On the Charts: Metallica’s ‘Hardwired’ is Best Rock Debut of 2016

Metallica. Photo: Anton Corbijn

Metallica beat new albums from Bruno Mars and Miranda Lambert, securing their sixth consecutive Number One album. Hardwired”¦ to Self-Destruct, the heavy metal band’s first LP since 2008, sold 291,000 total copies in its first week. It was the third best-selling debut week of 2016 after Drake’s Views and Beyoncé‘s Lemonade.

Not counting reissues and their Lou Reed collaboration Lulu, six straight Metallica studio albums have debuted atop the Billboard 200, beginning with 1991’s “Black Album” and continuing through Load, Reload, St. Anger and 2008’s Death Magnetic, Billboard reports.

However, the stark decrease in first week sales between Death Magnetic and Hardwired”¦ show how much the record industry has changed during Metallica’s eight-year charts absence. In 2008, Death Magnetic sold 490,000 copies in its first week compared to Hardwired‘s 291,000 copies.

Behind Metallica, Mars’ 24K Magic debuted at Number Two with 231,000 total copies sold. Lambert’s double-album The Weight of These Wings bowed at Number Three with 133,000 total copies. The country singer’s previous LP Platinum debuted at Number One when it was released in 2014.

The remainder of the Top 10 was occupied by returning albums, led by Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas at Number Four. A week after topping the Billboard 200, A Tribe Called Quest’s We Got It From Here”¦ Thank You 4 Your Service dipped to Number Five, where it was followed by the Trollz soundtrack (Number Six), Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood’s Christmas Together (Seven), Rae Sremmurd’s Sremmlife 2 (Eight), the Hamilton cast recording (Nine) and Drake’s Views (Number 10).