METALLICA Among Top-Selling Artists Of SOUNDSCAN Era

April 5, 2008

According to Paul Grein of Yahoo! Music's "Chart Watch", METALLICA is in fifth place on Nielsen SoundScan's list of top-selling album artists, with cumulative sales of 48,867,000 in the United States since the scanning service set up shop in May 1991. They'll hit the 50 million mark around the summer of 2009.

The top 10 artists in Nielsen SoundScan history are, in order:

01. GARTH BROOKS: 67,774,000
02. THE BEATLES: 56,110,000
03. MARIAH CAREY: 50,004,000
04. CELINE DION: 49,951,000
05. METALLICA: 48,867,000
06. GEORGE STRAIT: 39,403,000
07. TIM MCGRAW: 36,657,000
08. ALAN JACKSON: 35,654,000
09. PINK FLOYD: 34,665,000
10. SHANIA TWAIN: 33,591,000

METALLICA's self-titled album from 1991 (also known as the "black" album) is the No. 2 top-selling album of the SoundScan era. The LP shifted 258,000 units in the U.S. in 2007 to bring total sales to 15,077,000 (as of the close of 2007) and closing the gap to the No. 1 album on the list, SHANIA TWAIN's "Come on Over", by 372,000 units. If these percentages keep up, "Metallica" will overtake "Come on Over" during 2009.

METALLICA's top-selling albums during the SoundScan era (as of March 30, 2008):

01. "Metallica" (1991): 15,136,000
02. "And Justice for All" (1988): 5,114,000 *
03. "Load" (1996): 4,991,000 *
04. "Master of Puppets" (1986): 4,371,000 *
05. "Ride the Lightning" (1984): 4,162,000 *

* Does not include sales prior to the start of the SoundScan era (May 25, 1991).

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