Led Zeppelin hasn’t released new music in decades, but this week, the group manages an impressive feat on the charts in the United Kingdom.
The band lands inside the top 40 on not one, but two of the country’s most important rock rankings. The rockers manage to score a bestselling, top 40 smash with both an album and a song, which speaks to the act’s ongoing popularity and the strength of that catalog.
Four Symbols Returns as a Top 40 Bestseller
The band claims just one full-length bestseller in the U.K. this frame, and it’s a familiar favorite. Four Symbols — the title by which Led Zeppelin’s fourth album is referred to on the charts in that country, though it’s officially an untitled release — is back inside the top 40 yet again. This time around, the collection lifts one space to No. 36 on the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart, which ranks the bestselling titles in those genres.
Four Symbols once ruled this list and has returned to it many times, thanks to consistent sales and passionate fans. Now, it’s on the verge of hitting another impressive milestone: 600 weeks spent somewhere on the ranking. If it can stick around for just one more frame, the effort will officially become a 600-week veteran on the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart. Even if it disappears before that happens — which it has done plenty of times before — it’s likely only a short break.
“Stairway to Heaven” is Back on the Rock Chart
It’s not just Four Symbols that finds space on a U.K. tally this week. Led Zeppelin also manages to return to the Official Rock & Metal Singles chart, giving the band a hit song in addition to its ever-popular full-length.
“Stairway to Heaven” reappears at No. 39 on the genre-specific singles roster, narrowly breaking into the 40-spot list. It’s impressive that the title still manages to chart at all, especially considering how long ago it was released and the fact that it’s not currently being promoted – and hasn’t been in many years.
Over the course of its 627 total appearances on the ranking, “Stairway to Heaven” has never reached No. 1. The closest it came was a peak at No. 3, which may surprise longtime fans who think of the track as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.
