts this week, following the wide release of A Complete Unknown. The film centers around the rocker’s rise to the top and his transition from acoustic guitars to electric, which was seen as hugely controversial at the time.
A Complete Unknown recently earned eight Academy Award nominations, making it one of the top films at this year’s ceremony. The title is up for Best Picture, James Mangold is in the running for Best Director, and star Timothée Chalamet could win his first Oscar for Best Actor for portraying the musician.