Metallica (commonly known as The Black Album) is the fifth studio album by

American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on August 12, 1991,
by Elektra Records. Recording sessions took place at One on One Recording
Studios in Los Angeles over an eight-month span that frequently found Metallica at
odds with their new producer Bob Rock. The album marked a change in the band's
music from the thrash metal style of their previous four albums to a slower, heavier,
and more refined sound.

Metallica promoted Metallica with a series of tours. They also released five singles to
promote the album: "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters",
"Wherever I May Roam", and "Sad but True", all of which have been considered to
be among the band's best-known songs. The song "Don't Tread on Me" was also
issued to rock radio shortly after the album's release but did not receive a
commercial single release.

Metallica received widespread critical acclaim and became the band's best-selling
album. It debuted at number one in ten countries and spent four consecutive weeks
at the top of the Billboard 200, making it Metallica's first album to top the album
charts. With over 30 million copies sold worldwide,[6] Metallica is one of the best-
selling albums worldwide, and also one of the best-selling albums in the United
States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began. The album was certified 16×
platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2012, and has
sold over sixteen million copies in the United States, being the first album in the
SoundScan era to do so.

The band played Metallica in reverse order during the 2012 European Black Album
Tour. In 2020, the album was ranked number 235 on Rolling Stone's "The 500
Greatest Albums of All Time" list.[7] In December 2019, Metallica became the fourth
release in American history to enter the 550-week milestone on the Billboard 200. It
also became the second-longest charting traditional title in history only behind The
Dark Side of the Moon (1973) by Pink Floyd, and the second to spend 550 weeks on
the album charts.[8]

Background and recording

[edit]
At the time of Metallica's recording, the band's songs were written mainly by
frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, with Hetfield being the lyricist.
[9]
The duo frequently composed together at Ulrich's house in Berkeley, California.
Several song ideas and concepts were conceived by other members of the band,
lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Jason Newsted.[10] For instance, Newsted
wrote the main riff of "My Friend of Misery", which was originally intended to be
an instrumental, one of which had been included on every previous Metallica album.
[11]
The songs were written in two months in mid-1990; the ideas for some of them
were originated during the Damaged Justice Tour.[12] Metallica was impressed
with Bob Rock's production work on Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood (1989) and decided
to hire him to work on their album.[13][14] Initially, the band members were not
interested in having Rock producing the album as well, but changed their minds.
Ulrich said, "We felt that we still had our best record in us and Bob Rock could help
us make it".[14]
Four demos for the album were recorded on August 13, 1990; "Enter Sandman",
"The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters" and "Wherever I May Roam". The lead
single "Enter Sandman" was the first song to be written and the last to receive lyrics.
[10]
On October 4, 1990, a demo of "Sad but True" was recorded. In October 1990,
Metallica began recording at One on One Recording Studios in Los Angeles,
California, to record the album, and also at Little Mountain Sound
Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, for about a week.[13] On June 2, 1991, a
demo of "Holier than Thou" was recorded. Hetfield stated about the recording: "What
we really wanted was a live feel. In the past, Lars and I constructed the rhythm parts
without Kirk and Jason. This time I wanted to try playing as a band unit in the studio.
It lightens things up and you get more of a vibe."[15]

Because it was Rock's first time producing a Metallica album, he had the band make
the album in different ways; he asked them to record songs collaboratively rather
than individually in separate locations.[13] He also suggested recording tracks live and
using harmonic vocals for Hetfield.[16] Rock was expecting the production to be "easy"
but had trouble working with the band, leading to frequent, engaged arguments with
the band members over aspects of the album.[13] Rock wanted Hetfield to write better
lyrics and found his experience recording with Metallica disappointing.[13][17][18] Since
the band was perfectionist,[11][17] Rock insisted they record as many takes as needed
to get the sound they wanted.[9] The album was remixed three times and
cost US$1 million.[19] The troubled production coincided with Ulrich, Hammett, and
Newsted divorcing their wives; Hammett said this influenced their playing because
they were "trying to take those feeling of guilt and failure and channel them into the
music, to get something positive out of it".[20]

