We're officially 1/3rd of the way done with 2016, which means it's time to take a quick look at record sales in the United States.
Turns out the best selling metal record of 2016 didn't even come out in 2016. Disturbed's Immortalized has sold a huge 112,500 copies this year, likely helped by the added bump from their cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence". Right on their tail is Megadeth, with Dystopia, which was released in January sold 108,400. But the real story here is Metallica's Black Album.
We've been writing about the ridiculous success of The Black Album for a while now, it's the highest selling album of the Soundscan era, and still putting up ridiculous numbers. Just this year, the album has sold 90,000 copies – more than new releases from Deftones, Five Finger Death Punch, Anthrax or Killswitch Engage. The rest of their catalogue isn't doing too bad either with Master of Puppets selling 58,200, …And Justice For All selling 54,250, and Ride The Lightning selling 47,000.
Here's the full list of metal albums sales in 2016 as compiled by our friends at Metal Insider:
- Disturbed, Immortalized (Warner Bros) 112,500 sold
- Megadeth, Dystopia (Tradecraft/uME) 108,400 sold
- Metallica, Metallica (Blackened), 90,000 sold
- Deftones, Gore (Reprise) 80,400 sold
- Five Finger Death Punch, Got Your Six (Prospect Park) 58,500 sold
- Metallica, Master of Puppets (Blackened) 58,200 sold
- Anthrax, For All Kings (Megaforce) 57,500 sold
- Shinedown, Threat To Survival (Atlantic) 54,500 sold
- Metallica, …And Justice For All (Blackened) 54,250 sold
- Killswitch Engage, Incarnate (Roadrunner) 52,250 sold
- Dream Theater, Astonishing (Roadrunner) 50,000 sold
- Metallica, Ride the Lightning (Blackened) 47,000 sold
- Journey, Greatest Hits (Columbia) 45,650 sold
- Nirvana, Nevermind (Interscope) 40,600 sold
- AC/DC, Back in Black (Columbia) 40,000 sold
- Guns N’ Roses, Greatest Hits (Interscope) 38,500 sold
- Asking Alexandria, The Black (Sumerian) 38,000 sold
- Guns N’ Roses, Appetite For Destruction (Interscope) 34,500 sold
- Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet (Island) 33,200 sold
- Nirvana, Unplugged In New York (Interscope) 33,100 sold
- Disturbed, Sickness (Reprise) 32,000 sold
- Amon Amarth, Jomsviking (Metal Blade) 31,500 sold
- Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic) 31,200 sold
