David Bowie back on the charts after 10 years: from “Ziggy Stardust” to “Blackstar”, all the albums in the UK charts

Ten years after the death of David Bowie (10 January 2016), his catalogue is once again holding a steady presence on the UK charts, driven by renewed public interest and a clear commemorative effect. It's not an isolated episode, but a broader resurgence involving some of the key milestones in his discography.

From “Hunky Dory” to “Ziggy Stardust” 

According to Forbes, the main titles to have returned to the charts number four. Leading the pack is the “Legacy” compilation, which re-enters the Official Album Downloads Chart and also appears in other general and streaming charts, confirming itself as one of the most popular entry points into Bowie's work. Alongside it comes “Hunky Dory“, one of his most celebrated albums, once again present in the download chart, together with “Best Of Bowie”, another long-standing anthology that returns among the best-selling digital titles.

The most symbolically significant comeback, however, concerns “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars“: the manifesto-record of the glam era re-enters the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, confirming how the anniversary has above all reactivated the physical and collector's market. The same album, together with “Legacy”, appears on several charts simultaneously, showing a cross-cutting strength across sales, physical formats and overall consumption.

The “Heroes” phenomenon and the Stranger Things effect

“Heroes“, one of David Bowie's most famous songs, remains his biggest hit in the UK this week, although it has slipped back from the positions it held until recently. The single has dropped out of the top 40 of the Official Singles Chart, the country's most competitive singles ranking, and has lost more than ten places in both the Official Singles Sales Chart and the Official Singles Downloads Chart. “Heroes” had recently returned to prominence thanks to its use in the fifth and final season of the Netflix sci-fi series “Stranger Things“. Featured in the closing credits of the final episode, the Thin White Duke's hit saw its global streams surge by almost 500 per cent. From around 94,000 daily streams, the song jumped to 342,000 on 1 January, then to 456,000 the following day and 470,000 in the 24 hours after that. A remarkable result, not least because the track, released in 1977, is the only one among those revived by the series not to date from the 80s.

The Blackstar testament

Alongside these chart returns is the renewed vitality of “Blackstar“, the final album Bowie released just days before his death, which remains steadily in the charts despite slipping back from previous weeks. It's the only one of the titles mentioned to have previously reached number one on the UK charts, and it continues to stand as an emotional touchstone in the posthumous narrative of the artist.

Rounding out the picture is the near-top-ten return of the “Labyrinth” soundtrack, co-written with Trevor Jones, and the reappearance of some famous collaborations, such as “Dancing in the Street” with Mick Jagger and “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” with Bing Crosby, particularly on the physical charts.

Overall, the tenth anniversary of the English artist's death hasn't produced a mere nostalgic spike, but has instead brought some of Bowie's key works back into the spotlight: albums spanning his entire career, from the glam of the 1970s to posthumous reappraisals of his legacy, confirming a cultural presence that goes well beyond the commemorative occasion.

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