As the internet melts down over the overwhelming success of Tool’s global domination with their smash hit album Fear Inoculum (Tool Dissectional/Volcano/RCA), selling a whopping quarter of a million physical copies, the band continues to rake in awards. Not only did they score a number one on the Billboard Top 200 spot to knock off huge pop stars such as Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, but the band has also now captured the top rank on The Billboard Artist 100 Chart. This is equally difficult for a progressive metal band to achieve, especially in the age of streaming.
As reported by Billboard, Tool returns to top position on Billboard’s Artist 100 ranking for the week ending Sept. 14. That makes the rockers the top musical act in the U.S. for a second total week, after Fear Inoculum debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 to topple Swift’s reign. In all, Tool moved 270,000 equivalent album units for that particular accolade, as tallied by Nielsen Music.
The Artist 100 chart “measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity,” according to Billboard.
In fact, ever since Fear Inoculum was announced, Tool have been breaking chart records. The group became the first band to fill the entire Rock Digital Songs Top 10 chart (once their music was finally released to streaming services). They also had all five albums break the the Billboard 200’s Top 20 and iTunes Top 10 simultaneously. And ‘Fear Inoculum’ became the longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100.
Fear Inoculum is the third consecutive Tool album to hit No. 1 on the Top 200, while Aenima just missed the spot, peaking at No. 2 in 1996. Further, every Tool album has gone Platinum in the United States, so perhaps Fear Inoculum will soon join them. (The album also debuted at No. 1 in Australia, Norway, New Zealand and Belgium.)