 The NWOBHM eventually found space in newspapers and music magazines other than Sounds, as journalists caught up with the "next big thing" happening in the UK. Melody Maker even published a weekly heavy metal chart based on record shop sales. Sounds'publisher exploited his support of the movement to launch the first issue of Kerrang!, a colour magazine directed by Geoff Barton devoted exclusively to hard rock and heavy metal, in June 1981. Kerrang! was an unexpected success and soon became the reference magazine for metalheads worldwide, followed shortly by the American Circus and Hit Parader, the German Metal Hammer and the British Metal Forces. The attention of international media meant more record sales and more world tours for NWOBHM bands, whose albums entered many foreign charts. Their attempts to climb the British charts culminated in Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast topping the UK Albums Chart on 10 April 1982 and staying at number 1 for two weeks. The album charted at number 33 in the US, where the band acquired a reputation as Devil-worshippers due to the album cover's depiction of a hellish scene.
