Warner Music has announced that their first collaboration with IRON MAIDEN for the British heavy metal legends’ new album has resulted in a resounding first-week global chart success. MAIDEN’s sixteenth — and first ever double — studio album, “The Book Of Souls”, was released worldwide on September 4 through Parlophone Records (BMG in the U.S.A).
IRON MAIDEN maintain their status as one of the foremost contemporary and influential rock bands in the world as they debut at No. 1 in the U.K. with “The Book Of Souls” (their fifth No. 1 album here, the first being 1982’s seminal “The Number Of The Beast” album) and 23 other countries to date with many more still to be reported.
In addition to the phenomenal amount of No.1 debuts in all parts of the world, MAIDEN are currently No.2 in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, New Zealand Poland, No.3 in Turkey, No.4 in South Africa and USA (BMG).
Miles Leonard, chairman, Parlophone Records, comments: “The team at Parlophone and WMG are delighted to announce that ‘The Book Of Souls’ is No. 1 in 24 countries with more to come, but more impressively has even sold more than ‘The Final Frontier’ in its first week five years ago — a remarkable achievement!
“IRON MAIDEN and Phantom management are one of the most potent forces in rock music and we’re delighted to be part of their team and their exciting plans for 2016 and beyond!”
Dave Shack, managing director at Phantom Music, adds: “The team at Phantom are delighted with the results of our very first album through Warner after so many great years with EMI. They have backed up our vision for ‘The Book Of Souls’ in every sense and really been fantastic partners to us all around the world — as these charts and sales clearly show.”
Having recorded the new double album at Guillaume Tell Studios in Paris at the end of last year, IRON MAIDEN’s 2015 plans were put on hold while vocalist Bruce Dickinson underwent treatment for a cancerous tumour on the back of the throat, from which he has now been given the all-clear. MAIDEN recently announced an extensive world tour starting in February 2016, with the band expected to visit 35 countries flying over 55,000 miles across six of the seven continents, taking touring to a whole new level by using a Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet, which will be piloted by Bruce who is currently in training to qualify for his 747 license.
All chart positions received to date are as follows –
* No. 1 – Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK
* No. 2 – Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland
* No. 3 – Turkey
* No. 4 – South Africa, USA
Source: Blabbermouth
