Bruce Springsteen takes ‘High Hopes’ to top of Billboard album chart

The Boss is back in charge.

“High Hopes,” the latest studio disc by Bruce Springsteen, debuted Wednesday atop the Billboard 200 album chart, reflecting sales last week of 99,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It’s Springsteen’s 11th No. 1 album -- and second in a row, following 2012’s “Wrecking Ball” -- enough to give the New Jersey rocker the third-highest total in the chart’s history, as Billboard’s Keith Caulfield points out.

The two acts that have scored more No. 1s? The Beatles with 19 and Jay Z with 13.

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Yet in a sign of the challenges that continue to face the record industry, the “High Hopes’” sales tally represents the lowest first-week figure for any of Springsteen’s studio albums since SoundScan began tracking sales data in 1991. Each of his previous studio discs debuted with more than 100,000 copies sold, including 2002’s “The Rising,” which moved more than half a million.

Behind Springsteen, the soundtrack to Disney’s “Frozen” is at No. 2 with 87,000 copies, followed by another album aimed at young listeners: “Kidz Bop 25,” with newly sung versions of Katy Perry’s “Roar,” One Direction’s “Best Song Ever” and “Summertime Sadness” by Lana Del Rey.

Remarkably, “Kidz Bop 25” got to No. 3 by selling 65,000 copies last week -- 3,000 more than “Kidz Bop 24” moved during its first week in stores in 2013.

Maybe the Boss should hire a children’s choir next time?

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Twitter: @mikaelwood