Popular Rock Band Tops Albums Chart for First Time in 4 Years
Swedish rock band Ghost landed the No. 1 spot on the all-genre-inclusive Billboard 200 albums chart with their sixth studio album, Skeletá.
'Skeletá' is the first album for any rock, hard rock, or alternative album to be on the list since AC/DC's Power Up in 2020.
Ghost was founded in 2006 by frontman Tobias Forge. Forge, 44, plays a number of different personas on stage, including Papa Emeritus and Cardinal Copia.
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The rest of the band members are referred to as 'Nameless Ghouls,' and have never revealed their identities.
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Their studio albums consist of Opus Eponymous in 2010, Infestissumam in 2013, Meliora in 2015, Prequelle in 2018, Impera in 2022, and finally, Skeletá in 2025.
In 2015, Ghost won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for their single 'Circle.'
Related: Legendary Rock Band Rereleases Hit Song Like You've Never Heard Before
Ghost is also known for their over-the-top, theatrical concerts. Speaking with Full Metal Jackie on her radio show, Forge revealed his most formative influencers when it comes to putting on a show.
"At some point in the 80s, I saw the film Let's Spend the Night Together. For a long time, that was one of my favorite things to watch because it was just so amazing. This absolutely awesome band playing a big stadium, and then like midway through the film, they just sort of switch and they're playing indoors in an arena. It was just like this great film, very influential," he recalled, per Loudwire
"That is by far the coolest staging I've seen in my entire life. That is still the pinnacle. Especially the Steel Wheels tour that they did in 1989, the fall and winter of 1989, that was the big tour of the U.S and I remember seeing videos from that," Forge continued. "I remember taping a show that was live from Barcelona, 1990. And I think I paused, freeze-framed the entire film through the entire film because I wanted to draw the stage because it was so cool."
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Los Angeles Times
13 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Spotify boycott: Artists leave ‘garbage hole' platform after CEO invests in AI weapons
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In response, Deerhoof pulled its catalog from Spotify. 'Every time someone listens to our music on Spotify, does that mean another dollar siphoned off to make all that we've seen in Gaza more frequent and profitable?' Saunier said, in an interview with The Times. 'It didn't take us long to decide as a band that if Daniel Ek is going harder on AI warfare, we should get off Spotify. It's not even that big of a sacrifice in our case.' A small band yanking its catalog won't make much impact on Spotify's estimated quarterly revenues of $4.8 billion. But it seemed to inspire others: several influential acts subsequently left the service, lambasting Ek for investing his personal fortune into an AI weapons firm. Spotify did not return request for comment about Ek's Helsing investments. This small exodus is unlikely to sway Ek, or dislodge Spotify from dominating the record economy. But it may further sour young music fans on Spotify, as many are outraged about wars in Gaza and elsewhere. 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It's both the arbiter of the record industry and a mercurial tech giant that only became profitable last year while spinning off enormous wealth for Ek. 'It's well documented that Spotify was only a music business because that was an open niche,' McDonald said. 'I'm never surprised by billionaires doing billionaire things. Google or Apple or Amazon investing in a company that did military technology wouldn't surprise me. Spotify subscribers should feel dismayed that this is happening, but not responsibility, because all the major streamers are about the same in moral corporate terms.' McDonald said the company's push toward Discovery Mode — where artists accept a lower royalty rate in exchange for better placement in its algorithm — added to the sense that Spotify is antagonistic to working artists' values. 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