Metallica’s new album, 72 Seasons, has debuted at No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200 chart, ending the band’s streak of six straight albums landing at No. 1 on the all-genre tally. The metal icons’ latest full-length effort was beat out for the top spot by controversial country star Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which notches its seventh week at No. 1.
The last time Metallica didn’t debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 was with 1988’s …And Justice for All. Since then, all their studio albums beginning with 1991’s self-titled LP (aka “The Black Album”) had premiered at the top spot, until now.
Metallica can take solace in the fact that 72 Seasons is No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart, with 134,000 of its 146,000 equivalent units coming in the form of pure album sales. It’s the biggest-selling rock or hard rock album since Tool’s 2019 release Fear Inoculum. For comparison, 151,000 of Wallen’s 166,000 equivalent album units were from streaming.
72 Seasons has been a hit with critics, with our own stellar review describing it as “the sound of a band having fun, laying into a ton of riffs and embracing its own legacy as metal masters.”
Metallica will kick off their 2023-2024 “M72 World Tour” in support of 72 Seasons this Thursday (April 27th) in Amsterdam. Following the run of European dates, the band will embark on a North American run beginning in August. Next year, they’ll hit Europe and North America again. Tickets for their upcoming shows are available here.
Stream 72 Seasons in the Apple Music or Spotify player below, and read Consequence‘s cover story interview with Lars Ulrich and Robert Trujillo here.
