Black Sabbath floods Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart with four top 10 hits, while Ozzy Osbourne outperforms the band, with nine solo smashes. Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath performs on stage at Hammersmith Odeon, London, January 1976. (Photo by Erica Echenberg/Redferns)
Redferns
Black Sabbath is in the middle of one of its most impressive weeks on the Billboard charts, though sadly, it’s not much of a celebration. The group’s frontman, Ozzy Osbourne, passed away in late July, just weeks after the band performed its final show to a massive crowd in Birmingham, England.
As sales and streams of both Osbourne’s solo material and Black Sabbath’s catalog surged, fans sent a number of popular tracks and bestselling albums back to rankings all around the world, especially in the United States. The outfit’s success – and Osbourne’s popularity – is perhaps best seen by taking a look at the Rock Digital Song Sales chart.
Black Sabbath Scores Multiple Bestsellers
Black Sabbath currently fills four spaces on Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart, which lists the top-selling tunes within the U.S. classified by the magazine as rock. All four tracks — “Paranoid,” “Iron Man,” “War Pigs/Luke’s Wall,” and “Changes” — debut simultaneously. Coincidentally, they land one right after another, opening at Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8, respectively.
Black Sabbath Sets a New High
Before this frame, Black Sabbath had only reached the Rock Digital Song Sales chart once. More than a decade ago, “God Is Dead?” climbed as high as No. 20. Now, the band not only secures a new career peak, but does so by placing four tracks ahead of what was previously its greatest success on this tally.
Ozzy Osbourne Outshines Black Sabbath With Nine Solo Hits
While Black Sabbath occupies more than one-quarter of all available slots on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart, Osbourne performs even better as a solo act. He posthumously claims nine of the 15 spaces on the list, including the highest-ranking title.
Seven of these tunes — “No More Tears,” “Changes,” “Close My Eyes Forever” (with Lita Ford), “Dreamer,” “Shot in the Dark,” “Mr. Crowley,” and “See You on the Other Side” — debut this frame. Meanwhile, fan favorites “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “Crazy Train” earn another stay on the ranking.