Bob Dylan’s new compilation Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series, Volume 18, 1956–1963 debuts inside the top 10 on multiple Billboard charts with early-career songs. NEW YORK – JANUARY 13-15: Bob Dylan plays a Fender Jazz bass with the harmonica around his neck while recording his album ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ on January 13-15, 1965 in Columbia’s Studio A in New York City, New York. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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Even after more than half a century as one of America’s preeminent songwriters, Bob Dylan is still able to attract a large audience, whether he is playing live or releasing a new musical project. The Grammy, Oscar, and Pulitzer Prize winner debuts a new compilation, one which details his earliest recordings and his rise to stardom, on multiple Billboard charts in America this week. The set is an immediate top 10 bestseller, which is an impressive feat for a man who is now in his mid-eighties – one that highlights just how popular he remains in this modern era.
What Is Featured on Bob Dylan’s Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series, Volume 18?
Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series, Volume 18, 1956–1963 arrives on four Billboard charts this period. The project is, as its name reveals, the eighteenth in his famed Bootleg Series, which has now been running for a number of years. The lengthy effort, which features well over 100 tracks, includes Dylan’s earliest known recording, when he was just a teenager, up until the point when he was selling out shows in New York City and had already become recognized as a pioneering musical force. Much of the music may be familiar to superfans, but those are the same people who are sure to have picked up a copy.
Bob Dylan’s New Top 10 Bestseller
Through the Open Window launches highest on the Top Album Sales tally, Billboard’s list of the bestselling full-lengths and EPs in the U.S. On that ranking, the project opens at No. 9 with 7,800 pure purchases, according to Luminate.
Bob Dylan Trails the Grateful Dead, Radiohead and Hamilton
On the Top Album Sales chart, one of the most competitive rosters published by Billboard, Dylan starts his new bootleg behind just-dropped sets from Florence and the Machine (Everybody Scream, No. 1), the Grateful Dead (Dave’s Picks, Volume 56: Rainbow Theatre, London, England, 3/20/81 & 3/21/81, No. 3), the Broadway show Hamilton (Hamilton: 10 Shots [Highlights from the Original Broadway Cast Recording], No. 6), and Radiohead (Hail to the Thief: Live Recordings, 2003–2009, No. 8).
How Many Top 10 Bestselling Albums Has Bob Dylan Charted?
Throughout his career, Dylan has racked up 51 appearances on the Top Album Sales chart. 16 of those releases, including Through the Open Window, have spent time inside the top 10.
Bob Dylan Scores Another Americana/Folk Albums Chart Hit
The same compilation also finds its way into the uppermost register on the Americana/Folk Albums list. On that genre-specific ranking, Dylan’s newly-released project begins its time at No. 10. Dylan scores the loftiest debut this week and one of only two new arrivals on the Americana/Folk Albums tally.
Bob Dylan’s Top 10s on the Americana/Folk Albums Chart
UNITED KINGDOM – DECEMBER 21: Photo of Bob DYLAN; performing live onstage at the King & Queen Club, London on his first visit to Britain (Photo by Brian Shuel/Redferns)
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Impressively, Dylan has racked up 31 top 10s on the Americana/Folk Albums roster, almost twice as many as on the Top Album Sales ranking. What makes that performance so remarkable is that he has only sent 41 different titles to the Americana/Folk Albums tally – 10 fewer than on the Top Album Sales list.
Through the Open Window Reaches the Rock & Alternative Chart
Through the Open Window narrowly becomes a top 40 success on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums tally, which is one of several rock-leaning albums rankings in the nation. Dylan starts the compilation at No. 38, collecting his milestone thirty-fifth appearance on the chart.
Bob Dylan Returns to the Billboard 200
Through the Open Window launches lowest on the Billboard 200, the busiest of all the albums rosters in the U.S. On that tally, Dylan’s newest entry into his Bootleg Series kicks off its time at No. 163 with just under 8,900 equivalent units shifted, with almost all of them coming from actual sales.
While Through the Open Window does launch in a lowly position on the Billboard 200, that is the ranking where Dylan has collected the greatest number of hits. Throughout the decades, the singer-songwriter has sent 81 different albums, EPs, and compilations to the 200-spot list.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2025/11/17/bob-dylans-recordings-from-his-teenage-years-earn-him-a-new-top-10-bestseller/
