Formed in 1981 Los Angeles, Metallica helped pioneer the thrash metal genre, pumping out hits like “Master of Puppets” and “Enter Sandman.” More than four decades later, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, and Lars Ulrich are still breaking attendance records on the road. In fact, they boast the genre’s best-selling album of all time, and that record recently joined an elite club.
This Metal Album Is Platinum 20 Times Over
Released in 1991, Metallica’s self-titled fifth studio albumโoften referred to as The Black Albumโsent the band hurtling into an entirely new stratosphere of fame. Suddenly, everyone was rocking out thanks to songs like “Enter Sandman” and “The Unforgiven.”
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Consistently outselling every release in every genre over the past three-plus decades, The Black Album recently surpassed 20 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. It becomes the first-ever metal album to reach that marker, and just the 14th record overall.
August 31, 1991. METALLICA and their "The Black Album" spend 4 weeks at the top of the album charts and will sell 16 million copies in the United States. pic.twitter.com/Ie9nTVx7II
— ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฝ๐ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ป๐จ๐ณโธ (@HeavyMetal_999) August 31, 2023
Only two albums have eclipsed the 30 million sold mark, withย Eagles’ย Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975ย leading the way at 38 million.ย Michael Jackson’sย Thriller, released in 1982,ย is close behind at 34 million.
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