Judas Priest's Decades-Old Concert Gives The Band A New Bestseller
Judas Priest is back with another bestseller in America — though not in the way that most artists collect big wins. The metal legends only just returned with a brand new full-length studio effort, Invincible Shield, a little over a year ago, and while some may have assumed a long break in between drops was coming, the band had a different plan. Instead of dropping another typical studio project, the group took part in this year's Record Store Day celebration and offered up something longtime fans have been craving: a standalone release of a classic live show that had never been available in this format.
The strategy worked. Once Live in Atlanta '82 became available, fans rushed out to grab their copies — and they immediately gave Judas Priest another huge success in the U.S.
Live in Atlanta '82 manages to perform well enough to reach a single Billboard ranking this week. The full-length collection arrives at No. 40 on the Top Album Sales chart, barely squeaking onto the roster of bestsellers in the U.S. inside the top 40. That showing is based solely on pure purchases, as the tally doesn't incorporate streams or any other consumption metrics.
According to Luminate, Judas Priest's latest offering sold just under 4,400 copies in its first few days of availability. Considering it's a live set from more than 40 years ago, and a reissue at that, that's a solid total.
With Live in Atlanta '82, Judas Priest claims its seventeenth placement on the Top Album Sales chart. Out of all those showings, only three have made it into the top 10. The band's highest peak on the ranking remains No. 2. The group first reached that position in 2018 with Firepower and matched just last year with Invincible Shield.
This week's Top Album Sales chart is particularly packed, thanks to the annual Record Store Day sales event. 28 projects debut for the first time on the 50-position roster. Among those, Judas Priest lands the twenty-second loftiest debut of the week. The metal pioneers are edged out by several other rock legends, including Rage Against the Machine, Talking Heads, David Bowie, The Doors, and the Grateful Dead, among others.
The material featured on Live in Atlanta '82 won't be unfamiliar to the band's diehards. Superfans will recognize the set from its original inclusion in the massive box set 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music, which arrived years ago. Until now, it was only available on CD, buried inside the expansive collection.
For Record Store Day, Judas Priest finally issued Live in Atlanta '82 as a standalone release — and gave it a proper vinyl treatment. The double LP was pressed on bright red wax, making it a collector's item for fans who had been hoping for a vinyl version ever since the concert first surfaced.
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