While his recent passing has left fans devastated, Jimmy Buffett‘s 1985 compilation album, Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s), has just re-entered the Billboard 200 albums chart. Buffet passed away on September 1 at the age of 76. It has been reported that the “Margaritaville” singer’s cause of death was Merkel cell cancer.
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Songs You Know by Heart is now No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. This is the highest ranking the album has ever experienced on the chart. This is also the first time the compilation album has reached any ranking within the top 40. The 1985 compilation album has also earned 52,000 equivalent album units since September 1.
Other albums by Buffett to have reached the Billboard 200 albums chart include Life On the Flip Side, which hit No. 2 in 2020, and License to Chill, which topped the chart in 2004. Son of a Son of a Sailor, Far Side of the World, Beach House On the Moon, Banana Wind, Barometer Soup, Fruitcakes, Songs From St. Somewhere, Encores, Take the Weather With You, and Meet Me in Margaritaville: Jimmy Buffett The Ultimate Collection have all appeared on the chart as well.
Jimmy Buffett’s 32nd and final album, Equal Strain on All Parts, will be released on November 3. The album is expected to hit the Billboard 200 at the time of its release.
Paul McCartney worked on two songs on Equal Strain on All Parts, “Bubbles Up” and”My Gummie Just Kicked In.” McCartney recently wrote about his recent collaborations with the late great Buffett on X (formerly Twitter).
“I was very happy to have played on one of his latest songs called ‘My Gummy Just Kicked In’. We had a real fun session and he played me some of his new songs,” McCartney said. “One, in particular, I loved was the song, ‘Bubbles Up.’”
“And I told him that not only was the song great but the vocal was probably the best I’ve heard him sing ever,” McCartney continued. “He turned a diving phrase that is used to train people underwater into a metaphor for life when you’re confused and don’t know where you are just follow the bubbles – they’ll take you up to the surface and straighten you out right away.”
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