Linkin Park’s ‘Meteora’ Blasts Back Onto Billboard’s Album Charts After Reissue

Keith Caulfield
·5 min read

Linkin Park’s Meteora motors back to the top of multiple Billboard album charts following its 20th anniversary deluxe reissue. The set, released in 2003, was reintroduced in an expanded edition on April 7 with bonus tracks and available in multiple formats.

The band’s second studio effort re-enters the Top Album Sales chart (dated April 22) at No. 3, jumping 23-1 on Top Hard Rock Albums, and re-entering straight in at No. 1 on Top Rock Albums, Catalog Albums and Vinyl Albums. On the latter four charts, it’s the first week at No. 1 for the album. On the Billboard 200, Meteora – which marked the group’s first of six No. 1s – re-enters at No. 8.

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Meanwhile, also on Top Album Sales, NF collects his third No. 1, as his new studio effort Hope arrives atop the list, while Daniel Caesar notches his first top 10 with the No. 10 arrival of Never Enough.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Top Rock Albums, Top Hard Rock Albums and Catalog Albums rank the week’s most popular rock, hard rock and catalog releases, respectively, by equivalent album units. (Catalog albums are older albums, generally those at least 18-months old.) Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week. (The Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums charts were started in 2006 and 2007, respectively, years after Meteora’s initial release and success on the Billboard 200.)

Meteora sold 19,500 copies in the United States in the week ending April 13. In the previous week, it sold less than 500 copies. Of its 19,500 sold, physical sales comprise 18,000 (13,000 on vinyl and 5,000 on CD) and digital download sales comprise 1,500.

Meteora marked Linkin Park’s first of six No. 1s on the Billboard 200, when it debuted atop the chart dated April 12, 2003. The group’s second studio album spent two weeks atop the list. Previous to Meteora, the band logged a pair of No. 2-peaking efforts with its debut studio set Hybrid Theory and the remix project Reanimation (both in 2002).

Following Meteora’s initial release, the set spun off five No. 1s on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart: “Somewhere I Belong,” “Faint,” “Numb,” “Lying From You” and “Breaking the Habit.”

The 20th anniversary reissue was led by its first single, the new from-the-vaults track “Lost” that was recorded for Meteora but didn’t make the original album’s final tracklist. The cut – one of the new tracks added to the reissue – features the vocals of the band’s late lead singer Chester Bennington, who died in 2017. “Lost” debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Feb. 25, 2023 chart) and marked the group’s first new top 40 hit in over a decade. It also topped the Alternative Airplay chart. Other new bonus tracks on the Meteora reissue include demo recordings, live cuts and other rarities.

Meteora was reissued in multiple expansive formats, including an 89-track digital download and streaming edition, a three-CD set, a four vinyl LP box and a super deluxe boxed set priced at $199.98 (containing five vinyl LPs, four CDs, three DVDs, a book and collectibles). All versions of the album, new and old, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.

Also in the top 10 of the Top Album Sales chart, NF lands his third No. 1 as Hope bows atop the tally with 80,500 copies sold – his second-largest sales week ever. Its sales were bolstered by the album’s availability in an autographed CD edition in his webstore, a Target-exclusive CD with a poster packaged inside, four deluxe CD/merch boxed sets and a both a white vinyl and a standard black vinyl edition.

Melanie Martinez’s Portals falls to No. 2 in its second week with 20,000 sold (down 80%) after debuting at No. 1 a week ago. Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. dips 3-4 (14,000; down 45%), Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights is steady at No. 5 (nearly 14,000; down 3%), Jimin’s former leader FACE falls 4-6 (12,000; down 38%). Boygenius’ The Record drops 2-7 in its second week (11,000; down 79%), TWICE’s chart-topping Ready to Be: 12th Mini Album descends 6-8 (10,000; down 23%) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: Temptation is a non-mover at No. 9 with 9,000 (down 13%).

Daniel Caesar’s new Never Enough rounds out the top 10, as it bows at No. 10 with nearly 9,000 sold.

In the week ending April 13, there were 2.014 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 4.5% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.667 million (down 6%) and digital albums comprised 347,000 (down 3.2%).

There were 696,000 CD albums sold in the week ending April 13 (down 4.9% week-over-week) and 961,000 vinyl albums sold (down 6.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 9.770 million (up 3.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 13.522 million (up 27.6%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 28.763 million (up 9.2% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 23.441 million (up 16%) and digital album sales total 5.321 million (down 13%).

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