U2 have debuted atop the US album charts with “Songs Of Experience.”
According to Billboard, the band’s fourteenth release debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with opening week sales of 186,000 equivalent album units, of which 180,000 were in traditional album sales.
The feat marks the Irish group’s eighth chart-topper on Billboard and first since 2009’s “No Line On The Horizon.”
“Songs Of Experience” also nets the biggest week for a rock album in 2017, both in terms of overall units as well as album sales.
The companion to 2014’s “Songs Of Innocence” was completed earlier this year with a series of producers – including Jacknife Lee and Ryan Tedder, Steve Lillywhite, Andy Barlow and Jolyon Thomas – following recording sessions in Dublin, New York and Los Angeles.
The two projects draw inspiration from a collection of poems, “Songs Of Innocence And Experience”, by the 18th century English mystic and poet William Blake.
U2 launched their latest effort recently with an appearance on Saturday Night Live.
The group will begin a North American tour in support of “Songs Of Experience” on May 2 in Tulsa, OK.
See also:
VIDEO: U2 launch Songs Of Experience on Saturday Night Live
U2 to perform on Saturday Night Live
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