ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The Billboard charts have not been too kind of rock 'n' roll music in 2025. But this week's No. 1 album reminds us that rock isn't dead. NPR's Stephen Thompson has the story.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Most weeks, if you scan the main Billboard charts, you'll see a ton of pop, hip-hop, K-pop, R&B and country music. Rock 'n' roll turns up less often, usually in the form of greatest hits compilations and classic albums like Nirvana's "Nevermind."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT")
NIRVANA: (Singing) With the lights out, it's less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us. I feel stupid and contagious.
THOMPSON: But new rock records do still find their way to the top of the charts. Just this year, two different masked rock bands have topped the Billboard albums chart. There's the Swedish band Ghost, whose members combine theatrical costuming with towering rock.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LACHRYMA")
GHOST: (Singing) Now the sweets gone sour, seeping down the cracks.
THOMPSON: Then there's the U.K. group Sleep Token, whose prog metal songs are performed by musicians who hide their identity behind masks.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EMERGENCE")
SLEEP TOKEN: (Singing) I'm at your side (ph).
THOMPSON: This week, another rock band hits the top of the charts, albeit without costumes. The group Twenty One Pilots, which last topped the albums chart in 2015, has the country's No. 1 album with "Breach."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CITY WALLS")
TWENTY ONE PILOTS: (Singing) I wanted you to show me the way around the city walls.
THOMPSON: Twenty One Pilots have won a Grammy and spawned major pop hits over the years, including a handful that have hit the Top 5 with a mix of rock, hip-hop and nervy pop music. But "Breach" leans farther than ever into stormy, high-concept prog rock, with nods to hip-hop along the way.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CITY WALLS")
TWENTY ONE PILOTS: (Rapping) Square up with me. I can come to you. Tell me when. Pair up with me. I can run on you.
THOMPSON: Twenty One Pilots' new album hasn't produced any major pop hits. Only one of the band's songs cracks this week's Hot 100 singles chart, as "City Walls" debuts at No. 83. But the group does have one major thing going for it - physical record sales. "Breach" sold 169,000 copies its first week, with 72,000 of them released through a format as classic as rock 'n' roll itself - vinyl.
Stephen Thompson, NPR Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF TWENTY ONE PILOTS SONG, "CITY WALLS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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