'The Black Album' by Metallica returns to Billboard 200 Top 10

After its 30th anniversary reissue, The Black Album by Metallica has saw a huge commercial boost, entering the top 10 on the Billboard 200.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary milestone, a special remastered edition was reissued on September 10th. A limited edition box set was released, including the remastered album on a double LP and a CD, as well as three live LPs, 14 CDs, and six DVDs with unreleased content. And it was definitely worth it after fans clearly rushed to snap up the 30th anniversary reissue. As per Billboard, it’s the first time their self-titled number one album has been in the chart’s top 10 in 29 long years.

That prompted a massive leap from number 158 to number 9 on the September 25th dated chart, earning 37,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending September 16th (up 397%) according to MRC Data. Of the above figures, album sales accounted for 29,000 of the 37,000 units, with all versions of the album, both old and new, being combined for tracking and charting purposes.

The Black Album last made it to the top 10 on the August 22nd chart from 1992 (number 10) and last came higher than that position on the April 11th chart from the same year (number 6). The iconic album was actually the band’s first number on the Billboard 200, and they would eventually collect six number ones to date. It debuted atop the chart dated to August 31st, 1991, spending four consecutive weeks there.

Its legacy is even more impressive: The Black Album has now spent 625 weeks on the chart in total, the fourth-most weeks since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis all the way back in 1956; it’s also the most weeks for any album since May of 1991, when MRC Data began collating the chart. The self-titled record remains the top-selling album in the U.S. since MRC Data began electronically tracking music sales in 1991, with 17.3 million copies sold.

For more on this topic, follow the Metal Observer.