The influential New Jersey rock outfit My Chemical Romance has the No. 1 record in the U.S., having topped the all-genre Billboard 200 for the first time in their career. It just happens to be with an album that is two decades old.
“The Black Parade (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition),” a new reissue of their career-defining rock opera, 2006’s “The Black Parade,” is No. 1, Billboard announced Sunday.
Upon its initial release, the album cemented My Chemical Romance’s shift from mainstays of the emo scene to mainstream recognition, becoming one of the most inventive bands of the 21st century. Twenty years on, it continues to resonate with nostalgic fans and new ones.
Competition was stiff. Back in 2006, the soundtrack to Disney’s “Hannah Montana” was released the same week, selling 281,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. “The Black Parade” debuted at No. 2 with 240,000 copies. (Compare that to their previous album, 2004’s “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge,” with a best sales week of 38,000 copies, and it was a massive commercial leap for the then-still alternative band.)
There are a few reasons. “The Black Parade” was re-released with 20 physical variants and six bonus tracks last week, which inspires sales, encourages collectability and fosters a sense of exclusivity among fans.
According to industry data and analytics company Luminate, it earned 78,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. last week, up 653% from the previous week. That was largely driven by pure album sales, which accounted for 68,000 units, a figure up 2,082% from the previous week. (AP News)
Pettigrew points to a few other factors: The band broke up for a period in the 2010s, driving interest in a reunion. They stopped releasing records after 2010’s “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys,” inspiring fans to return to their early material. But that wouldn’t add up to much if “The Black Parade” “sounded like everybody else’s records,” he says. “They made the big gestures.”
In addition to the release, the band embarked on an extensive anniversary tour for the album, playing in some of their biggest venues yet. But instead of simply resurrecting the album on stage, they breathed new life into it, “expanding the lore and conceptualization behind the record,” says Owens, with new characters, set designs and even a fictional language. “I don’t think we’d see the same excitement or attention around ‘The Black Parade’ if it weren’t for these live shows building off their initial vision.”
Pettigrew agrees. “They reframe their masterpiece into essentially a Broadway show with very dark undertones of the current political situation of the world,” he said. “They’ve completely raised the bar in terms of possibilities and conviction.”