Billboard’s Producer Spotlight series highlights creatives currently charting on Billboard’s producer rankings. Whether they are new to the industry or have been churning out hit after hit, the intention is to showcase where they are now, and their work that’s having a chart impact.
Longtime hard rock producer Carl Bown scores a career milestone on Billboard’s latest charts (dated May 24), thanks to his work on Sleep Token’s breakout album, Even in Arcadia.
The band reaches unprecedented heights this week, as the album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 127,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in its first week, according to Luminate. Concurrently, all 10 tracks from the album land on the Billboard Hot 100, making Sleep Token the first hard rock act in history to chart as many as 10 songs simultaneously in a single week.
Here’s a full breakdown of Sleep Token’s entries on the Hot 100:
- No. 56, “Dangerous” (debut)
- No. 57, “Caramel” (re-entry; peaked at No. 34)
- No. 58, “Emergence” (re-entry; peaked at No. 57)
- No. 61, “Even in Arcadia” (debut)
- No. 66, “Look to Windward” (debut)
- No. 70, “Past Self” (debut)
- No. 72, “Damocles” (re-entry; peaked at No. 47)
- No. 75, “Gethsemane” (debut)
- No. 77, “Provider” (debut)
- No. 100, “Infinite Baths” (debut)
Bown is credited as the sole producer on all 10 tracks, propelling him to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Producers chart for the first time in his career. He also claims the top spot on Rock Producers, Alternative Producers, Hard Rock Producers, and Rock & Alternative Producers.
Bown, a veteran of the U.K. hard rock scene, has been a go-to producer for many of the genre’s biggest names. He’s also worked with Bullet for My Valentine, Bring Me the Horizon, While She Sleeps, Gunship, Pendulum and Trivium, among others.
Before teaming up with Sleep Token, Bown had only appeared on Billboard’s song charts with four singles by Bullet for My Valentine:
- “You Want a Battle? (Here’s a War)”: No. 37 on Mainstream Rock Airplay, No. 46 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (2015)
- “Don’t Need You”: No. 49 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (2016)
- “Knives”: No. 16 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, No. 39 Mainstream Rock Airplay (2021)
- “Shatter”: No. 24 on Hot Hard Rock Songs (2021)
Based in Manchester, U.K., Bown is also the founder and owner of Treehouse Studios in Chesterfield, a popular recording hub for many of the records he’s helmed.
Meanwhile, two of Sleep Token’s members, Vessel I and Vessel II, also achieve a notable feat. They rank at Nos. 1 and 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Songwriters chart, respectively. Known for their anonymity, the cloaked and masked artists have remained publicly unidentified. Vessel I is credited as a writer on all 10 of the band’s Hot 100 entries, while Vessel II is credited on eight.
Billboard launched its songwriters and producers charts in June 2019, including those for individual genres. The charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on their respective “Hot” or “Top” chart. As with Billboard’s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).
The full Songwriters and Producers charts, plus those for other genres, can be found on Billboard.com.
