My Chemical Romance Earn First No. 1 Album With “The Black Parade”

The 20th-anniversary reissue sent the 2006 album from No. 139 to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the longest wait for a No. 1 album in the chart’s history.

My Chemical Romance have their first No. 1 album in the U.S., and it’s one they released two decades ago. “The Black Parade” jumped from No. 139 to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Nov. 7, Billboard reports.

The album earned 78,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 29, up 653%, according to Luminate. Pure album sales made up 68,000 of that, including 42,000 vinyl copies, the band’s best vinyl week ever.

The surge followed the 20th-anniversary deluxe reissue, released Oct. 23 on Reprise. It adds six bonus tracks to the original 14: three B-sides and three live recordings from a 2007 show in Hoboken, New Jersey. The release also has new artwork by James Jean and more than 20 physical versions on vinyl, CD and cassette, mxdwn reported when the reissue was announced.

When “The Black Parade” first came out in 2006, it debuted and peaked at No. 2. The “Hannah Montana” soundtrack kept it from the top spot that week, selling 281,000 copies to its 240,000, the Associated Press notes.

Billboard says the 20-year wait is the longest ever for an album to reach No. 1. The previous record belonged to Toby Keith’s “35 Biggest Hits,” which reached the top 15 years and nine months after its chart debut. The climb from No. 139 is also the biggest jump to No. 1 since Taylor Swift’s “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” rose from No. 157 in 2021.

Behind them, Olivia Rodrigo’s “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love” slipped from No. 1 to No. 2 with 64,000 units, and Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” was No. 3 with 53,000.

“They made the big gestures,” Jason Pettigrew, former editor-in-chief of Alternative Press, told the AP.