Forbes Releases Ranking of Top 38 Metal Bands, Doesn’t Do a Terrible Job

Did you know that the website for Forbes Magazine has an entertainment division? I didn’t. Maybe it’s because I don’t bother reading Forbes since my credit rating is lower than the ticket sales for a Trapt concert so I don’t really think business advice is going to help me. But yeah, apparently they cover entertainment, too. It’s mostly just random lists like “The 30 Greatest Football Movies to Watch This Season” and “17 Wonderful Robin Williams Movies,” but apparently a few weeks ago they put together one where they listed the 38 best metal bands of all time.

The big surprise? They didn’t do a terrible job with it.

The list is, admittedly, a little safe. There’s not a lot of surprise entries on this list, especially as you get closer to the top, with the top five being pretty much exactly who you would expect them to be. It should come to no surprise to anyone that the top band on the list is Metallica. Still, the list shows a better understanding of heavy metal than you might expect from a business magazine. So kudos to you, Forbes! You failed to predict the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, but you seem to know the importance of Cannibal Corpse.

You can read their full ranking below.

38. Carcass

37. At The Gates

36. Exodus

35. Behemoth

34. Napalm Death

33. Kyuss

32. Dream Theater

31. Nightwish

30. King Diamond

29. Danzig

28. Converge

27. Cannibal Corpse

26. Anthrax

25. Meshuggah

24. Machine Head

23. Lamb Of God

22. Mastodon

21. Sepultura

20. Type O Negative

19. Motörhead

18. Death

17. Dio

16. Megadeth

15. Gojira

14. Korn

13. Rammstein

12. Deftones

11. System Of A Down

10. Avenged Sevenfold

09. Tool

08. Slayer

07. Slipknot

06. Ozzy Osbourne

05. Judas Priest

04. Pantera

03. Iron Maiden

02. Black Sabbath

01. Metallica