Ghost Smash Records With ‘SKELETÁ’ Debut

Masked Swedish rock band Ghost became the first hard rock act in four-plus years to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with SKELETÁ (Loma Vista), which shifted 86,000 copies last week to far surpass albums by SZA, Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter.

It’s the biggest opening-week haul for a rock, hard rock or alternative record of the year so far and, at 44,000, the largest vinyl sales week for a hard rock album since Luminate began tracking data in 1991. The last album of this type to crown the Billboard 200 was AC/DC’s POWER UP in November 2020.

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Beyond the overall No. 1 debut, SKELETÁ opens at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Indie Store, Rock, Alternative and Hard Rock charts, as well as topping the all-genre tallies in Sweden, Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Finland.

Ghost is supporting SKELETÁ with a European tour through May 24 in Oslo and will take on North American arenas beginning July 9 in Baltimore. Fans can explore the tour offstage and on through the band’s GTV channel.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.