Columbia RecordsThose about to rock certainly saluted AC/DC‘s new album, Power Up.
The much-anticipated 17th studio effort from the iconic group has debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, with a total of 117,000 equivalent album units, 111,000 of which were traditional album sales.
As Billboard notes, that sales figure is the best for any rock album in 2020. The last rock album to beat that mark was Tool‘s comeback effort, Fear Inoculum, which sold 248,000 copies in its first week following its August 2019 release.
Power Up‘s debut also gives AC/DC a top-10 Billboard 200 album in each of the last five decades: the 2020s, 2010s, 2000s, 1990s and 1980s. Only four other acts have achieved that feat: Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor.
AC/DC previously hit #1 on the Billboard 200 with 2008’s Black Ice and 1981’s For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).
Power Up, the follow-up to 2014’s Rock or Bust, was recorded by the surviving members of AC/DC’s classic Back in Black lineup — guitarist Angus Young, vocalist Brian Johnson, bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd — plus guitarist Stevie Young, nephew of Angus and the late Malcolm Young. The record is a tribute to Malcolm, who died in 2017 at age 64.
In other chart news, Queen‘s 1981 Greatest Hits compilation returns to the top 10 on the Billboard 200 this week. The collection jumped to #8 on the chart with a total of 36,000 units. As Billboard points out, the sales jump is likely due to a $15 vinyl sale at Walmart. In fact, Greatest Hits was the best-selling vinyl record of the week, and logged the second-best-selling week for any vinyl album in 2020.
By Josh Johnson
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