“Rough and Rowdy Ways,” “Lamb of God” and “Homegrown” all arrive.
Bob Dylan bows atop Billboard‘s Top Rock Albums chart dated July 4 with Rough and Rowdy Ways, followed by Lamb of God, whose self-titled album debuts at No. 2, and Neil Young’s “Homegrown,” which starts at No. 3.
Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan’s first album of all original material since 2012’s Tempest, opens with 53,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending June 25, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
Dylan adds his fifth Top Rock Albums No. 1 and first since 2015’s The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12: 1965 – 1966, The Best of the Cutting Edge. (The chart began in the mid-2000s.)
The new set also debuts atop Americana/Folk Albums, marking Dylan’s record-extending eighth No. 1, dating to the chart’s 2009 inception. On the all-format Billboard 200, the LP starts at No. 2, his best rank since 2009’s No. 1 Together Through Life. The new release is his 23rd Billboard 200 top 10.
Following Dylan onto Top Rock Albums are Lamb of God’s Lamb of God (No. 2, 30,000 units) and Young’s Homegrown (No. 3, 26,000 units). The chart last sported three debuts in the top three on the list dated Aug. 17, 2019, when Tool’s Aenima and Lateralus bowed at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, after the hard rock band’s full catalog was released on streaming services, and Skillet’s Victorious started at No. 3.
The last time all three albums were, like on the latest list, new releases (as Tool’s titles above were originally released in 1996 and 2001, respectively)? June 1, 2019, when The National’s I Am Easy to Find, Rammstein’s Rammstein and The Head and the Heart’s Living Mirage launched at Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively. (Young recorded Homegrown in 1974-75, although it was released for the first time on June 19.)
Lamb of God concurrently bows atop Hard Rock Albums, where it’s the metal act’s fourth No. 1 and first since VII: Sturm Und Drang in August 2015.
