Senjutsu, the 17th album by metal legends Iron Maiden and first since 2015's The Book of Souls, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, earning the band their highest chart position in their four decade-plus career.

As reported by Billboard, Maiden's new record, spurred by the two lead singles "The Writing on the Wall" and "Stratego," broke into the Top 3 with the equivalent of 64,000 album units earned, 61,000 of which were credited to physical album sales and made it the top-selling album of the week. A total of 3,000 album units were attributed to the 3.57 million on-demand streams racked up by fans.

Claiming the only two spots ahead of Iron Maiden were rapper Drake, for his new album Certified Lover Boy, and rapper Kanye West's Donda, which fell to No. 2 after taking the No. 1 position the week before. Maiden also earned a No. 2 spot in the U.K., bested again by Drake.

These sales figures, however, are significant for other reasons.

Iron Maiden earned the second-largest week in 2021 for a hard rock/metal album for both album equivalent sales (64,000) and physical sales (61,000), falling behind Foo Fighters and their new album, Medicine at Midnight, which moved 70,000 unites in total, 64,000 of which were physical sales.

Senjutsu's No. 3 spot also marks the 15th time Iron Maiden have breached the chart's Top 40 position. The previous triumphs came with the release of every studio album with Bruce Dickinson as the singer, as well as the live albums Live After Death (1985) and Flight 666 (2009).

This is also the fourth consecutive time an Iron Maiden studio album has debuted inside the Billboard 200's Top 10.

A Matter of Life and Death, the 2009 album which peaked at No. 9, followed by 2010's The Final Frontier and 2015's The Book of Souls both reaching No. 4 and, now, Senjutsu at No. 3 are also the only instances in which Maiden have cracked the Top 10 stateside and those positions are well aligned with the band's soaring 21st century career arc.

Before Senjutsu's Sept. 3 release, we spoke with frontman Bruce Dickinson about Maiden's first record in six years. Read and/or watch the complete interview here.

Congratulations to Iron Maiden on earning their highest Billboard 200 position ever.

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