Tool ruled the Billboard charts in the last week, and they have to be happy with the accolades. First off, the band released their entire back catalog onto digital platforms and people got to streaming. It didn't take long for every album to crack the top 10 of the iTunes charts on the days the albums were released. But that's not the only Top 10 it cracked.
Billboard released their weekly charts today, and Tool's 1996 classic, Ænima, is back in the Billboard Top 10 with 33,000 equivalent album units. According to Billboard.com:
Closing out the top 10 is a re-entry for Tool’s Ænima at No. 10. The set – which debuted and peaked at No. 2 in 1996 – was released via digital retailers and streaming services for the first time on Aug. 2, along with most of the rock band’s catalog. The album bounds back onto the list with 33,000 equivalent album units earned (up 5,900%), of which 18,000 were in album sales.
It should be noted that an "album unit" would be either an actual sale of the album, or the equivalent of 1,000 streams of songs off the album.
Tool actually made history with the release of their new single, "Fear Inoculum," the title track of their long awaited new album. The single cracked the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart coming in at #93. While the showing might not be the most impressive, Chart Data notes the song "becomes the longest song in history to enter the Hot 100." The song clocks in at 10 minutes and 21 seconds.
I'm sure there will be plenty more records broken when Tool's new album, Fear Inoculum, comes out August 30th. Come back on Wednesday for a track-by-track review of the album.
"Fear Inoculum" by @Tool becomes the longest song in history to enter the Hot 100.
It has a runtime of 10 minutes and 21 seconds.
— chart data (@chartdata) August 12, 2019
