Tame Impala wins the Top Rock & Metal of September 2026 with Deadbeatin front of the live Mexican performance of Twenty One Pilots and the Rolling Stones. Airbourne and Mastodon enter the monthly top 10, driven by a back-to-school season full of new releases.
The Top Rock Metal September 2026, SNEP’s monthly ranking, covers five weeks, from Friday August 21 to Thursday September 24, 2026, i.e. weeks 35 to 39 of the weekly ranking. A month dominated by a single album: Deadbeat held first place four out of five weeks. Behind, the start of the school year brought in thirty-one albums missing from the August report.
Top Rock Metal September: Tame Impala in front of Twenty One Pilots and the Rolling Stones
#1 Tame Impala – Deadbeat
Overall for the month, first place goes to Kevin Parker. Deadbeatreleased in October 2025 by Columbia, was second in week 35, then held the head of the weekly ranking from weeks 36 to 39. Third in the August report, the album therefore gained two places. He thus returned to the top of the monthly ranking, which he had already occupied in April and May.
#2 Twenty One Pilots – More Than We Ever Imagined (Live From Mexico City)
This is the best entry of the month. Published on August 21, the live recorded in Mexico directly took the lead in the weekly ranking in week 35. It then remained between 3rd and 4th place until the end of the period. This regularity ensures him the second step.
#3 The Rolling Stones – Foreign Tongues
Winners in August, the Stones fell two places. Foreign Tongues remained in the weekly top 4 for four weeks (3rd, 2nd, 3rd then 4th), before slipping to 7th place in week 39.
The monthly top 10: Linkin Park, Muse, Indochine, Airbourne and Mastodon
#4 Linkin Park – From Zero
#6 Linkin Park – Papercuts – Singles Collection 2000-2023
Linkin Park remains the only artist with two albums in the monthly top 10. From Zero gained one place compared to August. His best weekly rank of the month is a second place, in week 38. The compilation Papercuts also progresses by one rank, after having oscillated between 5th and 10th place.
#5 Muse – The Wow! Signal
Muse loses a place. The Wow! Signal sailed between 5th and 8th place weekly throughout the month.
#7 Indochina – Babel Babel
Indochine remains the first French album in the ranking and gains one rank compared to August. Babel Babel reached #7 weekly in week 38.
#8 Airbourne – Airbourne
The Australians have the second best entry of the month. Their eponymous album, released on September 4 by Spinefarm, is their first since Boneshakerin 2019. Entering 2nd weekly rank in week 37, it then fell to 9th then to 13th. Three weeks of presence are enough for him to enter the top 10.
#9 Evanescence – Sanctuary
Evanescence gains one place. Sanctuary had an irregular month, with a dip to 24th in week 36, then a rise to 6th in week 37.
#10 Mastodon – Marrow Deep
The Atlanta quartet closes the top 10. Released August 28 by Concord Records, Marrow Deep entered 3rd weekly rank in week 36, before gradually falling to 24th in week 39.
The Strokes, Marilyn Manson, Interpol: the rest of the top 20
Just behind the top 10, The Strokes fall to 11th place. Second in August, they suffered from a more discreet weekly presence, between 9th and 15th place. Likewise, Marilyn Manson, sixth in August, fell to 12th place. One Assassination Under God – Chapter 2 rose from 6th to 29th weekly rank over the month.
The releases of August 28 also hold their place. Interpol takes 13th place with This Mirror Weighs a Tonentered at 5th weekly rank in week 36. The three Villarreal sisters from The Warning follow at 15th with Everything’s Falling. The French Dynamite Shakers arrive in 18th with Marilynpublished by Barclay and entered at number 9 weekly.
Between the two, Phoebe Bridgers falls to 14th place with Lost Weekend. Scorpions ranks 16th with From the First Stingclimbed to 8th weekly rank in week 38. Fontaines DC (17th), Electric Callboy (19th) and Falling In Reverse (20th) complete the top 20.
Top Rock Metal September entries: Anthrax, Beck and the Cranberries
In total, thirty-one albums enter the monthly ranking compared to August. In addition to the six already mentioned in the top 20, several new releases from September are available despite a short presence.
This is the case of Anthrax, 26th with Cursum Perficioand Beck, 35th with Ride Lonesome. Both albums have only one week in the period, week 39, where they were 2nd and 5th respectively on the weekly chart.
The Cranberries release two albums. Live at the London Astoria II, 1994 comes in 24th place, and MTV Unplugged at the 66th. Kiss enters at 28th with Destroys Anaheim ’76 and Westside Cowboy at 31st with It Goes On.
Further on, Steve Hackett and Steve Rothery (37th), Sortilège (39th), Weezer (40th) and Accept (41st) sign their arrival. Then Lambchop (42nd), President (44th), Dinosaur Jr. (45th), The Cramps (52nd), Kasabian (53rd) and Kamelot (54th) follow. Finally, Alabama Shakes (59th), Behemoth (62nd), The Neighborhood (63rd), Bloc Party (75th), Audrey Horne (79th), beabadoobee (81st), Chelsea Wolfe (86th), Arab Strap (90th) and Ty Segall (98th) complete the list.
