METALLICA Among Top-Selling Artists Of SOUNDSCAN Era

April 5, 2008

According to Paul Grein of Yahoo! Music's "Chart Watch", METALLICA is in fifth place on Nielsen SoundScan's list of top-selling album artists, with cumulative sales of 48,867,000 in the United States since the scanning service set up shop in May 1991. They'll hit the 50 million mark around the summer of 2009.

The top 10 artists in Nielsen SoundScan history are, in order:

01. GARTH BROOKS: 67,774,000
02. THE BEATLES: 56,110,000
03. MARIAH CAREY: 50,004,000
04. CELINE DION: 49,951,000
05. METALLICA: 48,867,000
06. GEORGE STRAIT: 39,403,000
07. TIM MCGRAW: 36,657,000
08. ALAN JACKSON: 35,654,000
09. PINK FLOYD: 34,665,000
10. SHANIA TWAIN: 33,591,000

METALLICA's self-titled album from 1991 (also known as the "black" album) is the No. 2 top-selling album of the SoundScan era. The LP shifted 258,000 units in the U.S. in 2007 to bring total sales to 15,077,000 (as of the close of 2007) and closing the gap to the No. 1 album on the list, SHANIA TWAIN's "Come on Over", by 372,000 units. If these percentages keep up, "Metallica" will overtake "Come on Over" during 2009.

METALLICA's top-selling albums during the SoundScan era (as of March 30, 2008):

01. "Metallica" (1991): 15,136,000
02. "And Justice for All" (1988): 5,114,000 *
03. "Load" (1996): 4,991,000 *
04. "Master of Puppets" (1986): 4,371,000 *
05. "Ride the Lightning" (1984): 4,162,000 *

* Does not include sales prior to the start of the SoundScan era (May 25, 1991).

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).