Ghost frontman Tobias Forge took on an unenviable task yesterday (May 27) at the Polar Music Prize ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.
The prestigious event honored Queen for their extraordinary contributions to music, and it also featured a performance from Forge, who sang “Bohemian Rhapsody” to a crowd that contained Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf. Forge’s performance also featured Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir.
Following the performance, May and Taylor are seen giving a standing ovation, which had to make Forge feel great. Again, performing such a legendary song in front of the legends who made it so had to be incredibly nerve-racking.
This performance caps off quite a May for Forge and Ghost. , the band’s new studio album, Skeletá, topped the Billboard 200 album chart. It marked the first No. 1 album in the United States for Ghost.
Per , Skeletá moved 86,000 units, with about 89% of that figure coming from traditional album sales. Vinyl sales, in particular, tallied just over 44,000 copies, which is “the biggest week for a hard rock album on vinyl in the modern era,” which began when Luminate (fka: SoundScan) began tracking figures in 1991.
The outlet further notes that Skeletá marks the first time in four years that a hard rock album has topped the Billboard 200 album chart. The last hard rock album to top the chart was AC/DC’s Power Up in November 2020.
