Richie Faulkner Wants Judas Priest’s Next Album to Hit the Top of Billboard’s Charts

The details surrounding it may be kinda nebulous at the moment, but it’s pretty common knowledge that Judas Priest have a new album in the works. As things progress and the recording process gets further and further along, people like Richie Faulkner have been out there chatting a lot about it.

During a recent interview with ABC Radio, Faulkner said he wants the next release to not just match 2018’s album Firepower fifth place on the Billboard 200 chart— he wants to blow it out of the water.

“Hopefully we can match that or maybe top it and push it up to No. 1.”

Truth be told, Judas Priest has fared pretty well when it comes to the charts since Rob Halford returned to the band in 2005. For example, Angel of Retribution landed at 13 in 2005, Nostradamus came in at 11 when it was released back in 2008, and 2014’s Redeemer of Souls hit at number 6.

Given the fact that Firepower cracked the top five, Faulkner said he thinks their success stems from the band’s longevity.

“Priest, to me, has always been one of the bands that flies the flag for, not only heavy metal, but British heavy metal. I remember that week in the Billboard top 10 there was country and there was hip-hop and there was pop, and there was heavy metal right there in the middle of it all. It was proud, and it was unmistakable — there it was. In modern times, there’s a healthy chunk of heavy metal right there for everyone to see. So it means a lot.”

So yeah, the whole point of this post is that Richie Faulkner wants the next album to be huge. Not exactly shocking, but given how killer Firepower was, it’s entirely possible.