Linkin Park’s From Zero Debuts Globally at No. 1, Lands No. 2 in the U.S.
The album hits No. 1 in 10 countries but falls to No. 2 in the U.S., trailing behind K-pop sensation Ateez.
- Linkin Park’s new album From Zero debuted at No. 1 in 10 countries, including the U.K., Germany, and Australia.
- In the U.S., the album reached No. 2, falling behind K-pop group Ateez’s Golden Hour: Part. 2.
- The lead single dominated the Billboard Rock & Alternative Airplay Chart for 11 weeks and hit No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Linkin Park’s latest release, From Zero, has made waves globally, though not without its share of quirks. The album, featuring new vocalist Emily Armstrong, hasn’t escaped controversy—her ties to the Cult of Scientology and all the thetanic baggage that comes with it have kept the gossip wheels turning. But here’s the kicker: despite the chatter, the album has climbed to the top of the charts in 10 countries. The United States, however, was not one of them.
Countries like the U.K., Germany, France, and Italy couldn’t get enough of the album. Add Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Australia, and New Zealand to that list. Yet, in their own backyard, the band had to settle for No. 2, losing out to none other than Ateez, the K-pop darlings who dropped their EP Golden Hour: Part. 2 on the same day. Seems American audiences were more in the mood for bubblegum beats than nu-metal nostalgia.
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Even so, snagging the No. 2 spot makes From Zero the highest-charting rock album of 2024 in the U.S. That’s not exactly small potatoes in a landscape where rock often feels like a museum exhibit. Meanwhile, the album’s singles have been holding their own. The lead track has managed a respectable No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, while dominating the Billboard Rock & Alternative Airplay Chart with an impressive 11-week reign at the top.
Sure, chart positions might feel as relevant to metalheads as vinyl does to TikTokers, but this matters. Why? Because rock’s mainstream relevance has been circling the drain for decades. Back in 2021, Ranon Larpcharern crunched the numbers in a Medium piece and laid it all out: rock ruled the airwaves from the 1970s through the 1990s, but its star began to fade after that. By 2020, rock accounted for less than 5% of mainstream music—a dismal figure for a genre that once dominated stadiums.
Yeah I know, while it’s easy to dismiss chart success as a relic of yesteryear, fans might want to take this as a rare win. After all, it’s not every day you see a rock album even mentioned in the same breath as the Billboard Hot 100. For Linkin Park, From Zero may not have completely resurrected the genre, but it’s proving that rock still has some fight left—at least outside the United States, where the love for K-pop seems unstoppable.
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