Iron Maiden have reached the number one spot in 24 countries with latest album The Book Of Souls.
They’ve also secured top-four placings in 10 other locations, with more best-selling results expected soon.
Maiden’s first-ever double-length studio release was already confirmed as the UK‘s top seller.
It’s also at number one in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The follow-up to 2010’s The Final Frontier sits at number two in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, New Zealand and Poland. It’s at number three in Turkey and number four in South Africa and the USA.
Parlophone Records boss Miles Leonard says, “We are delighted to announce that The Book Of Souls is number one in 24 countries with more to come – but more impressively, it’s sold more than The Final Frontier in its first week five years ago. A remarkable achievement!”
This week, drummer Nicko McBrain revealed that he’d momentarily thought the band were finished when he heard frontman Bruce Dickinson was suffering from cancer.
source: classicrock.teamrock.com
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Iron Maiden rules! They’re back to kick the world’s ass and show other bands how it’s done!
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Good news for Iron Maiden!!
While #4 is very impressive, especially for a double album in the current music climate in the US, I’d love to see these guys finally reach #1 in the States.
Hopefully, this isn’t the final Maiden album.
This album is finally growing on me after countless number of listens. Longer isn’t necessarily better – AC/DC’s “Rock or Bust” proved that. However more of the songs on “The Book of Souls” is starting to appeal to me. “Empire of the Clouds” is definitely a masterpiece. However, unlike “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, I don’t expect Maiden to perform this song live.
The album has so much going on within the 11 songs that it’s a little overwhelming on the first listen. I felt the same way about The Final Frontier the first time I heard that one.
So, I still need to spend some more time with the record.
I agree that it takes a few listens to sink in. My first time through (admittedly in the car, so not really able to pay full attention) was that it was alright – sounds a lot like the other albums since “Brave New World”. I generally like those albums, but nowhere near as much as “Killers” through “Seventh Son”. I love Iron Maiden, but I think they’ve sounded pretty repetitive since BNW, and haven’t really been at the top of their game since 7th Son. That’s still true to an extent on this one, and somehow with 3 guitarists I feel like they’re lacking something in the harmonies compared to the old days – like there’s not enough of them – or where there could be a dual harmony it’s a single guitar melody instead, and it often sounds the same as any number of other ones in this era of the band.
Anyway, after about 5 listens of the album including a couple where I could crank it up a bit, I do think this new one has more of a “classic” Iron Maiden flavor blended in with their current-era sound. Some of the tracks go on for a few minutes too long, but I think this really may be the best one since Bruce and Adrian returned on BNW. By default I guess that means I feel it could be the best since 7th Son, but be careful how you interpret that. For me, that statement says as much about my opinion of those albums in between as it does my liking this one. If you like Iron Maiden though, and have stuck with them up to this point, definitely pick up “The Book of Souls”. I’ve had pieces of it stuck in my head for days now, and I’m wanting to spin it again, so that’s a good sign. Can’t wait to see them on tour – always an epic show.