The chart debut of Sleep Token‘s Even in Arcadia is certainly something to behold.
The major label debut from the enigmatic masked metallers arrives at #1 on the Billboard 200 with a career-best 127,000 equivalent album units, 73,500 of which were traditional album sales. Even in Arcadia is the first Sleep Token album to hit #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 — the outfit previously peaked at #16 with their last record, 2023’s Take Me Back to Eden.
According to Billboard‘s definition of the genre, Even in Arcadia‘s units debut marks the biggest week for a rock album since Zach Bryan‘s The Great American Bar Scene was released in July 2024. The last hard rock album to move as many units as Even in Arcadia was Metallica‘s 2023 effort, 72 Seasons.
Even in Arcadia‘s #1 debut follows Ghost‘s conquering of the Billboard 200 with their new album, Skeletá, earlier in May. The last time that two hard rock albums debuted at #1 within less than a month of each other was way back in 2013, when Queens of the Stone Age‘s …Like Clockwork and Black Sabbath‘s 13 took the top spot in consecutive weeks.
While the chart numbers for Even in Arcadia are certainly positive, that hasn’t completely been the case when it comes to the critical reception. The site Pitchfork gave the record a score of 2.3 out of 10, comparing it to “Benson Boone with a Spirit Halloween gift card.”
Sleep Token will launch a U.S. tour in support of Even in Arcadia in September. The headlining dates on the run are already sold out.
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