Black Sabbath Charts: Band Hits No. 1 Spot After 43 Years (VIDEO)
In a career spanning more than 43 years, Black Sabbath landed its first No. 1 album last week on the Billboard 200 charts.
Its been more than four decades since Black Sabbath, headed by lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, debuted their first album. The English rock band originally formed in 1968. It released its first, full-length studio album in 1970, debuting on the Billboard Top 200 at no. 23. There it remained for over a year without ever making it into the top spot.
Better late than never, band members said last week after the most recent album, "13," sold more than 155,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. The band beat out more current artists including Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"The news is absolutely amazing -- we couldn't have imagined this would happen," guitarist and founding member Tony Iommi said in a statement according to Reuters. "To finally have our first No. 1 album in the U.S. is another incredible milestone for Black Sabbath," Osbourne added.
Speaking on the substance on the new album, Osbourne explained that producer Rick Rubin has suggested going back to the band's early sound. Considered "classic rock," the lead singer distanced himself from the album being considered heavy metal.
"I have never ever ever been able to attach myself to the word 'heavy metal' - it has no musical connotations," Osbourne admitted during a recent interview with CNN . "People come up to me and say, 'Your Sabbath work was a big influence on me.' I could go, 'Oh, yeah, I can see that.' But other bands … what part of that is inspired by us? Some of it is just angry people screaming down a microphone."
The top place on Billboard this week will likely go to Kanye West who just introduced his latest album title, "Yeezus."
