Chart Success
Contraband debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 256,000 copies in its first week of release. Notably, this marked the best-ever debut for a new rock artist in the SoundScan era. The album would eventually sell over 2.9 million copies in the United States, and 4 million worldwide.
The first single, "Slither", topped a composite world modern rock chart in June, and later hit #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart for 8 weeks. The follow-up, "Fall to Pieces", was a major crossover hit that reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart for 11 weeks.
In 2005, Velvet Revolver won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance, an award Weiland had previously won for the Stone Temple Pilots song "Plush" in 1994. At the ceremony, they were asked to play the music for a cover of The Beatles' "Across the Universe". The live recording was a hit on iTunes, with all proceeds going to charity. In January 2005, Velvet Revolver were also asked to play the music for a cover of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven". The single was to aid victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, with all proceeds going to Save the Children Foundation.
Read more about this topic: Contraband (Velvet Revolver album)
Famous quotes containing the words chart and/or success:
“Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many peoples must do the building.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“The I’m-going-to-win-no-matter-how-I-have-to-do-it attitude just doesn’t seem to fit. For me, a contest isn’t a success unless it was fun, whether or not I win.”
—Margo Godfrey Oberg (b. c. 1955)