The return of Dylan
The counterculture bard reclaims the top of the charts after a 30-year absence. Lisa Napoli reports.
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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Guess who’s back on top of the record charts? Bob Dylan. Marketplace’s Lisa Napoli says the new album features his trademark vocals and poetic lyrics.
LISA NAPOLI: Bob Dylan may not look like he did 30 years ago, but he still sounds the same. And that sound is serving him well on the charts. For the first time since 1976, he’s topping them. His “Modern Times” is the number one seller. Geoff Mayfield of Billboard is not terribly surprised:
GEOFF MAYFIELD: But if you look, his last two studio albums also made the top 10.
But this new one has sold more than 190,000 copies in just the last week. That’s thanks in part to a modern marketing campaign on that virtual record store known as iTunes.
In Los Angeles, I’m Lisa Napoli for Marketplace.