Twenty years after its release, The Black Parade is officially a No. 1 album. My Chemical Romance’s 2006 emo landmark jumped from No. 139 to the top of the Billboard 200, giving the band its first-ever chart-topper. The original run stalled at No. 2, famously held off by the Hannah Montana soundtrack, which makes this one of the most satisfying chart revenge stories in recent memory.
The surge came from a 20th-anniversary deluxe reissue featuring three new songs and three live tracks, plus a record-breaking vinyl week for the band. Fifteen separate vinyl variants, along with cassette and CD editions, had collectors hitting add-to-cart like it was a limited merch drop. The milestone landed mid-tour, too: the Long Live The Black Parade tour closes Nov. 22 after 47 shows across four continents.
The chart moment is also part of a bigger trend. Nine of the top 10 albums on the Nov. 7 chart had been on the listing for at least 20 weeks, and Billboard panelists are already naming Paramore’s Riot!, Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad, and Radiohead’s In Rainbows as candidates for similar anniversary runs. The message is loud and clear: the 2000s catalog is back, and it’s charting like it’s brand new.
Which album from your teen years do you want to see get a 20th-anniversary victory lap? Tell us in the comments.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.