Johnny Cash's First #1 Album in 37 Years

Even from beyond the grave music legend Johnny Cash tops the charts with his newest album, American V: A Hundred Highways. This marks the first time the Man in Black has grabbed the number one spot since his 1969 album, Johnny Cash at San Quentin

The number one spot on Billboards Top 200 is a great achievement, especially for an artist who isn’t with us anymore, but the number of copies sold tell the true story. According to Billboard, American V: A Hundred Highways sold 88,000 copies in the US to knock the former #1 country album, Taking the Long Way by The Dixie Chicks to #2. Though the top debut is a great posthumous achievement, the Rick Rubin-produced "American V" sold the fewest copies of a No. 1 debut since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. The previous low for a No. 1 debut belonged to Destiny's Child's "#1's" in 2005, which started with 113,000.

BBC, reports American V: A Hundred Highways features material Cash was working on in the months leading up to his death in September 2003. Going back to the beginning the article also reveals Cash’s early days. In 1957, Cash became the first artist to release a full album on the influential Sun record label, ahead of Elvis Presley.

According to MTV Cash was in the company of only a select few to crack the Billboard Top 200 this week. American V was one of only four new releases to crack the top 200 this week, and one of only two to debut in the chart's top 10. The latest Rick Rubin-helmed release from the late music legend contains "Like the 309," the final song Cash wrote and recorded before his September 2003 death. A Hundred Highways is the first of Cash's acclaimed American recordings to reach the top 20 on the Billboard 200.

Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas on February 26, 1932. Starting out with his band Tennessee Three, he later became known as The Man in Black, for his dark wardrobe. Some of the various hits Johnny Cash is famous for include, Ring of Fire, I Walk The Line, A Boy Named Sue, Fulsom Prison Blues, Jackson, and Hurt, which was also produced by Rick Ruben.

[Additional Sources: Billboard, BBC, MTV, Wikipedia]