Black Sabbath’s reunion album has now hit the No 1 spot in fifty countries.

And founder Tony Iommi admitted he was bowled over by the global success.

The 13 album – Sabbath’s first chart-topper since their Paranoid album 43 years ago – reunited Tony with frontman Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler.

Only drummer Bill Ward chose not to rejoin the famous fold.

“I was pottering about in the garden when I got an e-mail from Geezer to say he’d heard we were going to No 1,” said the 65-year-old guitar hero, who lives in Lapworth, Warwickshire.

Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath

“Then I got a call from our management to say we’d done it.

“We’d hoped the album would do well, but topping the charts? We hadn’t managed to do that since 1970.

“It’s No.1 in the UK, in the USA, Canada, all over Europe and in the Far East. It’s fantastic.”

The band had not planned to release a single ahead of the album’s release but the record company released the nine-minute God Is Dead anyway.

“We never thought there would be a single,” said Tony.

“The song they put out is far too long for a single. But it made its way into the singles charts. It’s unbelievable.”

Last night, Sabbath picked up Album of the Year and Band of the Year at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards.

And on Sunday, US heavy metal stars Stone Sour played Sabbath’s Children Of The Grave in tribute at Castle Donnington’s Download festival.