Revolutionizing pop music, Brian Wilson co-founded The Beach Boys in 1961. Six decades later, the California rockers’ music remains synonymous with laid-back summer days and gentle ocean breezes. Withstanding the British Invasion, the band reeled in a string of 15 Top 10 hits starting with 1963’s “Surfin’ USA.” Following Brian Wilson’s death earlier this month, The Beach Boys recently found themselves back on the charts for the first time in more than 10 years.
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According to Billboard, 2003’s multi-platinum Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys leapt to Nov. 14 on the June 28 edition of the publication’s Hot 200 albums chart. It jumps 38 spots from No. 52.
Sounds of Summer achieves it highest spot on the charts yet 21 years after debuting—and peaking—at No. 16. The greatest hits album includes chart-toppers such as “I Get Around,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Good Vibrations” and “Kokomo.”
The Last Time Brian Wilson And the Beach Boys Made the Top 40
This marks the band’s first time in the Top 40 since 2012, when their final studio album That’s Why God Made the Radio debuted and peaked at No. 3.
Commemorating the Beach Boys’ 50th anniversary, the record reunited Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks. It was their first album since co-founder Carl Wilson (younger brother of Brian and Dennis) died in 1998 at age 51.
“[It] was very simple,” Brian Wilson told Canadian music critic Darryl Sterdan in 2012. “We rehearsed for four days. We learned all the songs. And then we went on tour.”
[RELATED: The Final Words Brian Wilson Told Al Jardine Before the Beach Boys Legend’s Passing]
How Did Brian Wilson Die?
Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson died June 11, 2025, at age 82 years old. Recently, a TMZ report shed some light on how the “Surfin’ USA” crooner passed away.
Obtained by TMZ, a Los Angeles County certificate lists respiratory arrest as Wilson’s primary cause of death. Sepsis and cystitis also contributed, according to the document.
Advanced Cardiac Life Support training defines respiratory arrest as when a person stops breathing but still has a pulse. While it often occurs at the same time as cardiac arrest, this is not always the case.
Wilson would have turned 83 years old on June 20, 2025. His family confirmed the two-time Grammy Award winner’s death in a June 11 statement to social media.
“We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world,” it read.
Featured image by Richard Isaac/Shutterstock
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