‘The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald’ Is Finally a Billboard No. 1 After Shipwreck’s 50th Anniversary

Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” from 1976, scored major gains in U.S. streams and sales amid the 50th anniversary of its namesake ship’s sinking, leading to its coronation on a Billboard chart for the first time.

In the week ending Nov. 13, the song drew 3.7 million official U.S. streams and sold 5,000 downloads, according to Luminate, marking increases of 140% and 328%, respectively, week over week. It returns to Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart dated Nov. 22 at No. 15. (Older songs are eligible for Billboard’s multimetric charts if ranking in the top half and with a meaningful reason for their resurgences.)

The latter count pushes the song to No. 1 on Rock Digital Song Sales, marking its first placement atop any Billboard tally. It’s Lightfoot’s third leader on the list, after “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown” in 2023, following Lightfoot’s death at age 84 that May 1.

Those two tracks also return to Rock Digital Song Sales, reflecting general interest in Lightfoot’s catalog beyond “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”; “Sundown” ranks at No. 6 and “If You Could Read My Mind” at No. 10, each with 1,000 sold.

In all, Lightfoot’s catalog drew 9.1 million on-demand streams Nov. 7-13, a gain of 67%. It also sold 7,000 song downloads, a vault of 285%.

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” hits new highs of No. 2 on Country Digital Song Sales and No. 4 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart.

The song was released on Lightfoot’s 1976 album Summertime Dream. It hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 9 on Adult Contemporary, while the album rose to No. 12 on the Billboard 200.

The 50th anniversary of the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was Nov. 10. As chronicled by Lightfoot, the 729-foot long freighter sank in Lake Superior during a sudden storm. All 29 crewmen aboard died. After Lightfoot wrote the track, he became close to several of the victims’ family members.