Skillet Earn Top Five Spot on Billboard 200 Charts

Skillet released their ninth studio album, Rise, last Wednesday (July 3) and it has managed to sell 60,000 copies its first week out, earning the band the Number Four spot on the Billboard 200 charts. The group’s 2009 album Awake is still their highest ranking album, reaching the Number Two spot when it was released.

Rise also earned the band the number one spot one both the Rock and the Christian Album Charts, the highest the band has ever been on the Rock Charts. And if that wasn't enough to get the band excited, the first four singles to be released from the album: "Sick Of It," "American Noise," "Rise" and "Not Gonna Die," have all reached the Number One or Number Two spot on the iTunes song charts. You can check out the lyric videos for "American Noise" and "Not Gonna Die" below, and in my opinion, the artwork has to be the best part of the album.

Keyboard and guitar player Korey Cooper said that the band was more prepared to make this album than any before, saying, "We kind of went in the studio knowing the arrangements we wanted, the sounds we wanted. Most of my programming was done prior to the studio. Guitar tones we wanted...everything was pretty much set, so it was a matter of just choosing what songs we were gonna do."

In other news, the band is set to make their late night debut this Thursday (July 11) on Conan, which airs on TBS at 10 o'clock. Skillet will set out in support of their latest album alongside Shinedown, Papa Roach, In This Moment and We As Humans on the Carnival Of Madness tour, which kicks off on August 13th Cleveland.