NASHVILLE, Tenn. — September 16, 2026 — Multi-Platinum rock band Skillet is celebrating a major career milestone with 30M RIAA certified units across 21 titles, including 11 newly awarded honors, as the band prepares to release its new independent EP, After the Storm, October 9. Leading the latest wave is the career-defining smash "Monster," now 7x Platinum, alongside "Hero" at 4x Platinum and both "Awake and Alive" and "Feel Invincible" at 3x Platinum.

Leading the new certifications is Skillet's career-defining smash "Monster," now 7x Platinum, further cementing its place among rock's most enduring hits. The song has surpassed 5 billion global streams and made history as the first song by a Christian artist to cross one billion streams on Spotify.

The band's 11 newly awarded RIAA certifications include:

"Monster" — 7x Platinum

"Hero" — 4x Platinum

"Awake and Alive" — 3x Platinum

"Feel Invincible" — 3x Platinum

"Not Gonna Die" — Platinum

"Falling Inside the Black" — Gold

"Finish Line" — Gold

"Rise" — Gold

"Sick of It" — Gold

"Back From the Dead" — Gold

"Unleashed" — Platinum

The certifications arrive during one of the strongest periods of global momentum in Skillet's career. The band currently averages more than 12 million monthly Spotify listeners, while a new generation continues to discover its music through streaming, social media, gaming and sports. Earlier this year, Skillet completed its biggest international run to date, playing to approximately 90,000 fans across 23 European cities, with sold-out shows and record-setting ticket sales at venues including Paris' Zénith.

And while Skillet's catalog continues to reach new heights, the band is firmly focused on what comes next.

Arriving October 9, the six-song After the Storm finds Skillet returning to a heavier, rawer sound while frontman John Cooper delivers some of the most vulnerable and hopeful songwriting of his career. Produced by David Cowell (Sleep Theory), the project brought Cooper back to his hometown of Memphis to record for the first time since Skillet's 2003 album Collide.

"This EP is special to me," says Cooper. "It reignites what Skillet was always meant to be — which is music that helps lift people out of dark times. I wrote these songs because I needed to be lifted out of my darkness."

The EP's latest single, "Lift Me Up," follows "Scream," which has already surpassed 5 million global streams. Both songs reflect the intensely personal season behind After the Storm, which finds Cooper writing candidly about betrayal, anger, depression, faith, perseverance and ultimately hope.

"Lift Me Up" pairs a syncopated groove and crushing guitar riff with Cooper's declaration, "I'm not gonna die tonight. I'm gonna rise above it."

"When I wrote it, so many things were dragging me down," Cooper says. "I was asking God to lift me up."

"Scream," meanwhile, channels the frustration and volatility Cooper sees permeating modern culture — and his own struggle through a difficult personal season — into an explosive cry for meaning and help.

Skillet will take the new music on the road this fall with a U.S. headline tour beginning in October, bringing together a catalog that now spans multiple generations of fans with the next chapter of the band's music. Tickets are available at Skillet.com

With more than 23 million albums sold worldwide, two GRAMMY Award nominations, a Billboard Music Award, three Top 5 albums on the Billboard 200 and an expanding collection of Gold and Multi-Platinum certifications, Skillet has built one of rock music's most enduring careers without sacrificing the identity that has defined the band from the beginning.

Nearly three decades into its career, Skillet isn't looking back on its legacy — it's writing its next chapter.After the Stormarrives as the band reaches one of the biggest audiences of its career, pairing extraordinary catalog growth with its most vulnerable and hopeful music to date.

ABOUT SKILLET:

Skillet tap into the sound of surviving any adversity, dusting yourself off, and getting back up again for another round. Heavy guitars kick with the inspiration to keep going, while stadium-size hooks double as a reminder to never give up no matter what. The quartet — John Cooper [lead vocals, bass], Korey Cooper [guitar, keys, production], Jen Ledger [drums, vocals], and Seth Morrison [lead guitar] — have quietly, yet indisputably become one of the biggest global hard rock bands of the 21st century with total album over 23 million, an average of 12 million monthly Spotify listeners, and dozens of massive placements across sports, film, and television. Among a catalog highlighted by chart-topping albums and hits, the 6x-Platinum "Monster" has eclipsed 5 billion global streams, claimed a place in Spotify's "Billions Club, " resounded as "one of the most-streamed rock songs of all time," and the only Christian song in history to cross 1 billion Spotify streams. During 2025, their first-ever Christmas release "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" made a viral impact and captured #1 on five Billboard charts. The band's 2026 European tour brought them in front of their biggest international crowds yet — not only selling out shows across the continent, but breaking ticket sales records at venues like Zénith Paris. Awarded multiplatinum, platinum, or gold RIAA certifications for 12 singles and four full-length albums, the group have notably garnered two GRAMMY® Award nominations, earned a Billboard Music Award, and impressively delivered three Top 5 debuts on the Billboard 200. Widening the scope of this vision, Skillet launched the graphic novel series EDEN with Z2. Kicking off another chapter, Skillet decided to get heavier and punch harder on their 2026 independent EP, After The Storm, introduced by the single "Scream."

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For more info on Skillet, visit the JFH Artists Database.

 

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