METALLICA Scores Ninth No. 1 On BILLBOARD's 'Mainstream Rock Songs' Chart With 'Atlas, Rise!'

February 9, 2017

According to Billboard.com, METALLICA earned its ninth No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart with its latest single, "Atlas, Rise!"

The band previously scored chart toppers with "Hardwired" (also from METALLICA's latest album, 2016's "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct"); "The Day That Never Comes" and "Cyanide" (from 2008's "Death Magnetic"); and "Until It Sleeps" and "Hero Of The Day" (from 1996's "Load").

METALLICA's latest accomplishment puts the band in a tie for fifth place among all acts for the most No. 1s since the chart launched in 1981. The new No. 1 ties the quartet with AEROSMITH, while VAN HALEN leads with 13 toppers.

In the song "Atlas, Rise!", METALLICA frontman James Hetfield calls out Atlas, the Greek mythological figure which was responsible for bearing the weight of the heavens on his shoulders, a burden given to him as punishment by Zeus.

Hetfield told Rolling Stone Australia that he had his METALLICA bandmate Lars Ulrich in mind when he wrote the lyrics to the track. "Lars is, 'I have to do everything, or else it's wrong,'" he explained. "He's got the weight of so much on him. And 'Atlas, Rise!' started out as a, 'Here, let me help you with that. You don't need to carry all that, brother.' And then it morphed into more — and this is not specifically him, but I'm plugging him into this — I think he likes that. There's a drama that makes him work, and we all have a bit of that. He wants the control but he doesn't really have control. The illusion of control, and then the ability to complain about how you have to do everything yourself, and then you still do it."

"Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart, selling 291,000 copies in its first week of release. The effort consists of two discs, containing a dozen songs and nearly 80 minutes of music.

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