Radiohead’s Surprise Album Becomes An Instant Bestseller

Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003–2009) debuts at No. 3 on the iTunes Top Albums charts in both the U.S. and U.K. BELGIUM – JUNE 26: ROCK WERCHTER Photo of RADIOHEAD, 26-06-2003/RADIOHEAD/WERCHTER/BELGIE (Photo by Peter Pakvis/Redferns)

Redferns

Radiohead is in the midst of an exciting period of success, even though until just a few hours ago, the group had not delivered new music in years. In mid-2025, the album cut “Let Down” suddenly went viral after being featured in an episode of the FX series The Bear. That track has been rising on charts globally for weeks, bringing with it a number of the band’s other classics and even several full-lengths.

Perhaps to capitalize on this moment, Radiohead dropped Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003–2009) on Wednesday (August 13), and it’s become an instant bestseller.

Radiohead Follows KPop Demon Hunters and Baby Metal

The live set immediately debuts inside the top 10 on the iTunes Top Albums charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The Radiohead project opens at No. 3 in each market. Radiohead comes in behind the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack and Metal Forth by Babymetal, which sit at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

Radiohead’s Second Live Album

Radiohead has only released two live sets throughout its decades together. In the fall of 2001, I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings arrived, and it went on to crack the top 40 on the Official Albums chart in the U.K. and just barely missed that region on the Billboard 200 in America.

A Surprise Live Set From Radiohead

The band’s latest live project came as a surprise, and it became available digitally the moment it was announced. The full-length features performances of tracks from its sixth album Hail to the Thief, which were recorded in various cities — including London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, and Dublin — between 2003 and 2009, as the project’s title suggests. A vinyl pressing is expected on Halloween.

Hail to the Thief Arrived More Than Two Decades Ago

Hail to the Thief dropped in June 2003. By the time it arrived, the set had leaked online, but that didn’t stop it from reaching No. 1 in the U.K. and giving the group another top 10 success on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. Like every other Radiohead studio effort, the set earned critical acclaim and its popularity helped the band collect a fifth consecutive Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. The live album follows a few months after Hamlet Hail to the Thief, a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that included reworked music from the album by Thom Yorke.