Rock altered Metallica's familiar recording routine and the recording experience was
so stressful that Rock briefly swore never to work with the band again.[18] The tension
between band and producer was documented in A Year and a Half in the Life of
Metallica and Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica, documentaries that explore the
intense recording process that resulted in Metallica.[9][10] Despite the controversies
between the band and Rock, he continued to work with Metallica through to the 2003
album St. Anger.[18] After the production of St. Anger, the fourth and final Metallica
record Rock would produce, a petition signed by 1,500 fans was posted online in an
attempt to encourage the band to prohibit Rock from producing Metallica albums,
saying he had too much influence on the band's sound and musical direction. Rock
said the petition hurt his children's feelings; he said, "sometimes, even with a great
coach, a team keeps losing. You have to get new blood in there."[21]

Composition and lyrics

[edit]

"Enter Sandman"
Duration: 31 seconds.0:31
The main riff in "Enter Sandman" can be heard in the beginning followed by the verse and the
pre-chorus. The whole song evolved from the main riff, written by guitarist Kirk Hammett.[10]

"The Unforgiven"
Duration: 31 seconds.0:31
"The Unforgiven" is rumored to contain a sample from "The Showdown", from the Sergio
Leone film For a Few Dollars More. The lyrics deal with the struggle of an individual against the
efforts of those who would oppose him.[22]

Problems playing these files? See media help.

According to Robert Palmer of Rolling Stone, "tempos were often slowed down in
exchange for slower BPMs, while they expand its music and expressive range".[23][failed
verification]
The album was a change in Metallica's direction from the thrash metal style of
the band's previous four studio albums towards a more commercial, heavy metal
sound, but still had characteristics of thrash metal.[24][9][18] Many fans[who?] consider the
album to be a transition from the often ostentatious compositions of Metallica's
previous releases to the slower, divested style of the band's later albums, where
"old" and "new" Metallica are distinguished from one another.[23][failed verification] Instruments
not usually used by heavy metal bands, such as the cellos in "The Unforgiven" and
the orchestra in "Nothing Else Matters", were added at Rock's insistence.[12] Rock
also raised the volume of the bass guitar, which had been nearly inaudible on the
previous album ...And Justice for All.[16] Newsted said he tried to "create a real rhythm
section rather than a one-dimensional sound" with his bass.[15] Newsted credited
Rock with helping him find a sound that would work without killing the bass drum or
messing with the lower end of the guitar, which Newsted claimed had always been a
real big problem with him.[25] Ulrich said he tried to avoid the
"progressive Peartian paradiddles which became boring to play live" in his drumming
and used a basic sound similar to those of the Rolling Stones' Charlie
Watts and AC/DC's Phil Rudd.[16]

The band took a simpler approach partly because the members felt the songs
on ...And Justice for All were too long and complex. Hetfield said that radio airplay
was not their intention, but because they felt "we had pretty much done the longer
song format to death," and considered a good change doing songs with just two riffs
and "only taking two minutes to get the point across".[15] Ulrich added that the band
was feeling a musical insecurity — "We felt inadequate as musicians and as
songwriters. That made us go too far, around Master of Puppets and Justice, in the
direction of trying to prove ourselves. 'We'll do all this weird-ass shit sideways to
prove that we are capable musicians and songwriters'" – and Hetfield added he
wanted to avoid getting stale: "Sitting there and worrying about whether people are
going to like the album, therefore we have to write a certain kind of song — you just
end up writing for someone else. Everyone's different. If everyone was the same, it
would be boring as shit."[12]

The lyrics of Metallica written by James Hetfield were more personal and
introspective in nature than those of previous Metallica albums; Rock said Hetfield's
songwriting became more confident, and that he was inspired by Bob Dylan, Bob
Marley, and John Lennon.[18] According to Chris True of AllMusic, "Enter Sandman" is
about "nightmares and all that come with them".[26] "The God That Failed" dealt with
the death of Hetfield's mother from cancer and her Christian Science beliefs, which
kept her from seeking medical treatment. "Nothing Else Matters" was a love song
Hetfield wrote about missing his girlfriend while on tour.[23][failed verification] Hetfield said the
album's lyrical themes were more introspective because he wanted "lyrics that the
band could stand behind – but we are four completely different individuals. So the
only way to go was in."[27]

