Dream Theater Returns to No. 1 on Hard Rock Albums Chart With ‘Parasomnia’
Written by djfrosty on February 20, 2025
Dream Theater returns to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart for the first time in almost a decade, debuting atop the Feb. 22-dated survey with Parasomnia.
The set bows with 18,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 13, according to Luminate. The majority of the sum – 16,000 units – is in album sales.
The group rules nearly nine years to the date of its most recent No. 1; The Astonishing arrived atop the Feb. 20, 2016, tally.
In all, Dream Theater boasts four No. 1s on Top Hard Rock Albums since the ranking began in 2007. Black Clouds & Silver Linings led in 2009, followed by the act’s self-titled release in 2013, prior to The Astonishing and Parasomnia.
During its break from No. 1, Dream Theater appeared on the ranking with two No. 3-peaking titles: Distance Over Time in 2019 and A View From the Top of the World in 2021.
Parasomnia marks the band’s first full-length since the 2023 return of founding drummer Mike Portnoy, who had left in 2010. Dream Theater formed in Boston in 1985 when its original members were attending Berklee College of Music. Parasomnia is the group’s 16th studio album.
Concurrently, Parasomnia starts at No. 6 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums. On the all-format Billboard 200, the set begins at No. 41. Its vinyl album sale count (4,000) is also good for a No. 11 start on Vinyl Albums.
One song from Parasomnia made a Billboard chart ahead of the album’s release: “Night Terror” spent a week at No. 25 on Hot Hard Rock Songs last October.