Black Sabbath hasn’t released an album in more than a decade. While frontman Ozzy Osbourne has continued to record and drop new tunes, the band that made him a god in the rock world has been fairly inactive for years. Despite that fact, the group still manages to see several full-lengths debut on a number of charts in the United Kingdom, where they got their start and first rose to prominence.
Three different Black Sabbath albums all debut on U.K.-based charts this week. Not return to—debut, which means they’re new to the tallies they appear on. Some of them hit just one ranking, while others land on three of them at once in what has turned out to be a huge show of support for the hard rock legends.
Headless Cross performs the best of all of Black Sabbath’s albums this time around. The title even makes it into the top 10 on one list, the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart. On that genre-specific list, the decades-old project enters at No. 10.
The Official Rock & Metal Albums chart is the only ranking where all three Black Sabbath studio efforts debut. It’s the list that the band knows best, and it makes sense that they’d reach that tally over all others in any special circumstances.
Headless Cross also reaches two other U.K. rankings at the same time as the rock and metal-only roster. Black Sabbath launches the set at No. 47 on the Official Physical Albums chart and No. 53 on the Official Albums Sales list.
Fellow older release Tyr is also new to several lists, as it debuts on a pair of rankings in the U.K. this time around. Black Sabbath’s fan favorite is new to the Official Rock & Metal Albums (No. 17) and Official Physical Albums (No. 91) charts.
Cross Purposes is the sole Black Sabbath title that only appears on one chart in the United Kingdom this week. It also manages to find space on the Official Rock & Metal Albums list, where it enters at No. 20.
All three albums were recently reissued, as they come from the same era in the band’s time together. They were all made available on vinyl again, which helped turn them into strong sellers once more.
Black Sabbath has now debuted four full-lengths on the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart in 2024 alone—an amazing showing for a band that hasn’t delivered a new collection of unreleased material in more than a decade. Back in June, the group’s Anno Domini – 1989-1995 opened at No. 1, bringing them back to the throne, where many would argue they belong.
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