It's Official: CANNIBAL CORPSE Are The Top-Selling Death Metal Band Of The SoundScan Era

November 17, 2003

CANNIBAL CORPSE have sold more albums in the U.S. during the SoundScan era than any other death metal band, according to the figures obtained by BLABBERMOUTH.NET.

Although the SoundScan numbers are generally indicative of the bands' overall popularity, they are misleading in the sense that many of the veteran death metal groups' early efforts were issued prior to the start of the SoundScan era (May 25, 1991).

The following are the total sales figures for several of the genre's forerunners, according to Nielsen SoundScan (all numbers include any DVD and VHS releases, where applicable):

CANNIBAL CORPSE: 558,929
DEICIDE: 481,131
MORBID ANGEL: 445,147
SIX FEET UNDER: 370,660
OBITUARY: 368,616
DEATH: 368,184
NAPALM DEATH: 367,654
CARCASS: 220,734
ENTOMBED: 198,764

The top-selling death metal albums of the SoundScan era are as follows:

MORBID ANGEL – "Covenant" (1993): 127,154
DEICIDE – "Deicide" (1990): 110,719*
DEICIDE – "Legion" (1992): 103,544
OBITUARY – "The End Complete" (1992): 103,378
CANNIBAL CORPSE – "The Bleeding" (1994): 98,319

*Believed to be the top-selling death album of all time, including pre-SoundScan sales

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