Packaging
[edit]
Metallica had many discussions about the album title; the members considered
calling it Five or using the title of one of the songs, but eventually chose an eponym
because they "wanted to keep it simple."[15] The album's cover depicts the band's
logo angled against the upper left corner and a coiled snake derived from
the Gadsden flag in the bottom right corner. For the initial release, both emblems
were embossed so they could barely be seen against the black background,
giving Metallica the nickname "The Black Album". These emblems also appear on
the back cover of the album.[9] For later and current releases, both emblems are dark
gray so they stand out more prominently. The motto of the Gadsden flag, "Don't
Tread on Me", is also the title of a song on the album. A folded, pageless booklet
depicts the faces of the band's members against a black background. The lyrics and
liner notes are also printed on a grey background. The cover is reminiscent of Spinal
Tap's album Smell the Glove, which the band jokingly acknowledged in its
documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica. Members of Spinal Tap
appeared on the film and asked Metallica about it, with Lars Ulrich commenting that
British rock group Status Quo was the original inspiration as that band's Hello! album
cover was also black.[9]

Marketing and sales

[edit]
You think one day some fucker's gonna tell you, 'You have a number one record in America,' and the
whole world will ejaculate. I stood there in my hotel room, and there was this fax that said, 'You're number
one.' And it was, like, 'Well, okay.' It was just another fucking fax from the office.
—Lars Ulrich, on Metallica's first number one album[12]

"Enter Sandman" was released as Metallica's lead single on July 29, 1991; it
reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and was certified Platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[28][29] The follow-up single,
"Don't Tread on Me", was released promotionally but did not chart.[29] The subsequent
single, "The Unforgiven", was a Top 40 hit; it peaked in the Top 10 in Australia.[30]

Metallica was released on August 12, 1991,[31] and was the band's first album to
debut at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 598,000 copies in its first week. It
was certified platinum in two weeks and spent four consecutive weeks atop
the Billboard 200.[32][33] Meanwhile, more singles were released to further success.
"Nothing Else Matters" reached number six in the United Kingdom and Ireland,[34]
[35]
and "Wherever I May Roam" peaked at number two on the Hot Mainstream Rock
Tracks singles chart,[29] although the 1993 single "Sad but True" charted only for one
week on the Billboard Hot 100 at 98.[29] Almost all singles were accompanied by
music videos; the Wayne Isham-directed "Enter Sandman" promotional film won
an MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music
Awards.[36]
Internationally, Metallica was also a success. It debuted at number one on the UK
Albums Chart[37] and was certified 2× platinum by the British Phonographic
Industry (BPI) for selling 600,000 copies in the UK.[38] Metallica topped the charts in
Australia,[39] Canada,[40] Germany,[41] New Zealand,[42] Norway,[43] the Netherlands,
[44]
Sweden,[45] and Switzerland.[46] It also reached the top five in Austria,[47] Finland,
[48]
and Japan,[49] as well as the top 10 in Spain.[50] The album failed to reach the top 20
in Ireland, having peaked at number 27.[51] The Australian Recording Industry
Association (ARIA) certified the album 12× platinum.[52] It received diamond plaques
from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)[53] and the Recorded Music
NZ (RMNZ)[54] for shipping a million and 150,000 copies, respectively.

Logging over 488 weeks on the US Billboard 200, Metallica proved the third-longest
charting album in the Nielsen SoundScan era, behind Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of
the Moon and Carole King's Tapestry.[55] In 2009, it surpassed Shania Twain's Come
On Over as the best-selling album of the SoundScan era. It became the first album
in the SoundScan era to pass 16 million in sales,[56] and with 16.4 million copies sold
by 2016, Metallica is the best-selling album in the United States since Nielsen
SoundScan tracking began in 1991. Of that sum, 5.8 million were purchased
on cassette. The album never sold fewer than 1,000 copies in a week, and moved a
weekly average of 5,000 copies in 2016.[57] Metallica was certified 16× platinum by
the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2012 for shipping sixteen
million copies in the US.[56] Metallica sold 31 million copies worldwide on physical
media.[58] All five of Metallica's singles, "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven", "Nothing
Else Matters", "Wherever I May Roam" and "Sad but True" charted on
the Billboard Hot 100.[57]

Touring
[edit]

