Tool on Pace for #1 Debut, Unseating Taylor Swift

Update, Sunday, September 8, 4:50pm EDT: The official numbers are in and Tool have done it! Read more about their impressive feat here.

Original Post:

According to Hits Daily Double, Tool’s Fear Inoculum is on pace to nab the #1 spot on this week’s top albums chart with a projected 240-260k of total activity (including streaming equivalents), 220-240k of which is pure album sales.

Slipknot scored the #1 spot in America upon its release in August with 118,000 equivalent albums sold (they hit #1 in other countries too).

Making Tool’s doubling of Slipknot’s tally even more impressive is that they weren’t aided by D2C (direct-to-consumer sales, i.e. via the band or label’s website) or free downloads with live ticket purchases, tactics which both benefitted Slipknot.

Tool will unseat Taylor Swift, whose new album, Lover, debuted at #1 last week but will still make an impressive showing in week two with an estimated 185-200k of total activity (95-105k pure album sales). Swift’s fans, many of whom are too young to have heard of Tool (especially in light of the band’s 13-year absence from releasing new music), have taken to Twitter to share some very entertaining ire and confusion directed the band’s way. You can check out a few such examples below collected by Metal Injection.

Tool just announced a massive North American tour with tickets going on sale to the general public tomorrow, September 6. Get tickets here.