Metallica’s Black Album Returns to the Billboard 200 Top 10
As it turns out, Metallica reminding everyone about the Black Album’s thirtieth anniversary five times a day every day for three months was a smart business plan.
From Billboard.com:
“Metallica’s 1991 self-titled No. 1 album surges back into the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart for the first time in 29 years, following the set’s 30th anniversary reissue on Sept. 10. The former chart-topper surges from No. 158 to No. 9 on the Sept. 25-dated chart, earning 37,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 16 (up 397%) according to MRC Data.”
The report continues:
“Of Metallica’s 37,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprise 29,000 (up 1,365%), SEA units comprise nearly 7,000 (up 34%, equaling 9.17 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up 101%). All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.”
Even before the anniversary reissue, the Black Album was still selling 5,000 copies a week, was the first release of the Nielsen SoundScan era to sell sixteen million copies (it’s now up 17.3 million copies), and in 2019 became one of only four albums in the history of the Billboard 200 to chart for 550 nonconsecutive weeks (that figure is now 625 weeks). So. Good for Metallica.
Former bassist Jason Newsted recently offered some insight into the recording of the Black Album, sharing how membership of the Metallica “club” intersected with the different personalities and “egos” of the other band members, as well as the “posturing” that went on to position the band a certain way publicly.
As for when we can expect new Metallica, we still dunno. They’ve been deep in “some pretty serious writing” for their next album since last November, with the most recent update, indicating ten songs were partially written, coming this past May via frontman James Hetfield.
Last week, the band played a surprise intimate club show in San Francisco to gear up for their upcoming string of live dates.
Their current itinerary is as follows:
9/24/21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center [tickets]
9/26/21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center [tickets]
10/8/21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock at Discovery Park [tickets]
10/10/21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock at Discovery Park [tickets]
11/4/21 – Hollywood, FL — Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino [tickets]
11/12/21 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville at the Daytona International Speedway [tickets]
11/14/21 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville at the Daytona International Speedway [tickets]
12/17/21 — San Francisco, CA — Chase Center [fan club only]
12/19/21 — San Francisco, CA — Chase Center [fan club only]
6/15/22 – Copenhell – Copenhagen, Denmark [tickets]
6/17/22 – Firenze Rocks – Florence, Italy [tickets]
6/19/22 – Prague Rocks – Prague, Czech Republic [tickets]
6/22/22 – Rock Werchter – Werchter, Belgium [tickets]
7/1/22 – Mad Cool – Madrid, Spain [tickets]
7/6/22 – NOS Alive – Lisbon, Portugal [tickets]
