A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle
“Starless” holds the No. 1 position on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart dated 3 October, and the number that matters is the gap. A Perfect Circle last topped the chart with “Weak and Powerless” in 2003, which makes “Starless” the band’s second No. 1 and its first in nearly 23 years, according to Billboard.
The span between the two, 22 years and 11 months, is the second-longest wait between No. 1s in the chart’s 45-year history. Only Pearl Jam waited longer, going 26 years between “Given to Fly” in 1998 and “Dark Matter” in 2024.
The Run Between Two No. 1s
“Weak and Powerless” held the top spot for two weeks in 2003. In the years since, A Perfect Circle reached the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart eight more times without returning to No. 1. Its best placement in that stretch was No. 3, for “The Outsider” in 2004. Singer Maynard James Keenan did reach the top in between with his other band, Tool, whose “The Pot” was a No. 1 in 2006.
The band’s recording history explains much of the gap. Billy Howerdel and Keenan formed A Perfect Circle in 1999, and its debut album, Mer de Noms, reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in 2000 with “Judith”, “3 Libras” and “The Hollow”, according to Noise11. WRIF notes it became the highest-charting debut rock album of its time. Thirteenth Step followed in 2003, and eMOTIVe, a collection built largely around reworked covers, in 2004. After that the band went quiet for long stretches while Keenan concentrated on Tool and later Puscifer, and Howerdel developed his own projects.
Eat the Elephant ended the long silence in 2018. It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, and it has earned 292,000 equivalent album units to date, Billboard reports. “Kindred” followed in 2024. “Starless”, released in May, is a standalone single.
Where Starless Sits on the Other Rock Charts
The No. 1 is not the only placement. On the all-rock-format Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Starless” climbs 12-10 on 2.9 million audience impressions in the week ending 24 September, according to Luminate data cited by Billboard. That is the band’s first top 10 on that chart, which began in 2009. Its previous best there was “By and Down” at No. 26 in 2014.
“Starless” also ranks No. 12 on the multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, after earning 229,000 chart-eligible streams in the tracking week. Set side by side, the placements show where the song’s strength sits: No. 1 at rock radio, No. 10 across all rock formats and No. 12 once streaming is counted. It is a radio record first, and the airplay numbers are what carried it to the top.
How Starless Was Made
“Starless” was recorded at Howerdel’s Lankershim Ranch Studio in Studio City, California. Howerdel produced it, Matty Green mixed it and Josh Freese, a longtime A Perfect Circle collaborator, played drums, according to WRIF. A seven-inch vinyl edition was released through Revolver in silver/black and white with sea blue and black splatter variants, with a custom etching of the band’s crescent logo on the B-side.
Howerdel hinted at more during the band’s European tour, which opened in London in early June. “There’s more underway. And in the spirit of soft deadlines, I’m not gonna give you the date, but we’re working toward something,” he said in a radio interview quoted by WRIF. He also admitted that touring makes progress slow: “We’re on tour. It’s hard to get solid things done when you’re out here.”
To Whom It May Concern Is Next
The band followed the chart result with a second new song. “To Whom It May Concern” arrived at the end of September as A Perfect Circle’s second new recording of 2026, Noise11 reports. It was written earlier this year and recorded at Lankershim Ranch, with Howerdel producing, Matty Green mixing and Freese on drums. Green’s mixing and production credits include U2, Florence + the Machine and TV on the Radio.
“It’s exciting to finally get some new music out into the world, and seeing ‘Starless’ reach #1 at rock radio this week has made it even sweeter,” Howerdel said. “The outpouring of support is so very much appreciated. ‘To Whom It May Concern’ is next up! More to come.”
Two new songs in one year is a change of pace for a band whose releases have often been years apart. Neither track has been confirmed for an album: A Perfect Circle’s current plans stop short of announcing one, Noise11 notes, while Howerdel’s “more to come” leaves the door open.
A Singles Band Again
The chart run fits an approach the band has been moving towards for years. Since Eat the Elephant, A Perfect Circle’s releases have followed the shorter-form approach that Howerdel and Keenan had discussed at various points in the band’s history, Noise11 notes: “Kindred” in 2024, “Starless” in May and now “To Whom It May Concern”. Each song can be released, worked at radio and played live without the band committing to a full album cycle.
The numbers show the approach working at radio. “Starless” outperformed every A Perfect Circle single of the past two decades on Mainstream Rock Airplay, beating the No. 3 peak of “The Outsider”, and gave the band its first top 10 on the wider Rock & Alternative Airplay chart. Its 229,000 chart-eligible streams in the tracking week point to a smaller footprint on streaming services, which is why its Hot Hard Rock Songs placement sits below the airplay ones.
An album is still the stated goal. “To get real cracking on to the new album, it’s gonna be… I need a couple more of these days to line up over the next tour,” Howerdel said in June, according to WRIF. For now, the singles are doing the work of keeping the band on the rankings between those days.
The Tour Dates Behind the Chart Run
The chart position arrives just ahead of a long run of live dates. A Perfect Circle returns to Australia in December for four dates followed by two shows in Sydney, then travels to Auckland, Tokyo and Osaka. The Australian leg includes Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on 6 December, with Puscifer as special guest.
A North American tour follows from April to June 2027. Puscifer will join the Canadian dates and the Detroit show, giving Keenan the task of performing with two of his bands on the same run, while The Cult support the remaining US dates. Tickets for the North American shows went on sale on 2 October, after presales opened on 1 October, according to Noise11.
What the Gap Tells Us
The two longest waits in the chart’s 45-year history now belong to Pearl Jam and A Perfect Circle. Pearl Jam hold the record at 26 years and have stayed in the headlines since, most recently when Pearl Jam borrowed a Beatle’s drummer and left fans guessing. A Perfect Circle now sit second at 22 years and 11 months.
For A Perfect Circle, the more useful number may be the next one. “Starless” reached No. 1 as a standalone single, a second song is already at radio, and the band has a world tour booked into mid-2027. If “To Whom It May Concern” follows “Starless” up the airplay chart, the gap to the band’s third No. 1 could be measured in months rather than decades.
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