Rises and falls compared to August
The strongest progression of the month goes to Alain Bashung. The Album of his life gained twenty-nine places, from 54th to 25th place. In particular, it reached 12th weekly rank in week 38. Turnstile follows with twenty-one places gained for Never Enough (71st to 50th), and The Cure wins seven with Songs of a Lost World (37th to 30th).
Conversely, the influx of new releases pushes several albums to the bottom of the chart. Clancy of Twenty One Pilots lost fifty-six places (26th to 82nd) and Tricky forty-six (25th to 71st). Archive (46th to 89th) and Paul McCartney & Wings (57th to 100th) each lost forty-three.
Furthermore, Jack White goes from 12th to 48th place with Frozen Charlotte. Pink Floyd lost forty-one places with 8-Tracks (35th to 76th). Finally, Hackney Diamonds of the Rolling Stones fell thirty-one places (36th to 67th).
Thirty-one albums leave the monthly ranking. Among them are Foo Fighters, Placebo, Megadeth, Green Day and Lenny Kravitz. Also released are Iggy Pop, Yes, The Black Keys, Kneecap, Jethro Tull and The Hu.
Metal in the monthly ranking
Hard rock and metal place two albums in the top 10, with Airbourne (8th) and Mastodon (10th). Evanescence (9th) and Marilyn Manson (12th) follow closely. Then Scorpions (16th and 29th), Electric Callboy (19th), Falling In Reverse (20th) and Anthrax (26th) complete the first tranche.
Further on, we find Kiss (28th), Ultra Vomit (32nd), Motionless In White (34th) and Sortilège (39th). Accept (41st), Kamelot (54th), Landmvrks (55th), Behemoth (62nd) and Sleep Token (65th) follow. Bring Me The Horizon places three albums (36th, 47th and 87th), and Ghost two (74th and 84th). Judas Priest (77th), Audrey Horne (79th) and Powerwolf (92nd) bring up the rear.
Lives and catalogs
Public albums remain numerous in this Top Rock Metal September. In addition to Twenty One Pilots (2nd), Nickelback (23rd), The Cranberries (24th and 66th), Kiss (28th) and Scorpions with Coming Home Live (29th) are one of them. Lynyrd Skynyrd (38th), Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (56th) and Hollywood Vampires (72nd) too. Further on, David Gilmour (78th), Pink Floyd (83rd), Bring Me The Horizon (87th), Powerwolf (92nd), The 1975 (96th) and The Living Tombstone (99th) complete the list.
On the catalog side, Linkin Park maintains its compilation Papercuts in the top 10. Bryan Ferry (95th) and Judas Priest (77th) also appear in the ranking with retrospectives.
The French scene: Indochine, Dynamite Shakers and Bashung
Indochina remains at the head of the French contingent, in 7th place. Dynamite Shakers follows in 18th, Matmatah in 21st with Brestthen Alain Bashung in 25th. Ultra Vomit (32nd), Sortilège (39th), entered this month, and Jean-Louis Aubert (46th) with Pafini complete the first half of the table.
Further down, Landmvrks ranks 55th. Manu Chao (64th), Skip The Use (88th) and Kyo (93rd) follow. On the other hand, Louise Attaque, The Limiñanas and Birds on a Wire leave the monthly ranking. On the French-speaking side, Quebec remains represented by Angine de Poitrine (51st and 61st), and Belgium by Ghinzu (70th).
Who distributes rock in France
The three majors share 64 of the 100 albums of the month. Universal Music France distributes 26, Warner Music France 22 and Sony Music Entertainment 16. Integral Virgin Music Group follows with 15 albums. Among the independent structures, Season of Mist places six, Modulor four and Bigwax Distribution three.
Top Rock Metal September 2026: what to remember?
First, the solidity of Tame Impala. Four weeks at the top of the weekly are enough to Deadbeat to return to the top of the monthly ranking, almost a year after its release.
Then, the weight of the start of the school year. Twenty One Pilots, Airbourne and Mastodon all enter the top 10, and thirty-one albums appear compared to August.
Finally, the fragility of recent releases. Anthrax and Beck only had one week to rank, and week 40 already shows a new reversal: Linkin Park has taken the lead there. To follow the ranking over time, find our analysis for the month of August.
Find the ranking
The official SNEP website
Find the complete ranking each week on our site
Find the ranking every week on our social networks: Facebook I Instagram
Find this ranking also on the website of partner media Hard Force.
Each month in the monthly paper with an analysis of trends by our journalists, subscribe.
The methodology of this official Top Rock & Metal ranking
New albums (marketed for less than three years) from the rock and metal repertoires, indicated as such by the distributor, are eligible for Top Rock & Metal. This classification takes into account media sales as well as digital audio and video exploitation, according to the parameters defined by the profession and transcribed in the top rules developed by the SNEP. The stated aim is to “show the richness and diversity of musical successes that adopted these aesthetics”explains Alexandre Lasch, general director of SNEP, to the editorial staff. A new classification which fits into a perspective already put in place by the organization: “We had already set up classifications with classical and jazz. We therefore wanted to show more of the successes of rock and metal in France. »
