GHOST's 'Rats' Is Longest-Running No. 1 Song On BILLBOARD's 'Mainstream Rock Songs' Chart This Year

“Rats”, the latest single from the Grammy Award-winning Swedish hard rock band GHOST, today enters its seventh consecutive week as the No. 1 song on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart, becoming the longest-running track to top that chart this year. Released this past spring, “Rats” has already accumulated more than 25 million streams worldwide, and the companion music video has logged more than 11 million views.

It is the Swedish band’s second No. 1, following “Square Hammer”, which topped the chart for two weeks in January-February 2017.

Two other GHOST songs previously made it to the Mainstream Rock Songs chart: “Cirice” (No. 4, 2015) and “From The Pinnacle To The Pit” (No. 5, 2016).

GHOST lead singer Tobias Forge, who performs under the name Cardinal Copia, told The Pulse Of Radio what inspired him to write “Rats”, the first single from the band’s new album, “Prequelle”. “A few years ago, I decided, like, ‘I really want to have a big opening track that just blows people’s minds immediately,'” he said. “So I wrote ‘Square Hammer’ and that went well. But I didn’t want ‘Square Hammer’ to turn into a ‘Start Me Up’, where that always feels best to play first. I want to be able to mix it up. So we needed another song that works as an opening track. That was basically my intention with ‘Rats’.”

The official video for “Rats” can be seen below. The clip was directed by Roboshobo (a.k.a. Robert Schober), who has previously worked with METALLICA, ALICE IN CHAINS, MASTODON and GREEN DAY, among others.

“Prequelle” was recorded last year at Artery studios in Stockholm with producer Tom Dalgety (OPETH, ROYAL BLOOD) and was mixed in January at Westlake Studios in West Hollywood, California with Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, SLAYER).

Forge has said that the theme of the album has to do in part with the arrival of the Black Plague in Europe, among other events in history.

Forge last year revealed his identity while responding to a lawsuit filed by four former members of GHOST, who accused him of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the group’s album releases and world tours.

GHOST will hit the road this fall for its “A Pale Tour Named Death” tour that commences October 25 in Dallas, Texas, and includes two headline arena shows, The Forum in Los Angeles on November 16, and New York City’s Barclays Center on December 15.