Hozier’s ‘Unreal Unearth’ Debuts at No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums Chart
Written by djfrosty on August 30, 2023
Hozier’s new album, Unreal Unearth, launches at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts dated Sept. 2.
The set earned 62,000 equivalent album units in the Aug. 18-24 tracking week, according to Luminate. That opening-week sum includes 39,000 units from album sales; with 23,000 in vinyl sales, the set also starts at No. 2 on Vinyl Albums.
Unreal Unearth is Hozier’s third No. 1 on all three charts, encompassing each of his full-lengths. He first reigned with his self-titled debut in 2014, followed by Wasteland, Baby! in 2019.
Concurrently, Unreal Unearth begins at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200. All of his LPs have reached the top three, with Wasteland, Baby! debuting at No. 1 and Hozier premiering at No. 2.
The entirety of Unreal Unearth has appeared on the multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, including 15 of the album’s 16 songs on the latest tally. (Lead single “Eat Your Young” peaked at No. 6 in April and has since gone recurrent.) The album’s “Damage Gets Done,” co-billed with Brandi Carlile, is the highest ranking cut on the latest list, new at No. 21 with 2.5 million official U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads sold.
“Francesca,” the album’s second and current single, follows at No. 22 with 2.3 million streams (up 317%) and 1.4 million radio audience impressions (up 14%). The song spends a second week at its No. 3 high on Adult Alternative Airplay; predecessor “Eat Your Young” ruled Adult Alternative Airplay for two weeks in May.
“Eat Your Young” also peaked at No. 13 on Alternative Airplay in June and made a modest crossover to adult top 40 radio, reaching No. 32 on Adult Pop Airplay that month.