Metallica set new sales record

Metallica’s Black Album has set a new sales record after breaking through the 16million mark this month.

The 1991 record has been the best-selling title in the US since Neilsen SoundScan began recording music purchases in the same year.

Their statistics were first used to compile the Billboard 200 album chart on May 25, 1991. Exactly 23 years later their latest report added 3000 sales to the Black Album total, taking it to 16,002,000.

Metallica are followed in the all-time list by Shania Twain’s Come On Over, which has shifted over 15m copies. The Black Album has now been in the Billboard chart for 307 week – the longest run since SoundScan began and the sixth-longest since charts began in 1956.

James Hetfield and co are gearing up to record what will be their tenth studio project, expected next year. Before that they’ll headline the Sonisphere festival on July 4-6, performing a set requested by ticket-holders.

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Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.