Metallica dots the Billboard charts dated Sept. 25 following the 30th-anniversary reissue of its self-titled 1991 album, paced by a rise to No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums and Hard Rock Albums tallies.
Metallica, also known as “The Black Album,” shoots 28-1 on Top Rock Albums, for its first week atop the list, with 37,000 equivalent album units earned in the Sept. 10-16 tracking period, according to MRC Data. Thirty-thousand units of that sum comprise album sales.
The set is Metallica’s fourth ruler on Top Rock Albums, which began in 2006. It’s also the band’s fourth leader on Hard Rock Albums (it launched in 2007).
On the all-format Billboard 200, Metallica returns to the top 10 for the first time since 1992, vaulting to No. 9. The album crowned the survey for four weeks upon release in 1991.
The 30th anniversary reissue remasters the original 12 tracks and also includes a multi-disc box set including live versions, alternate takes and more.
Multiple songs from the album reach Billboard’s song-based charts. “Enter Sandman” falls 1-3 on Hard Rock Digital Song Sales (2,000 downloads), while “Nothing Else Matters” rises 7-4 (2,000 downloads). “The Unforgiven” (No. 14, 1,000) and “Wherever I May Roam” (No. 25, 1,000) also appear.
“Sandman” additionally lifts 8-6 on Hard Rock Streaming Songs with 3.4 million U.S. streams.
Meanwhile, The Metallica Blacklist, the 53-song companion album featuring covers of Metallica’s tracklist from a variety of artists, enters Hard Rock Albums, Top Rock Albums and the Billboard 200 at Nos. 8, 22 and 132, respectively, with 8,000 units. It also bows at No. 2 on the Compilation Albums chart.
A few songs from the sprawling release make charts of their own, too. One’s even a No. 1: Miley Cyrus’ cover of “Nothing Else Matters,” featuring WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo and Chad Smith, which enters Hard Rock Digital Song Sales with 4,000 downloads.
Cyrus’ “Matters” is joined by Chris Stapleton’s own version of the song, rising 8-2 with 3,000 downloads, and other appearances include Ghost’s “Enter Sandman” (No. 5, 2,000 downloads), Alessia Cara and The Warning’s “Enter Sandman” (No. 11, 1,000), Corey Taylor’s “Holier Than Thou” (No. 12, 1,000), Weezer’s “Enter Sandman” (No. 13, 1,000) and Volbeat’s “Don’t Tread on Me” (No. 24, 1,000).
In addition to their sales numbers, four of the above climb onto the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Hard Rock Songs ranking. Cyrus leads the pack at No. 5 with an additional 641,000 streams, followed by Stapleton (No. 7, 372,000), Ghost (No. 9, 440,000) and Cara and The Warning (No. 13, 548,000).
