Metallica Makes History (Again): Black Album First Release of the Nielsen SoundScan Era to Sell 16 Million Copies

Maybe this will help soften the blow of their recent financial “troubles” (such a relative term): Metallica’s self-titled release is now not only the highest-selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era, but it’s also the first album to sell sixteen million copies (!!!) during that timespan. Granted, Metallica came out just a few months after the launch of Nielsen SoundScan, which gives them kind of an advantage, but still! Since May of 1991, not one artist — not The Beatles, not The Stones, not Michael Jackson or Springsteen or Eminem or Beyoncé — have managed to outsell this record. That’s quite an accomplishment no matter how you slice it, and one that will almost certainly never be duplicated by any metal band ever again.

This does make you wonder, yet again, who the fuck just bought this album, though. MetalSucks readers maintain that it’s just Lars Ulrich buying up all the copies, but I’d wager Jason Newsted pays for at least a quarter of them, too. He probably looks at them wistfully and remembers what it was like to be in a band people care about.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering: Shania Twain’s Come On Over is the second-highest selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era.

In related news, Loutallica’s Lulu is the first album of the Neilstein Soundscam era to inspire sixteen million wet farts.