Black Sabbath's 81,000% Sales Spike, Explained

Forbes

28-04-2025

Black Sabbath's The Eternal Idol returns to the Billboard charts decades after its release, boosted ... More by a special Record Store Day reissue on red vinyl. Singer Tony Martin is shown performing on stage during a live concert appearance with Black Sabbath on February 8, 1994. (Photo by)
Black Sabbath is inching toward the end of the road. The band, which is slated to perform with frontman Ozzy Osbourne this summer, is preparing for what's being called not just its final concert, but likely his as well. Ahead of that thrilling and bittersweet performance, the heavy metal legends make a somewhat surprising return to a Billboard chart this week.
The group's latest showing comes not from a brand new release, but via a classic project that fans have loved for decades — even though Osbourne wasn't actually involved in its production.
The Eternal Idol debuts on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart, the ranking that measures the bestselling full-lengths and EPs in the U.S., blending both physical purchases and digital downloads into one tally. The collection just barely makes the 50-spot list, sneaking in at No. 48.
According to Luminate, The Eternal Idol sold just under 4,100 copies in the latest tracking frame. To put that figure in perspective, the week before, the album managed only single-digit sales. That increase clocks in at over 81,000% – a staggering growth for any piece of music.
The massive sales spike comes thanks to Record Store Day. For the annual celebration, 6,000 copies of The Eternal Idol were reissued on red translucent vinyl. It seems a large portion of those LPs were snapped up by collectors and longtime fans around the event, pushing the decades-old release back onto Billboard's radar.
While The Eternal Idol is brand new to the Top Album Sales chart, this isn't its first time appearing on the Billboard rankings. Upon its original release in the late 1980s, the set peaked at No. 168 on the Billboard 200, which at the time focused purely on album purchases. These days, the Billboard 200 blends sales, streams, and track downloads, sometimes making it much tougher for typical catalog titles to compete without a major push.
The Eternal Idol was released in 1987, and it was the group's thirteenth full-length effort. The project was the first to feature vocalist Tony Martin, who stepped in after Ozzy Osbourne had been fired. Though it wasn't a major commercial win at the time, the collection is still loved by fans of the band to this day, which is clear based on its ability to become a bestseller decades after it was first made available.