"Sin After Sin" was Judas Priest's most commercially successful release to date, reaching number 23 in the UK Albums Chart. That success was difficult to duplicate in the US where "Sin After Sin" failed to chart. At home, they also faced a somewhat hostile reception or were outright ignored by a music press which was at that time heavily focused on the new genre of punk rock which swept Britain in the late 1970s. Though it would take several years, "Sin After Sin" is the first of eleven consecutive Judas Priest albums to be certified gold or higher by the RIAA.