Thirty Seconds to Mars move to #2

Multi-platinum rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars returns to the album charts this week with the debut of their highly anticipated third album This Is War (EMI/Virgin), landing in the #2 spot on both the Alternative Album Chart and Digital Album chart, selling nearly 71,000 copies in the first week. Alternative Press Magazine praised the album with 4 out 5 stars and calls This is War “an artistic triumph for 30 Seconds To Mars.” This Is War features thousands of different album covers, as friends, fans, musicians, artists and many other notable persons submitted their own photos to be used on individual covers as part of the band’s innovative Faces of Mars campaign. Not only are fans on album covers, the Thirty Seconds To Mars faithful can be heard yelling, clapping, stomping and singing choruses throughout the album. Fans participated in these “Summits” earlier this year in any of 9 countries around the world before the band extended the event digitally through TwitVid, allowing any fan with a wireless signal the ability to contribute.

“The Summit started as an interactive recording experiment and quickly became a defining element to this album,” said frontman Jared Leto. “An extension to this interactive idea is The Faces of Mars campaign. Basically an art project that celebrates the physical release of the cd and gave us a chance to put a face to the thousands and thousands of voices from around the world.”

Thirty Seconds To Mars and This Is War have been top ten trending topics on Twitter for weeks leading up to the release and two of the album’s songs top the Twitter Music Monday chart this week. The first single “Kinds & Queens” and title track “This is War” are #1 and #2 on #MusicMonday at twit40.com, a weekly Twitter trend that gives Tweeters a chance to find and share music. Both singles were released yesterday as bonus downloadable content through the Rock Band online store. “Kings & Queens” raced into the top 5 at Alternative radio where it has spent the last 4 consecutive weeks at #3. The video for “Kings & Queens” is being played on MTV, MTV2, MTVu, VH1, Fuse and Music Choice. Additionally, “The Kill” from 2005’s A Beautiful Lie was recently voted the #1 Alternative Song of the Decade by AOL Radio listeners. Thirty Seconds to Mars was also named “Best Band” in the Kerrang! 2009 Reader’s Poll.

Beyond gracing the covers of this month’s Nylon Guys, Kerrang! and Rock Sound magazines, Thirty Seconds to Mars has spent the last month playing holiday radio shows nationwide in support of This Is War, their first U.S. shows in more than two years. Fans and critics alike have welcomed the band back with open arms. According to the Tampa Bay Times,” Of all the bands at Next Big Thing last weekend, 30 Seconds to Mars knew best how to get the crowd going and how to make the most interactive show I’ve ever seen.” The Mercury News agreed, “In Oakland, there was no denying that this band knows how to put on an entertaining, engaging set.” The Denver Post said that Thirty Seconds to Mars “treated fans to an energetic performance” and that “Leto’s vocals were clean and strong, reaching impressive ranges effortlessly.” On Dec. 10th, the band performed “Kings & Queens” for the first time on television on The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien, a memorable performance that featured the Street Drum Corps, a string quartet and ten-person choir. Jared has been documenting many of the band’s activities with his exclusive Buzznet blog.

Thirty Seconds to Mars will continue to play radio shows throughout December (full schedule below) before headlining their first ever arena tour in Europe in the New Year. A U.S. tour is expected to be announced in early 2010.

Formed by brothers Jared and Shannon Leto, Thirty Seconds to Mars have over 100 million views on YouTube, 40 million plays on MySpace and more than one million fans on iLike/Facebook. The band have won numerous awards and accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, three MTV EMA’s, an MTV Latin and Asia Award, a Fuse Award, and three Kerrang! Awards. Thirty Seconds to Mars’ sophomore record, A Beautiful Lie hit multi-platinum status after two years of heavy touring and winning fans over, one-by-one, garnering the band a growing and loyal fan base. The record spawned two Top 5 Modern Rock singles, “From Yesterday,” which hit #1 and ”The Kill” and the latter set a radio record for the longest-running hit in the history of Modern Rock radio play when it remained on the national airplay chart for more than 50 weeks following its #3 peak in 2006.
Video for “Kings & Queens.”

Thirty Seconds to Mars on Tour
Dec 16 Chicago, IL House of Blues ** Radio Show Q101
Dec 17 Milwaukee, WI The Eagles Ballroom ** Radio Show WLUM
Dec 18 Detroit, MI The Fillmore ** Radio Show 89X
Dec 19 Cleveland, OH House of Blues ** Radio Show WKRK