The rock legend, who died Oct. 2, charts highest with “Free Fallin'” at No. 4.
Tom Petty populates 14 of the top 25 spots on Billboard’s 50-position Hot Rock Songs chart (dated Oct. 21), as the late singer’s sizable catalog grew in all metrics following his Oct. 2 death.
On the streaming-, sales- and airplay-based Hot Rock Songs chart (where catalog songs can debut or re-enter if they have a meaningful reason to appear; show multi-metric gains; and rank in the chart’s top half, just as on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100), Petty’s 14-song haul is led by his 1989-90 solo smash “Free Fallin’,” which bows at No. 4, the chart’s highest debut.
Thirteen other Petty tunes from the ’70s through ’90s dot the top 25, from tracks from two of his solo albums to those with longtime band The Heartbreakers.
Similarly, 18 of the 25 songs on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart are by Petty, with 17 either solo or with the Heartbreakers, along with “End of the Line” by supergroup Traveling Wilburys (No. 20, 6,000 sold, according to Nielsen Music). Again, “Free Fallin'” leads the pack with 31,000 sold (up 3,730 percent), good for No. 3 (as well as No. 10 on the overall all-format Digital Song Sales chart).
Petty also posts six entries on Rock Streaming Songs, a survey on which he had appeared just once before (as a joint lead artist on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison and Prince following the latter’s death; No. 2, May 14, 2016). “Free Fallin'” is likewise Petty’s top-streamed song of the week, debuting at No. 4 with 8.1 million U.S. streams (up 327 percent).
Here’s a rundown of the 14 Petty titles on Hot Rock Songs, along with each song’s digital sales and U.S. streams in the tracking week ending Oct. 5.
No. 4, “Free Fallin'”: 31,000 downloads, 8.1 million streams
No. 5, “I Won’t Back Down”: 23,000 downloads, 5.8 million streams
No. 6, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”: 18,000 downloads, 6.2 million streams
No. 7, “Learning to Fly”: 17,000 downloads, 5.8 million streams
No. 8, “You Don’t Know How It Feels”: 14,000 downloads, 5.1 million streams
No. 9, “Runnin’ Down a Dream”: 11,000 downloads, 4.5 million streams
No. 11, “American Girl”: 14,000 downloads, 3.3 million streams
No. 12, “Don’t Bring Me Down”: 8,000 downloads, 2.7 million streams
No. 13, “Don’t Do Me Like That”: 8,000 downloads, 2.6 million streams
No. 15, “Don’t Come Around Here No More”: 8,000 downloads, 2.4 million streams
No. 16, “Wildflowers”: 9,000 downloads, 1.8 million streams
No. 20, “Breakdown”: 7,000 downloads, 2 million streams
No. 21, “Here Comes My Girl”: 5,000 downloads, 2 million streams
No. 25, “Into the Great Wide Open”: 5,000 downloads, 1.6 million streams
Originally posted on BILLBOARD.COM
