Ghost grabs the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the primary time, because the Swedish arduous rock band’s new studio effort Skeletá debuts atop the tally (dated Might 10) with 86,000 equal album models earned in the US within the week ending Might 1, based on Luminate. Of the album’s beginning sum, 89% was pushed by conventional album gross sales — buoyed by a giant vinyl gross sales determine.
Skeletá launches with Ghost’s finest week ever by each equal album models and conventional album gross sales.
Skeletá marks the ninth charted effort for the group on the Billboard 200. The band first visited the record in 2013 with its second album, Infestissumam, which additionally marked the act’s first prime 40-charting set, reaching No. 28. Skeletá scores Ghost its eighth prime 40 set, and fifth to achieve the highest 10. The band had beforehand gone as excessive as No. 2 with its final full-length studio album, 2022’s Impera.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most well-liked albums of the week within the U.S. based mostly on multi-metric consumption as measured in equal album models, compiled by Luminate. Items comprise album gross sales, monitor equal albums (TEA) and streaming equal albums (SEA). Every unit equals one album sale, or 10 particular person tracks offered from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The brand new Might 10, 2025-dated chart shall be posted in full on Billboard‘s web site on Might 6. For all chart information, comply with @billboard and @billboardcharts on each X, previously generally known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Skeletá’s 86,000 first-week equal album models, album gross sales comprise 77,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Prime Album Gross sales), SEA models comprise 9,000 (equaling 12.45 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA models comprise a negligible sum. The set’s first-week gross sales have been bolstered by its availability throughout greater than 15 vinyl variants, three CD variants and 4 cassette variants (all containing the identical tracklist, however in collectible packaging).
With Skeletá scoring 9,000 in SEA models (12.45 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs), the group logs its largest streaming week ever for an album. It surpasses the opening-week of Impera (7,000 SEA; 9.11 million streams for its songs).
The brand new album was led by the radio-promoted single “Satanized,” which turned the act’s tenth prime 10-charting hit on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in April. It’s certainly one of a trio of hits that the album yielded on the Sizzling Arduous Rock Songs chart previous to the album’s launch. “Satanized” hit No. 3 (March 22 chart), adopted by “Lachryma” (No. 3, April 26) and “Peacefield” (No. 13, Might 3). (Skeletá can also be the primary full-length undertaking from the band for the reason that act garnered its first hit on the all-genre Billboard Sizzling 100 songs chart, when its viral hit “Mary on a Cross” reached No. 90 on the tally in 2022.)
With the No. 1 arrival on the Billboard 200, Skeletá lands numerous milestone achievements for Ghost. Right here’s a recap:
Skeletá yields Ghost’s finest week ever by each equal album models and conventional album gross sales. The act’s earlier excessive in each metrics got here within the debut week of Impera (March 26, 2022), which earned 70,000 models (of which practically 63,000 have been album gross sales). As famous earlier, Skeletá additionally garners the biggest streaming week for a Ghost album.
Ghost lands the most important week of 2025, by both equal album models or conventional album gross sales, for any rock, arduous rock or different album.
Of Skeletá’s first-week album gross sales, vinyl purchases comprised simply over 44,000 copies. That’s not simply the biggest gross sales week on vinyl for Ghost, however the largest week for a tough rock album on vinyl within the fashionable period (since Luminate started monitoring knowledge in 1991). It’s additionally the third-largest gross sales week on vinyl within the fashionable period for any rock album, trailing solely the opening weeks of blink-182’s One Extra Time… (49,000; 2023) and boygenius’ The Document (45,000; 2023).
Skeletá is the primary arduous rock album to guide the Billboard 200 in over 4 years, and the one rock, arduous rock or different album to be No. 1 in 2025. The final arduous rock album at No. 1 was AC/DC’s Energy Up, which premiered at No. 1 on the Nov. 28, 2020, chart and spent one week at No. 1. The final rock, or different, album to guide the tally was Coldplay’s Moon Music, when it debuted at No. 1 on the Oct. 19, 2024, chart (spending one week at No. 1).
Rock, different and arduous rock albums are outlined as these which can be eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Prime Rock Albums, Prime Different Albums and Prime Arduous Rock Albums charts, respectively.
Not solely is Skeletá the group’s first No. 1, however it’s the primary chart-topper for its label Loma Vista Recordings and the primary chief for Harmony Label Group in practically a decade — since James Taylor’s Earlier than This World (on Harmony Information) debuted at No. 1 on the July 4, 2015-dated chart. Loma Vista had beforehand gone as excessive as No. 2 with Ghost’s final full-length studio album, Impera, in 2022.
Skeletá is the lone debut within the prime 10 of the newest Billboard 200 chart. The titles at Nos. 2-7 are all former No. 1s. SZA’s SOS slips to No. 2 (52,000 equal album models earned; down 1%), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX falls 2-3 (48,000; down 5%), Morgan Wallen’s One Factor at a Time is down 3-4 (46,000; down 4%), Sabrina Carpenter’s Quick n’ Candy descends 4-5 (44,000; down 8%), PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U falls 5-6 (43,000; down 6%) and Dangerous Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos is down 6-7 (38,000; down 3%).
Shaboozey’s The place I’ve Been, Isn’t The place I’m Going gallops 45-8 with 35,000 equal album models earned (up 110%) after a deluxe reissue on April 25 that added six extra songs, bringing its complete track depend to 18. The set debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the June 15, 2024-dated record. (He additionally performed the Stagecoach Pageant on April 26.)
Playboi Carti’s chart-topping MUSIC (7-9; 34,000 equal album models, down 11%) and Morgan Wallen’s former chief Harmful: The Double Album (9-10; 33,000, down 3%) spherical out the Billboard 200’s prime 10.
Luminate, the impartial knowledge supplier to the Billboard charts, completes a radical overview of all knowledge submissions utilized in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate opinions and authenticates knowledge. In partnership with Billboard, knowledge deemed suspicious or unverifiable is eliminated, utilizing established standards, earlier than closing chart calculations are made and revealed.
