George Harrison returns to charts with solo hits record
My Sweet Lord, indeed. George Harrison is back on the pop charts with the first hits package covering his entire solo career.
“Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison,” released last week, boasts tracks from 1970’s “All Things Must Pass” to his posthumous 2002 set “Brainwashed.” It also includes three Beatle-era tunes from 1971’s “Concert for Bangladesh” all-star live charity album.
In the U.K., “Let It Roll” debuted at No. 4, his highest solo ranking since “Living In The Material World” reached No. 2 in 1973. In the United States, it debuted at No. 24 after selling 18,880 copies, EMI said on Wednesday. It also peaked at No. 1 on Amazon.com and at No. 2 on iTunes last week, the label said.
Harrison did better Stateside with “Brainwashed,” which debuted at No. 18 with 74,000 copies. That marked his first studio set since his 1987 comeback “Cloud Nine,” which hit No. 8 (Sales data did not become available until 1991, when SoundScan launched its point-of-sales system.) In all, Harrison enjoyed six top-10 solo hits before he succumbed to cancer in 2001. But “Let It Roll” outranks his two other compilations: “The Best of George Harrison” reached No. 31 in 1976, and “Best of Dark Horse 1976-1989″ stalled at No. 132.
