Megadeth Earn Their First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart

Megadeth have notched their first No. 1 album on the all-genre Billboard 200, with their new self-titled LP entering at the top of the latest chart.

It’s the highest album chart position of the thrash legends’ career, surpassing their previous benchmark of No. 2 with 1992’s Countdown to Extinction. Overall, the band has landed nine albums in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.

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Per Billboard, Megadeth’s new album — and what’s planned to be their final full-length effort — earned 73,000 equivalent album units in the US in its first week, the majority consisting of pure album sales (purchases of physical and digital copies of the album) totaling 69,000. It’s the biggest sales week for the band since Risk opened with 74,000 sold in 1999.

“After 40 years of delivering Megadeth music, playing shows around the world, I have nothing but gratitude at this moment,” Dave Mustaine said in a press release. “Finding out that our last Megadeth record is also our first #1 only further validates my will to go out on top.”

He added, “Thank you to my family, Teemu Mantasaari, James LoMenzo, and Dirk Verbueren, and Chris Rakestraw, all our fans for making this possible, without you Megadeth would not be as successful as we are. I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes, our management, Danny Nozell, Justis Mustaine, and Steve Ross at CTK, and our label BLKIIBLK/Tradecraft.”

The album also hit No. 1 in Australia (highest previous position No. 2) and Austria (highest previous position No. 8). Other top five spots include No. 2 in Finland, Sweden, and Belgium, while it reached No. 3 in both the UK and Germany.

Mustaine and company will look to ride that success on their farewell tour, starting with a Canadian trek that runs throughout February and March. Get tickets here.