And its sales figures lead him to believe people want to immerse themselves in heavy concepts. Wilson tells One On One With Mitch Lafon: "If you'd asked me five years ago I would have been more negative. I'm cautiously optimistic.

"The fact that this album has been by far the most successful of my career, while being the most concept-driven thing I've ever done, makes me think things aren't that bad."

He adds: "Every time there's a big swing in a particular direction there's always a swing back. What we're seeing right now is a world of streaming, where there's a juke-box mentality and you follow the links from one song to another.