GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND – JUNE 30: Babymetal perform on The Other Stage on day five of Glastonbury … [+] Festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 30, 2019 in Glastonbury, England. Glastonbury is the largest greenfield festival in the world, and is attended by around 175,000 people. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
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Japanese metal band Babymetal stormed the Billboard charts this week with their new album, Metal Galaxy, becoming the first Asian act to top the Top Rock Albums chart since its inception 13 years ago.
The band’s third album earned 28,000 equivalent album units in its first week, of which 27,000 were traditional album sales, Billboard reports. It’s a vast improvement over the metal outfit’s previous release, 2016’s Metal Resistance, which debuted with just under 13,000 units. Metal Galaxy also marks Babymetal’s best showing on the all-encompassing Billboard 200, where it debuted at No. 13, blazing past Metal Resistance’s No. 39 peak.
Babymetal is typically credited with pioneering “kawaii metal,” a hybrid genre that combines traditional heavy metal with J-pop sound and aesthetic. The result is a fusion of blistering instrumentation, sing-song vocals, huge hooks and pristine production. The music video for 2014’s “Gimme Chocolate!!” became a viral sensation, sporting intense choreography from the band members, who don black leather tops and red skirts straight out of Hot Topic.
Since then, Babymetal have risen to global prominence, largely thanks to their elaborate live shows. The group just wrapped a North American tour that included an appearance at Aftershock Festival and a headlining performance at the Los Angeles Forum. The successful debut of Metal Galaxy speaks to their growing crossover appeal; the band is no longer just a niche act, but one of the most commercially viable names in modern metal.
Metal Galaxy also topped the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart.
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