Tony Iommi Charts His First Solo Top 40 Hit Thanks To An Unlikely Feature

Tony Iommi is regarded as a god in the rock world, and has been for decades. He first rose to prominence as one of the founding members of Black Sabbath and, for years, he helped bring heavy metal to the masses with his signature guitar sound. While he’s primarily known for his work with that group, Iommi does occasionally release music under his own name.

The superstar scores a hit song in his home country of the United Kingdom this week by teaming up with a somewhat surprising figure.

Tony Iommi Charts a New Top 40 Hit

Iommi earns a top 40 hit on both the Official Singles Downloads and Official Singles Sales charts this frame. He joins Robbie Williams on the track “Rocket,” which opens at Nos. 34 and 36, respectively, on those tallies, becoming a top 40 bestseller in the nation.

Tony Iommi’s First Major Solo Smash

It appears that “Rocket” is Iommi’s first solo hit on both of those rankings. As a member of Black Sabbath, he’s only reached the lists once, as “Paranoid” spent one frame on the rosters in August 2022. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that these tallies didn’t exist during the heyday of the heavy metal act.

Iommi has landed more than one solo placement on the Official Rock & Metal Albums roster with his solo collections, but those titles didn’t produce any hit songs across the Atlantic.

Robbie Williams’s Next Chapter

“Rocket” serves as the lead single from Williams’s upcoming album Britpop. It’s interesting that the first taste of a full-length named after a style of pop music from the U.K. wouldn’t typically be classified under that genre, and would feature one of the most recognizable figures in metal — but that’s Williams, playing another one of his jokes.

While Iommi may be new to these rankings, Williams has already scored a number of hits. The pop icon has racked up a dozen smashes on the Official Singles Sales chart and well over two dozen on the Official Singles Downloads list.

A top 40 start is impressive for Iommi but rather low for Williams, one of the most successful pop stars in U.K. history. The tune doesn’t reach the main list of the most consumed songs — the Official Singles chart — at least not yet, which is a bit disappointing.