On the Charts: Iron Maiden Score Best Sales Week Ever

Iron Maiden have scored their best sales week ever with their new LP ‘The Book of Souls’. Photo: Courtesy of Sony Music India

Iron Maiden scored the best Billboard 200 performance of their career, and their best sales week since Nielsen Music began measuring in 1991, as the heavy metal group’s 16th studio album The Book of Souls debuted at Number Four with 75,000 total copies sold. Iron Maiden’s 2010 LP The Final Frontier also bowed in at Number Four, Billboard reports, but Book of Souls outsold that album’s debut week by over 12,000 copies. In an era of declining album sales, the legendary metal act have somehow mounted ascending first week sales for their past six studio albums.

The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness locked up the Number One spot for a second consecutive week while fighting off a number of big debuts. Five Finger Death Punch’s Got Your Six led the way among the new arrivals, finishing the week at Number Two and 119,000 total copies sold. Got Your Six marks the band’s third consecutive LP to debut and peak at Number Two.

Kanye West protégé Travis Scott’s major label debut Rodeo grabbed Number Three with 85,000 total albums, which was followed by Iron Maiden and, at Number Five, Troye Sivan’s Wild EP, the last of the week’s new releases to reach the Top 10. Taylor Swift’s 1989, which saw a push to Number Two last week thanks to her Video of the Year-winning success at the MTV Video Music Awards, dipped back down to Number Seven.

Halsey’s Badlands (Number Eight), Ed Sheeran’s X (Number Nine) and Future’s DS2 rounded out the Top 10.