Ghost Becomes Fifth Most Popular Rock Band on Ultimate Guitar

05-08-2025

(muse group) This week, hard rock band Ghost made history by topping the Billboard 200 with their album Skeleta, becoming the first hard rock act in more than four years to reach the first place. Ultimate Guitar, part of Muse Group and the world's most popular tab site, renowned among rock fans, shares new user data. It shows that the band's popularity on the platform doubled since their latest album release, beating giants like Scorpions, Stone Temple Pilots, Iron Maiden, KISS, and The Who.

Data from Ultimate Guitar highlights how guitarists at different skill levels interact with the tabs of popular songs. Unlike streaming or sales metrics, Ultimate Guitar data reflects active musical engagement and reveals which songs musicians actually choose to learn, play, and revisit.

Ghost's total monthly views on Ultimate Guitar spiked from around 100,000 to 200,000 in just one month following the release of their latest album on April 25. Influenced by bands like KISS and Iron Maiden, Ghost surpassed both in Ultimate Guitar's monthly rock band rankings with 205,849 views, trailing only Metallica (727,475 views), Led Zeppelin (611,792 views), Guns N' Roses (601,650 views), and AC/DC (378,044 views). The number of Ghost's songs added to Favorites also increased by 2.6 times from 2,500 to 6,600. "Satanized" is the top-viewed Skeleta track on Ultimate Guitar

Ghost's sixth album, Skeleta, is described by frontman Tobias Forge as more introspective than previous releases. It also introduces Papa V Perpetua, a new persona that continues the band's ongoing narrative. The album's lead single, "Satanized," received the highest number of views among guitarists, 40,730, followed by "Lachryma" and "Peacefield," which received 23,924 and 10,119 views respectively. The remaining tracks received a relatively lower number of views.

Interestingly, in the official album tab collection, created by the Ultimate Guitar team for Pro subscribers, the ranking differs. While the top three remain the same, they are followed by "Umbra", "Missilia Amori", and "Marks Of The Evil Ones", leaving "Guiding Lights", "De Profundis Borealis" and "Excelsis" behind.

Top-viewed tracks from Skeleta on Ultimate Guitar
1. Satanized - 40,747 views
2. Lachryma - 23,924 views
3. Peacefield - 10,119 views
4. Guiding Lights - 3,810 views
5. Umbra - 3,378 views
6. Missilia Amori - 2,465 views
7. Excelsis - 2,457 views
8. Cenotaph - 2,155 views
9. De Profundis Borealis - 2,008 views
10. Marks Of The Evil Ones - 1,485 views

"Mary On A Cross" is still on top - The band's most popular song to play on guitar is "Mary on a Cross," which went viral on TikTok in recent years and led to the release of an official animated music video. On Ultimate Guitar, the song has gained 604,139 views, more than three times the view count of the second most popular track, "Square Hammer," which has 226,792 views. "Cirice," the band's Grammy-winning hit, comes in third with 131,233 views. The lead single from Skeleta, "Satanized," released in March, also entered the top 10.

All time most-viewed Ghost songs on Ultimate Guitar
1. Mary On A Cross - 604,129 views
2. Square Hammer - 226,792 views
3. Cirice - 131,233 views
4. Dance Macabre - 107,520 views
5. Call Me Little Sunshine - 79,371 views
6. He Is - 68,724 views
7. The Future Is A Foreign Land - 57,444 views
8. Life Eternal - 51,746 views
9. Rats - 50,738 views
10. Satanized - 40,747 views

All tab data includes both user-submitted versions and official content curated by the Ultimate Guitar team. The statistics reflect Ghost's all-time most played songs, top tracks from Skeleta, and the overall rock band rankings on Ultimate Guitar as of May 7, 2025.