David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ is likely to hit No. 1

File+photo+dated+March+20%2C+1987+of+David+Bowie%2C+who+has+died+following+an+18-month+battle+with+cancer.+%28PA+Wire%2FZuma+Press%2FTNS%29

TNS

File photo dated March 20, 1987 of David Bowie, who has died following an 18-month battle with cancer. (PA Wire/Zuma Press/TNS)

By Mikael Wood

Los Angeles Times

(TNS)

Will David Bowie’s last album be his first to top the Billboard 200?

That’s looking likely, according to the trade magazine, which said that Bowie’s “Blackstar” is headed for a No. 1 debut on its flagship album chart.

Released Friday, just two days before Bowie died of cancer at age 69, “Blackstar” may sell 130,000 copies by the end of its first week on sale, Billboard reported. Its chart reflects both sales and streaming activity, the latter of which should bring the album’s weekly number high enough to replace Adele’s smash “25” in the top spot. “25” just logged its seventh week at No. 1.

Bowie previously got as high as No. 2 on the Billboard 200, with his 2013 album “The Next Day.”

Early Wednesday, the critically acclaimed “Blackstar” — a typically adventurous effort that pairs Bowie with members of the jazz saxophonist Donny McCaslin’s quartet — was atop the iTunes chart, followed by “Best of Bowie,” a 2002 greatest-hit set. Bowie’s albums “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” and “Hunky Dory” were also in the top 10.

On Spotify, Bowie songs such as “Heroes,” “Life on Mars?” and “Under Pressure,” the influential singer’s early-’80s collaboration with Queen, were near the top of the streaming service’s Global Top 50 chart.

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