Paranoid is the second studio album by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 18 September 1970, by Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and on 7 January 1971, by Warner Bros. Records in the United States.

The album contains several of the band’s signature songs, including “Iron Man“, “War Pigs” and the title track, which was the band’s only top 20 hit, reaching number four on the UK singles chart. The title track returned to claim the #1 US Billboard Hot Hard Rock Songs^[4] chart during the brief time between Ozzy Osbourne’s final show Back to the Beginning on 5 July 2025 and his death 22 July 2025.

Paranoid is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time, often cited as a key influence for the development of the genre, as well as one of its earliest albums.

It was ranked number one on Rolling Stone‘s list of the “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time” in 2017 and number 139 on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” in 2020. Paranoid was the band’s only album to top the UK Albums Chart until the release of 13 in 2013.