Ozzy Osbourne’s Huge Posthumous Chart Comeback

Ever since his death this summer, fans of Ozzy Osbourne have been honoring his legacy by buying and streaming the music he created during his decades-long career in huge numbers. The late superstar surged on charts everywhere in the weeks following the tragic news, but as summer turned to autumn, many of his most popular full-lengths and individual tunes began to fall away, as is typical whenever a major musician passes.

Interest in Osbourne’s catalog has grown and declined throughout the past several weeks, and this frame, the rocker brings multiple collections back to the charts in his home country of the United Kingdom — including both solo projects and some of Black Sabbath’s bestsellers — as English rock fans continue to mourn the loss of one of heavy metal’s greatest pioneers.

Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears Becomes a Bestseller Again

Osbourne’s highest-rising return this week is on the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart. No More Tears, his 1991 full-length and sixth solo effort, breaks back onto the genre-specific list at No. 27. As it returns, No More Tears reaches a milestone 10 weeks on the tally as one of the bestselling rock releases in the U.K.

Ordinary Man Finds Its Way Back to the Charts

Another Osbourne solo classic, Ordinary Man, also finds its way back to the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart. That set comes in just a few spaces behind No More Tears, reappearing at No. 33. While Ordinary Man sits below No More Tears at the moment, the former title has spent more than four times as many weeks on the list as the project that’s positioned six spots higher.

Black Sabbath’s The Ultimate Collection Mounts a Comeback

In addition to both No More Tears and Ordinary Man, Black Sabbath’s The Ultimate Collection narrowly manages to find space on the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart as well. The compilation, which gathers together many of the heavy metal outfit’s most famous smashes, was missing from the tally last frame, but is now back at No. 40. The Ultimate Collection has spent more time on the chart than both No More Tears and Ordinary Man combined, as it is now up to 111 weeks on the list.

Paranoid Holds as Black Sabbath Charts Two Albums

Just as Osbourne claims two spots on his own, Black Sabbath likewise scores a pair of bestsellers on the Official Rock & Metal Albums chart this week. The group doesn’t need to push two titles back onto the list, as The Ultimate Collection holds on while Paranoid — perhaps Black Sabbath’s most famous full-length — slips slightly. The album dips three spaces to No. 24 as it nears an impressive 250 weeks on the tally.

How Many No. 1 Albums Did Ozzy Osbourne Chart?

Among those four returning releases, only one has ruled the Official Rock & Metal Albums roster in the past, as Osbourne’s Ordinary Man once spent time running the show. Across his career, he racked up three No. 1s on the tally, as Scream, Ordinary Man, and Patient Number 9 all took short turns ruling. Several other projects, including Ozzmosis, The Ozzman Cometh: The Best Of, Down to Earth, and Black Rain, all narrowly missed the throne by just one spot.

“Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “Crazy Train”

Osbourne claims two hit songs in the U.K. this week. The bigger of the two is “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” which has taken on new meaning since his death. The track reappears at No. 44 on the Official Singles Sales chart and rockets up the Official Singles Downloads list, jumping from No. 97 to No. 41.

At the same time, “Crazy Train” inches upward from No. 34 to No. 28 on the Official Rock & Metal Singles tally. Interestingly, “Mama, I’m Coming Home” does not appear on the genre-specific roster, but it ranks among the top-selling tunes of any style in the nation.

Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” Continues As a Smash

While Osbourne fills a pair of spots on both the Official Rock & Metal Albums and Official Rock & Metal Singles charts, Black Sabbath manages just one success on the songs tally. “Paranoid,” the beloved single from the album of the same name, nearly returns to the top 10 as it lifts two spots to settle at No. 12 on the ranking of the bestselling rock, metal, and hard rock cuts across the U.K.