Tool‘s Fear Inoculum, the band’s first album in 13 years, has reached #1 on the Billboard album charts in its opening week. As Billboard reports, this makes it the biggest debut for any rock album to be released in over a year. (The last to outsell it was Dave Matthews’ Come Tomorrow in June of 2018.) Fear Inoculum racked up 270,000 album units, with album sales accounting for a remarkable 248,000 of that amount. Tool also logged these numbers without resorting to the ploy that frequently assists the sales of many contemporary albums that hit #1: throwing in a download with purchases of tour tickets.
Through most of its first week on the market, Fear Inoculum was sold via digital download and a CD that came at a $50 price point because it included an 4-inch HD screen and speaker designed to play exclusive video clips. Since the limited-edition CD package sold out quickly, a new standard CD and download package is now being offered.
In the weeks leading up to the release of Fear Inoculum on August 30, the band made all their previous LPs available on streaming services for the first time; as a result, four Tool albums subsequently hit the Top 20 on the Billboard 200. They also posted official digital versions of their iconic music videos on YouTube, including the clips of “Schism,” “Sober,” and more. Tool is heading out on a North American tour in mid-October; find more information here.