Metallica performing live "Of Wolf and Man" at O2

Arena, London in 2008
In 1991, for the fourth time, Metallica played as part of the Monsters of Rock festival
tour. The last concert of the tour was held on September 28, 1991, at Tushino
Airfield in Moscow; it was described as "the first free outdoor Western rock concert in
Soviet history" and was attended by an estimated 150,000 to 500,000 people.[59]
[60]
Some unofficial estimates put the attendance as high as 1,600,000.[61] The first tour
directly intended to support the album, the Wherever We May Roam Tour, included a
performance at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, at which Metallica performed a
short set list, consisting of "Enter Sandman", "Sad but True", and "Nothing Else
Matters", along with Hetfield performed the Queen song "Stone Cold Crazy"
with John Deacon, Brian May, and Roger Taylor of Queen and Tony Iommi of Black
Sabbath. At one of the tour's first gigs the floor of the stage collapsed.[62] The January
13 and 14, 1992, shows in San Diego were later released in the box set Live Shit:
Binge & Purge,[63] while the tour and the album were documented in the
documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica.[64]

Metallica's Wherever We May Roam Tour also overlapped with Guns N' Roses' Use
Your Illusion Tour. Hetfield suffered second and third degree burns to his arms, face,
hands, and legs on August 8, 1992, during a Montreal show in the co-
headlining Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour. The tour included pyrotechnics,
which were installed on-stage. Hetfield accidentally walked into a 12-foot (3.7 m)
flame shot from a pyrotechnic during a live performance of the introduction of "Fade
to Black".[63] The show was cut short shortly after this accident, so that Guns N'
Roses began their concert to malicious reactions from fans. Newsted said Hetfield's
skin was "bubbling like on The Toxic Avenger".[64] The tour recommenced on August
25 in Phoenix, and although Hetfield could sing, he could not play guitar for the
remainder of the tour. Guitar technician John Marshall, who had previously filled in
on rhythm guitar and was then playing in Metal Church, played guitar for the
recovering Hetfield.[64] Brazilian musician Andreas Kisser from Sepultura was initially
considered to join the tour, but Marshall ultimately was chosen.[65]

The shows in Mexico City across February and March 1993 during the Nowhere Else
to Roam tour were recorded, filmed and later also released as part of the band's
first box set,[63][64] which was released in November 1993 and titled Live Shit: Binge &
Purge. The collection contained three live CDs, three home videos, and a book filled
with riders and letters.[66] Pressings of the box set since November 2002 includes two
DVDs, the first one being filmed at San Diego on the Wherever We May Roam Tour,
and the latter at Seattle on the Damaged Justice Tour.[64] Binge & Purge was
packaged as a cardboard box resembling that of a typical tour equipment transport
box. The box set also featured a recreated copy of an access pass to the "Snakepit"
part of the tour stage, as well as a cardboard drawing/airbrush stencil for the "Scary
Guy" logo.[62] The Mexico City shows were also the first time the band met future
member Robert Trujillo, who was in Suicidal Tendencies at the time.[67]

The final tour supporting the album, the Shit Hits the Sheds Tour, included a
performance at Woodstock '94 that followed Nine Inch Nails and
preceded Aerosmith on August 13 in front of a crowd of 350,000.[68][69] Some songs,
such as "Enter Sandman", "Nothing Else Matters", and "Sad but True", became
permanent staples of Metallica's concert setlists during these and subsequent tours.
Other songs though, such as "Holier than Thou", "The God That Failed", "Through
the Never", and "The Unforgiven" were no longer included in performances after
1995 and would not be played again until the 2000s, when Metallica began
performing a more extensive back catalog of songs with Robert Trujillo on bass after
he joined the band upon completion of the album St. Anger.[70]

