Avenged Sevenfold album 'The Stage' debuts in Top 5

The Stage, the new studio album from Southern California hard rock/metal band Avenged Sevenfold, has debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of roughly 72,000 in the United States. This is the group's lowest first-week sales tally since their 2005 City of Evil album, which debuted at No. 30 after selling roughly 30,000 copies in its initial week. Avenged Sevenfold's previous two albums, Hail to the King (2013) and Nightmare (2010), both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 159,000 and 163,000, respectively. Meanwhile, the band's 2007 self-titled full-length sold about 90,000 copies in its debut week, and also bowed at No. 4 on the aforementioned chart. The Stage was released on Friday, October 28. Surprisingly, its release was not announced ahead of time and was a well-kept secret right up until its street date.