Nearly 23 years after ‘Weak And Powerless,’ the band is back on top of rock radio — and this time the follow-up is already out.
By Gigi Rose — CelebnMusic247
Some comebacks are nostalgia trips. This one is not. A Perfect Circle has reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Starless,” per Blabbermouth, marking the band’s first chart-topper in nearly 23 years. For a group that has always moved slowly, deliberately and on its own schedule, that number lands hard — because it says listeners are not just revisiting the old records. They are showing up for the new song.
“Starless” was released on May 27, and it held No. 1 for two consecutive weeks, on the chart weeks dated October 3 and October 10. It is only the band’s second career leader on that chart. The first was “Weak And Powerless,” which spent two weeks at No. 1 in 2003, back when Thirteenth Step was turning a side project into something much bigger.
A Slow Build That Kept Building
What I love about this run is how unhurried it feels. “Starless” has also climbed to No. 10 on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, the group’s first-ever Top 10 there. That is not a one-week spike driven by curiosity. That is a song finding people week after week, the way the best rock songs used to — a voice you recognise instantly, a guitar line that opens up instead of showing off, and a slow build that rewards you for staying.
Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howerdel wrote the track, with longtime collaborator Josh Freese on drums. It was recorded at Howerdel’s Lankershim Ranch Studio in Studio City, produced by Howerdel and mixed by Matty Green. Howerdel has said some songs get worked on for years, while this one took shape quickly, as if it had been there all along. You can hear that ease in it. Nothing sounds forced.
Sean Heydorn, SVP and head of rock at Rise Records, BMG, put it plainly in the Blabbermouth report: few bands nearly three decades in are still creating moments this impactful, and the No. 1 proves fans are responding to where the band is now, not just its legacy.
The Next Chapter Is Already Moving
The band is not treating “Starless” as a victory lap. A Perfect Circle has already followed it with a second new release of 2026, “To Whom It May Concern,” described as a counterpoint to the more muscular “Starless” — the quieter, more nuanced side of the songwriting that has kept fans loyal through long gaps between albums.
There is road work ahead, too. Per Blabbermouth, the band resumes its global tour on November 25, with dates across Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Hawaii, then launches a North American leg on April 13, with Puscifer joining from April 13 to 25 and The Cult from April 27 to June 13. Earlier this month the band also released a new video built around the debut live performance of “Starless,” filmed at a sold-out London show this summer.
If you came in on “Judith” or “3 Libras” and drifted away during the quiet years, this is the moment to come back. Start with “Starless” loud, then stay for “To Whom It May Concern” — power and patience, in the same band, at the same time.
The 247 Take — Twenty-three years between No. 1s would end most stories; for A Perfect Circle it reads like a band that waited until it had something worth topping a chart with, and then did it twice in two weeks.
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Sources: Blabbermouth
