After nearly 40 years of charting, Megadeth has finally reached the pinnacle: the band’s self-titled final album has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, dated February 7, 2026, according to Billboard. This marks the first time the iconic metal act has claimed the top spot in its long and storied career.
Megadeth made its Billboard 200 debut in 1986 with Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?, and since then, the band has placed 23 albums on the chart. Before this week, their highest position was No. 2, achieved by Countdown to Extinction in 1992. Billboard reports that the new album earned 73,000 equivalent album units in the week ending January 29, marking the group’s best sales week since Billboard started tracking multi-metric consumption in 2014.
Physical album sales drove much of that success, with 69,000 copies sold across CD, vinyl, and digital formats—the largest sales week for Megadeth since Risk debuted in 1999. Of those, 56,000 were physical purchases, including 22,000 vinyl units, making it their strongest week on vinyl in the modern era. Additional boosts came from more than a dozen vinyl variants, a Target-exclusive CD with a bonus track, and a deluxe digital edition featuring another bonus track. Streaming also contributed, with 4,000 streaming equivalent units, equal to over 4 million on-demand streams.
The album arrived on January 23, following the release of the documentary Megadeth: Behind the Mask, which hit theaters just one day earlier. Fans will soon be able to celebrate the band’s farewell in person, as their final tour begins February 15 in Victoria, British Columbia.
