Top 10 of Adult Alternative Songs Chart Witnesses First Posthumous Entry

The Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart, dated the 4^th of August, saw the posthumous return of Tom Petty into the top 10. The singer had his single ‘Keep a Little Soul (Outtake, 1982)’ climb five places from No. 12, to finish the week at No. 7 in the rankings.

The song belongs to a compilation of Petty called ‘An American Treasure’, which will be released on the 28^th of September and is set to contain 60 songs from the singer. The Adult Alternative Songs chart has been around since 1996, but this is only the first instance of an artist posthumously entering the top 10. The singer passed away due to mixed drug toxicity, at the age of 66 on the 2^nd of October, 2017.

However, there have been other artists who have managed to enter the rankings, just not in the top 10. The last act to do so was Sharon Janes & the Dap-Kings, who managed to get into the 25^th November rankings of last year at No. 30. The single that helped them achieve the feat was ‘Matter of Time’, which entered the rankings after a year of Jones’ death, which occurred at the age of 60 due to cancer on the 18^th of November in 2016.

Petty has managed entries in the top 10 of Adult Alternative Songs before, both solo and with the Heartbreakers, with ‘Keep a Little Soul’ now making it his eight one in the rankings. The band last managed an entry in the frame with ‘U Get Me High’ at No. 2, back in August of 2014. He also managed a top 10 with his previous band Mudcrutch, which had their song ‘Scare Easy’ come in at No. 6 in the rankings of June 2008.

Furthermore, the singer had managed to top the rankings of the charts four times throughout his career. One of them was a solo instance, as the song ‘Saving Grace’ was No. 1 for a week in 2006. The other three singles to finish at the summit of the Adult Alternative Songs chart were with his band Heartbreakers, with two of those occurring in 1996, as ‘Waiting for Tonight’ and ‘Walls’ reigning for one and two weeks respectively. The third instance with Heartbreakers was in 1999, as ‘Room at the Top’ ruled for four weeks.

The song ‘Keep a Little Soul’ had been recorded during sessions of the album ‘Long After Dark’ with Heartbreakers and is now set to be a part of ‘An American Treasure’. ‘Long After Dark’ was the fifth album recorded by Petty and his band, which managed a high of No. 9 in the rankings of the Billboard 200 Albums chart, which are dated the 22^nd of Jan, 1983.