Credit: Herring & HerringMetallica is back in a familiar spot: on top of the charts.
According to Billboard, the metal masters' latest release, Hardwired…to Self-Destruct, has debuted at #1 on the Top 200 chart with 291,000 equivalent album units sold. The chart combines traditional album sales, track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums.
Released on November 18, Hardwired marks Metallica's sixth consecutive #1 album overall, joining 2008's Death Magnetic, 2003's St. Anger, 1997's Reload, 1996's Load and 1991's self-titled release.
In addition, Hardwired scores the third-largest debut of 2016, behind only Drake's Views and Beyonce's Lemonade, and sold more copies in its first week than any rock album since Coldplay's Ghost Stories in June 2014.
Hardwired, which was released on the band's own Blackened Records label, also bows at #1 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart. The band says the new album has hit #1 in 57 countries, while debuting in the top three in 75 countries and in the top five in 105 countries.
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