Evanescence has finally scored its first number one on a Billboard chart. The Grammy-winning band’s new single “Who Will You Follow” debuts at number one on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart this week, after the group returned in 2025 with the song “Afterlife”. The single, which dropped a little more than a week ago, debuts on more than half a dozen Billboard rankings this week — eight in total — and earns the band its first leader on any tally. It also immediately leads the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales ranking.
A long wait for the top spot
The number one is a milestone for a band that has been a fixture of rock radio for more than two decades without ever topping this particular chart. “Who Will You Follow” collects Evanescence’s seventh career placement on the Hot Hard Rock Songs chart and its fifth top 10, beating the frustrating number two peak of both of the band’s previous best-performing entries on the tally. The chart itself belongs largely to soloist Bilmuri this week — he fills nine spaces on the tally as multiple tunes from his new album Kind of Hard Launch appear — but the top spot belongs to Evanescence.
A new album on the way
“Afterlife” is set to feature on Evanescence’s upcoming album Sanctuary, which is expected to arrive in mid-June. “Who Will You Follow” is the first big single taken exclusively from that set, and its chart debut suggests the album will arrive with real momentum behind it. For a band that has spent several years quiet, the return has been emphatic: a new single, a first Billboard number one, and a new album on the horizon. The Hot Hard Rock Songs chart may be a specialist tally, but for Evanescence — and for the fans who have waited years for new music — it counts.
Sources: Forbes (Hugh McIntyre, Nov 6, first No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, debuts on 8 Billboard charts, leads Hard Rock Digital Song Sales); Billboard chart data via Forbes.
