Metallica are the Most Streamed Metal Band in the World, Hardwired… on Pace to Sell 260k-280k First Week
Thought you’d stop seeing Metallica news 24/7 now that the release date for Hardwired… to Self-Destruct has passed? HAHA, sucker! Get ready for at least one more week in which you’ll hear all about how the album performed sales-wise — with endless editorials slicing and dicing what that means — and then it’s pretty much right into year-end list debate time. After which Metallica will be touring extensively for who knows how long, and… yeah, we’re not gonna stop writing about Metallica any time soon, sorry guys.
Hits Daily Double is reporting that, based on early reads, Hardwired is projected to sell between 260k and 280k copies in its right week of release. 250k-270k of those are projected to be full albums sales (physical or digital), while the rest take into account digital single downloads (10 single downloads = one album sale) and streams on services like Spotify (1,500 streams = one album sale). That number should be good enough for #1 on the charts, topping new releases by Bruno Mars and Miranda Lambert. By contrast, Death Magnetic sold close to half a million albums in a bizarre 3-day release window in 2008; the album came out on a Friday back when all albums came out on Tuesdays, so only tallied half a week in its “first week” number.
While a substantial dip from their previous album, a quarter of a million units is an amazingly strong showing, a) in 2016, when album sales across the board are depressed, b) for a metal band, c) for an independent label (the band’s own Blackened Recordings), d) especially compared to same week debuts by a mega pop star and huge country singer.
It’s worth noting that Hardwired is a double album. It’s not clear whether that means each album sale counts twice. We’ll see where we end up towards week’s end, but either way this is a huge win for Metallica — I can’t imagine anyone in the Met camp is disappointed with these figures.
In a separate report, Spotify has said that Metallica are the most streamed metal band in the world. Not shocking, considering they’re also the most popular metal band in the world! But still, look at these numbers: 7 million monthly listeners comprising 11,892 years’ worth of music streamed, with “Enter Sandman” having been streaming 108 million times. WOW. Thanks to Blabbermouth for bringing these stats to our attention.
We’ll see you back here in another hour for more Metallica reporting.
