Ghost become first hard rock act in four years to top US album chart but miss out in the UK

Papa V Perpetua of Ghost in 2025
(Image credit: Mikael Eriksson)

Ghost have become the first hard rock band to top the US album chart since AC/DC's Power Up in 2020. New album Skeletá sold 86,000 equivalent album units (a total that includes physical sales, downloads and streams) during its first week of release.

Skeletá's total included 44,000 vinyl copies, making it the biggest week for vinyl sales for a hard rock album since tracking began in 1991, and the biggest for any kind of rock album during the same period apart from Blink 182's One More Time… (49,000 copies sold in 2023) and Boygenius’s The Record (45,000 in 2023).

Skeletá, the follow-up to 2022's Impera – which reached #2 on the Billboard Chart – beat out competition from SZA, Kendrick Lamar and Morgan Wallen to hit the top spot. In the UK it was a different story, as the chart was headed by Make 'Em Laugh, Make 'Em Cry, Make 'Em Wait, the new album by the Stereophonics. All in all, though, a good week for rock.

Elsewhere, Skeletá also topped the album charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

Ghost's Skeletour World Tour is currently in Europe, and will arrive in the US in July. Full dates below.

Ghost: Skeletour World Tour 2025

May 07: Berlin Uber Arena, Germany
May 08: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
May 10: Lodz Atlas Arena, Poland
May 11: Prague O2 Arena, Czech Republic
May 13: Paris Accor Arena, France
May 14: Oberhausen Rudolph Weber Arena, Germany
May 15: Hannover ZAG Arena, Germany
May 17: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
May 20: Tampere Nokia Arena, Finland
May 22: Linköping Saab Arena, Sweden
May 23: Sandviken Göransson Arena, Sweden
May 24: Oslo Spektrum, Norway

Jul 09: Baltimore CFG Bank Arena, MD
Jul 11: Atlanta State Farm Arena, GA
Jul 12: Tampa Amalie Arena, FL
Jul 13: Miami Kaseya Center, FL
Jul 15: Raleigh PNC Arena, NC
Jul 17: Cleveland Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, OH
Jul 18: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
Jul 19: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA
Jul 21: Boston TD Garden, MA
Jul 22: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Jul 24: Detroit Little Caesars Arena, MI
Jul 25: Louisville KFC Yum! Center, KY
Jul 26: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Jul 28: Grand Rapids Van Andel Arena, MI
Jul 29: Milwaukee Fiserv Forum, WI
Jul 30: St Louis Enterprise Center, MO
Aug 01: Rosemont Allstate Arena, IL
Aug 02: Saint Paul Xcel Energy Center, MN
Aug 03: Omaha CHI Health Center, NE
Aug 05: Kansas City T-Mobile Center, MO
Aug 07: Denver Ball Arena, CO
Aug 09: Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena, NV
Aug 10: San Diego Viejas Arena, CA
Aug 11: Phoenix Footprint Center, AZ
Aug 14: Austin Moody Center ATX, TX
Aug 15: Fort Worth Dickies Arena, TX
Aug 16: Houston Toyota Center, TX

Sep 24: Mexico City Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico

Tickets are on sale now.

Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 39 years in music industry, online for 26. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.