After touring duties for the album were finished, Metallica filed a lawsuit against
Elektra Records, which tried to force the record label to terminate the band's contract
and give the band ownership of their master recordings. The band based its claim on
a section of the California Labor Code that allows employees to be released from a
personal services contract after seven years. Metallica had sold 40 million copies
worldwide upon the filing of the suit. Metallica had been signed to the label for over a
decade but was still operating under the terms of its original 1984 contract, which
provided a relatively low 14% royalty rate.[71] The band members said they were
taking the action because they were ambivalent about Robert Morgado's refusal to
give them another record deal along with Bob Krasnow, who retired from his job at
the label shortly afterwards. Elektra responded by counter-suing the band, but in
December 1994, Warner Music Group United States chairman Doug Morris offered
Metallica a lucrative new deal in exchange for dropping the suit,[72] which was
reported to be even more generous than the earlier Krasnow deal. In January 1995,
both parties settled out of court with a non-disclosure agreement.[73] Metallica played
the album in its entirety during the 2012 European Black Album Tour.[74]

Critical reception and legacy

[edit]

Professional ratings

Review scores

Source Rating

[75]
AllMusic

[76]
Chicago Tribune

[77]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music

Entertainment Weekly B+[78]

[79]
Los Angeles Times

[80]
MusicHound Rock

Pitchfork 7.7/10[81]

[82]
Q

[23]
Rolling Stone

[83]
Select

Metallica was met with widespread acclaim from both heavy metal journalists and
mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times, and The Village
Voice.[84] In Entertainment Weekly, David Browne called it "rock's preeminent speed-
metal cyclone", and said, "Metallica may have invented a new genre: progressive
thrash".[78] Q magazine's Mark Cooper said he found the album's avoidance of
metal's typically clumsy metaphors and glossy production refreshing; he said,
"Metallica manage to rekindle the kind of intensity that fired the likes of Black
Sabbath before metal fell in love with its own cliches".[82] Select magazine's David
Cavanagh believed the album lacks artifice and is "disarmingly genuine".[83] In his
review for Spin, Alec Foege found the music's harmonies vividly performed and said
that Metallica showcase their "newfound versatility" on songs such as "The
Unforgiven" and "Holier than Thou".[85] Robert Palmer, writing in Rolling Stone, said
that several songs sound like "hard-rock classics" and that, apart from "Don't Tread
on Me", Metallica is an "exemplary album of mature but still kickass rock & roll".[23] In
his guide to Metallica's albums up to that point, Greg Kot of the Chicago
Tribune recommended the album as "a great place for Metallica neophytes to start,
with its more concise songs and explosive production."[76]

Some reviewers had reservations. Jonathan Gold, in the Los Angeles Times, said
that while Metallica had embraced pop sensibilities "quite well", there was a sense
the group was "no longer in love with the possibilities of its sound" on an album
whose difficulty being embraced by the "metal cult" mirrored Bob Dylan going
electric in the mid-1960s.[79] More critical was Robert Christgau, who wrote in his
"Consumer Guide" for The Village Voice that he "put James Hetfield out of his misery
in under five plays" of the album and that he "found life getting shorter with every
song".[86] In his 2000 collection Christgau's Consumer Guide, Christgau later
graded Metallica a "dud", indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further
thought".[87]

Retrospective appraisals have been positive. In a retrospective

article, Kerrang! said Metallica is the album that "propelled [the band] out of the
metal ghetto to true mainstream global rock superstardom".[88] Melody Maker said
that as a deliberate departure from the band's thrash style on ...And Justice for All,
"Metallica was slower, less complicated, and probably twice as heavy as anything
they'd done before".[88] In his review for BBC Music, Sid Smith said that although
staunch listeners of the band accused them of selling out, Metallica confidently
departed from the style of their previous albums and transitioned "from cult metal
gods to bona fide rock stars".[89] Classic Rock called it "the absolute pinnacle of
Metallica's long and successful career", and credited the album for inspiring
1990s post-grunge music and convincing the music industry to embrace heavy metal
as a genre with mass appeal.[90] Author and philosopher Thomas Walker wrote in
2020, "Its success at encapsulating...[individualist] ideas in musical form and
bringing them to a global audience is truly unique."[91] AllMusic's Steve Huey believed
the massive popularity of Metallica inspired other speed metal bands to also
embrace a simpler, less progressive sound. He deemed it "a good, but not quite
great, album, one whose best moments deservedly captured the heavy metal crown,
but whose approach also foreshadowed a creative decline [for Metallica.]"[75]

Speaking in The Independent, Metallica biographer Paul Stenning explained that

Metallica created "a sound that had not really been heard in metal before, especially
by a thrash band."[92]

Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson said that Metallica should be given huge credit
for "grabbing the opportunity when it came up, taking the risk and deservedly reaping
the enormous rewards", and that their achievement with the album cannot be
underestimated. He also shared his thoughts on it as well, "It's one of those seminal
albums that just gets it right. It's extremely well-produced, and every note on that
album is totally under control. I admire how they did it, and what they did with the
songs, and it was very effective: it undoubtedly did help push metal into the
mainstream."[93]
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Metallica, a 53-track covers album titled The
Metallica Blacklist was released on September 10, 2021. The album features covers
of songs from Metallica from over 50 artists in various styles. All profits from the
album are donated to the band's All Within My Hands Foundation as well as charities
of each contributing artist's choice.[94][95]

Accolades
[edit]
Metallica was voted the eighth best album of 1991 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll
of American critics nationwide, published by The Village Voice.[96] Melody
Maker ranked it number 16 in the magazine's December 1991 list of the year's best
albums.[88] In 1992, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.
[97]
In 2000, it was voted number 88 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[98] In
2012, Rolling Stone ranked Metallica number 255 on "The 500 Greatest Albums of
All Time",[99] and then number 235 in a 2020 revised edition of the list.[7] It was also
ranked 25th on the magazine's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" (2017).
[100]
Spin ranked it number 52 in on the "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s" (1999), with
its entry reading: "this record's diamond-tipped tuneage stripped the band's
melancholy guitar excess down to melodic, radio-ready bullets and ballads".
[88]
Metallica featured in Q magazine's August 2000 list of the "Best Metal Albums of
All Time"; the magazine said the album "transformed them from cult metal heroes
into global superstars, bringing a little refinement to their undoubted power".[88] In
1999, eight years after the album's release, Metallica won a Billboard Music
Award for Catalog Album of the Year.[101]

Track listing
[edit]
All lyrics are written by James Hetfield; all music is composed by Hetfield and Lars
Ulrich except where noted

No. Title Music Length

1. "Enter Sandman"  Hetfield 5:31
 Lars Ulrich
 Kirk Hammett
2. "Sad but True" 5:24
3. "Holier than Thou" 3:47
4. "The Unforgiven"  Hetfield 6:27
 Ulrich
 Hammett
5. "Wherever I May Roam" 6:44
6. "Don't Tread on Me" 4:00
7. "Through the Never"  Hetfield 4:04
 Ulrich
 Hammett
8. "Nothing Else Matters" 6:28
9. "Of Wolf and Man"  Hetfield 4:16
 Ulrich
  Hammett
10. "The God That Failed" 5:08
11. "My Friend of Misery"  Hetfield 6:49
 Ulrich
 Jason Newsted
12. "The Struggle Within" 3:53
Total length: 62:31
Japanese edition bonus track[102]
No. Title Writer(s) Length
13. "So What" (Anti-Nowhere League cover)  Chris Exall 3:08
 Clive Blake
 Nick Culmer
 Djahanshah Aghssa

 On the vinyl record releases, Tracks 1–3 were on Side A, Tracks 4–6 were
on Side B, Tracks 7–9 were on Side C, and tracks 10–12 were on Side D.
Reissues
[edit]
Metallica has been reissued several times, including in 2008,[103] in 2010,[104] and in
2014.[105] To mark its 30th anniversary, a remastered edition was released on
September 10, 2021. The album was remastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway
Mastering, with all content overseen by executive producer Greg Fidelman. A limited
edition box set was released, which includes the remastered album on a 180-gram
double LP and a CD, as well as three live LPs, 14 CDs and six DVDs featuring
unreleased content, and various other physical merchandise.[106][107]

Personnel
[edit]
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[108][102][109]

Metallica

 James Hetfield – vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, lead guitar on

"Nothing Else Matters"
 Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
 Jason Newsted – bass
 Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion
Additional musicians

 Michael Kamen – orchestral arrangement on "Nothing Else Matters"

Production

 Bob Rock – production

 James Hetfield – production
 Lars Ulrich – production
 Randy Staub – engineering
  Mike Tacci – assistant engineering
 George Marino – mastering
 Bob Ludwig – 2021 remastering
Charts
[edit]
Weekly charts Year-end charts
[edit] [edit]

