Chris Cornell Tops Billboard Chart with His Guns N’ Roses’ “Patience” Cover

Chris Cornell performing with Soundgarden in 2017. Photo by RMV/REX/Shutterstock (8773432cj)

After his family released a new single by Cornell in July, the late Chris Cornell’s cover of Guns N’ Roses Patience has just topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs charts.

The cover was released on July 20th, the day that would have been Cornell’s 56th birthday. A statement on his Facebook page read: “His birthday seemed the perfect time to share this and celebrate Chris, his voice, music, stories, and art. It is true a man is not dead while his name is still spoken…and, through his art, an artist’s soul still burns just as bright as ever upon all those that look up to him and his memory. Releasing music that was special to Chris keeps a part of him here with us—his heart and his soul. His love and his legacy.”

“It’s Cornell’s second No. 1 as a soloist and first as a solo lead,” Billboard notes. “He previously ruled for two weeks as a featured vocalist on Zac Brown Band’s Heavy Is the Head in May 2015. Prior to Patience, Cornell had risen as high as No. 2 as a lead artist with Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart in November 2015.”

The original song was part of Guns N’ Roses’ 1988 EP GN’R Lies. Cornell opened for Guns during their Use Your Illusion world tour as the frontman of Soundgarden.