Megadeth Lands Their First No. 1 Album on the Billboard 200

For the first time in the band’s nearly 40-year history, Megadeth has scored a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200.

The band’s new self-titled album, also expected to be their last, debuted at the top of the charts, with 73,000 equivalent album units sold, including 69,000 physical and digital copies. Of those, 56,000 were physical copies, including 22,000 vinyl copies, marking Megadeth’s best vinyl sales since Luminate began tracking them electronically in 1991.

“After 40 years of delivering Megadeth music, playing shows around the world, I have nothing but gratitude at this moment,” Dave Mustaine said in a press release. “Finding out that our last Megadeth record is also our first #1 only further validates my will to go out on top.”

After thanking his family and bandmates, Mustaine also thanked the band’s fans for “making this possible,” adding, “without you Megadeth would not be as successful as we are.”

Megadeth Has Historically Hit the Top 10, but Never No. 1 Until 2026

Although Megadeth has had nine albums in the Top 10, this marks the highest-charting album of their career, as well as their highest sales numbers since 1999, when Risk sold 74,000 copies. The band also previously hit No. 2 with Countdown to Extinction in 1992 and No. 3 in both 2016 and 2022 with Dystopia and The Sick, the Dying…and the Dead, respectively.

The album also performed well internationally. It hit No. 1 in both Australia and Austria, No. 2 in Finland, Sweden, and Belgium, and No. 3 in the UK and Germany.

According to Billboard, it’s also the longest span a musician has had before having a No. 1 since 2016, when David Bowie had the first No. 1 album in his 43-year career with Blackstar. It’s also the first hard-rock album to top the chart since May of 2025, when Sleep Token had a No. 1 with Even in Arcadia.

Later this month, Megadeth will hit the road for their farewell tour, which kicks off in Canada and will wrap up in March. Their career-spanning documentary, Megadeth: Behind the Mask, also hit theaters a day before the new album’s release.