Though Metallica‘s catalog has enjoyed an exceptionally long and successful shelf life, the band’s 1991 self-titled album (aka “The Black Album“) still towers above all. That album crossed the 16x platinum rank (AKA 16 million copies sold) in the U.S. alone a few years back—long before streaming was factored into sales classifications. That the album still routinely moves 1000’s of copies each week to date baffles drummer Lars Ulrich, who recently told Metal Hammer:
“It’s pretty amazing that 5000 people still buy ‘The Black Album‘ every week in the US. I think you file that one under ‘mindfuck.’ I’d like to meet, No. 3267 last week. Who is that person? Did you not own it? Are you just replacing your old copy? Did it just show up on your radar?’”
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For reference, other U.S. sales highlights for Metallica‘s basic catalog include:
“Kill ‘Em All” (3x platinum)
“Ride The Lightning” (6x platinum)
“Master Of Puppets” (6x platinum)
“…And Justice For All” (8x platinum)
“Metallica” (16x platinum)
“Load” (5x platinum)
“Reload” (3x platinum)
“St. Anger” (2x platinum)
“Death Magnetic” (2x platinum)
With streaming now being factored into sales classifications by the RIAA since this past February and the band now putting out extensive re-releases of each of their albums thanks to owning all the masters via their Blackened Recordings label, it’s highly likely that these numbers will increase in the not too distant future. The upcoming November 18th release of their new album “Hardwired…To Self-Destruct” should also spark a healthy jump in back catalog interest as well.
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