Bad Omens complete their quickest trip to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, topping the Oct. 18-dated survey with “Specter,” which rises two spots to become the band’s second leader.
“Specter” rules the tally in its eighth week, far surpassing the 27 frames it took the band’s previous leader, “Just Pretend,” to reign in 2023. (That 27-week run to No. 1 remains the sixth-longest in the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart’s 44-year history.)
In between “Just Pretend” and “Specter,” Bad Omens reached Mainstream Rock Airplay twice, peaking at No. 2 in 2023 with “The Death of Peace of Mind” and No. 9 in 2024 with its Poppy collaboration “V.A.N.”
The Richmond, Va., band first appeared on Mainstream Rock Airplay in 2020 with “Limits,” which reached No. 19, and initially reached the top 10 in 2022 with the No. 10-peaking “Like a Villain.”
Concurrently, “Specter” climbs 19-15 on Alternative Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, the song bullets at its No. 3 best with 4.1 million audience impressions in the week ending Oct. 9, up 10%, according to Luminate. The latter is Bad Omens’ best, topping the No. 4 peak of “Just Pretend.”
“Specter” ranked at No. 2 on the most recently published, multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs list (dated Oct. 11, reflecting data accumulated Sept. 26-Oct. 2), after spending two weeks at No. 1. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 1.7 million official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 in that span.
Bad Omens released their most recent proper studio album, The Death of Peace of Mind, in 2022, followed by 2024’s Concrete Jungle (a guest-heavy companion to the graphic novel Bad Omens – Concrete Jungle, Volume 1) and fellow new track “Impose” last month. A new album has not yet been announced.
All Billboard charts dated Oct. 18 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Oct. 14.
