Twenty years. The Black Parade came out in 2006, debuted at number two, and sat there. Close enough to touch the top, never allowed up. This week the wait ended in the loudest way possible.
The 20th anniversary deluxe reissue just vaulted the album from number 139 to number one on the Billboard 200, on the chart dated November 7. That is not a climb. That is a catapult. The record pulled 78,000 equivalent album units in the week ending October 29, up 653 percent, and physical buyers did the heavy lifting: 68,000 pure album sales, up 2,082 percent, with 42,000 of those on vinyl. That is the best vinyl week of the band’s career, helped along by more than 20 physical variants across vinyl, CD and cassette, signed editions included.
Here is the part that made me sit down. Reaching number one two decades after release is now the longest wait any album has ever had for the top spot, passing the 15 year and nine month gap on Toby Keith’s 35 Biggest Hits. Count it from the band’s first Billboard 200 entry, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in June 2004, and My Chemical Romance waited 22 years and four months for a number one. They are the third act this year to wait at least a decade for a first leader, after Jhené Aiko in September and Megadeth back in February. Megadeth waited nearly 40 years. Rock bands are playing the long game in 2026 and winning it.
“That is not a climb. That is a catapult.”
Moe Train
The anniversary is getting the full treatment, too. The band teamed with artist Lauren Tsai on Prelude to the End, a short film built around The End, with voice work from Billie Eilish and Phoebe Bridgers. It screened at the final Hollywood Bowl shows on October 30 and 31, and the Black Parade tour keeps rolling through Asia this month, wrapping November 22 in Jakarta.
Twenty years ago this record was the one the emo kids would not shut up about. Turns out they were right. They grew up, got jobs, and bought the vinyl 20 different ways. Welcome back to the top of the parade.
Source: Hypebeast