Weekly chart performance for Metallica Year-end chart performance

Peak Chart (1991)

Chart (1991–2021)
position

Australian Albums (ARIA)[137]

Australian Albums (ARIA)[110] 1

Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[138]

Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[111] 1

Canadian Albums (RPM)[139]

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [112]
7

Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[113] 2

European (European Top 100 Alb

Canadian Albums (Billboard)[114] 8

German Albums (Offizielle Top 1

Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[115] 43

New Zealand (RMNZ)[143]

Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[116] 5

US Billboard 200[144]
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [117]
4

Chart (1992)
European Albums (Billboard)[118] 2

Australian Albums (ARIA)[145]

Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[119] 1

Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14

French Albums (SNEP) [120]
53
 Weekly chart performance for Metallica Chart (1992)

Peak Europe (European Top 100 Album

Chart (1991–2021)
position

German Albums (Offizielle Top 1

German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [121]
1

New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[149]

Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [122]
10

US Billboard 200[150]
Irish Albums (IRMA) [123]
2

Chart (1993)
Italian Albums (Musica e dischi) [124]
2

Australian Albums (ARIA)[151]

Japanese Albums (Oricon) [49]
3

Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15

Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico) [125]
42

US Billboard 200[153]
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[126] 1

Chart (1994)
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[127] 1

Australian Albums (ARIA)[154]

Polish Albums (ZPAV)[128] 5

Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15

Portuguese Albums (AFP)[129] 1

US Billboard 200[156]
Scottish Albums (OCC) [130]
4

Chart (1995) Position

Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [131]
5

US Billboard 200[157] 94
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[132] 4

Chart (1996) Position

Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[133] 1
 Weekly chart performance for Metallica US Billboard 200[158] 91

Peak Chart (2000)

Chart (1991–2021)
position

Canadian Albums (Nielsen Sound

UK Albums (OCC) [134]
1

Chart (2002)
US Billboard 200[135] 1

Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen

US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[136] 1

Chart (2004)

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

Chart (2014)

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

Chart (2015)

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

Chart (2016)

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

US Billboard 200[165]

Chart (2017)

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

 Chart (2017)

US Billboard 200[167]

US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

Chart (2018)

Icelandic Albums (Plötutíóindi)[169]

US Billboard 200[170]

US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

Chart (2019)

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flander

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallon

Icelandic Albums (Plötutíóindi)[174]

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

US Billboard 200[176]

US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

Chart (2020)

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flander

 Chart (2020)

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

US Billboard 200[180]

US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

Chart (2021)

Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[182]

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flander

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallon

German Albums (Offizielle Top 1

Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[186

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitpara

US Billboard 200[189]

US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

Chart (2022)

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flander

 Chart (2022)

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

US Billboard 200[193]

US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

Chart (2023)

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flander

Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[19

Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplista

US Billboard 200[198]

US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

Decade-end charts
[edit]

Decade-end chart perform

for Metallica

Chart (1990–1999)

US Billboard 200[200]

Certifications and sales

[edit]
 Certifications and sales for Metallica

Region Certification Certified units/sales

Argentina (CAPIF)[201] 5× Platinum 300,000^

Australia (ARIA)[52] 13× Platinum 910,000‡

Austria (IFPI Austria)[202] 2× Platinum 100,000*

Belgium (BEA)[203] 2× Platinum 100,000*

Canada (Music Canada)[204] Diamond 1,000,000^

Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[205] 8× Platinum 160,000‡

Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[206] 2× Platinum 118,956[206]

France (SNEP)[207] Platinum 300,000*

Germany (BVMI)[208] 4× Platinum 2,000,000‡

Italy (FIMI)[209] 2× Platinum 100,000*

sales since 2009

Japan (RIAJ)[210] Platinum 200,000^

Mexico (AMPROFON)[212] Gold 75,000^ / 210,000[211]

Netherlands (NVPI)[213] 2× Platinum 200,000^

New Zealand (RMNZ)[54] 10× Platinum 150,000^

 Certifications and sales for Metallica

Region Certification Certified units/sales

Norway (IFPI Norway)[214] 3× Platinum 150,000*

Poland (ZPAV)[215] Platinum 20,000‡

Sweden (GLF)[216] Platinum 100,000^

Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[217] 3× Platinum 150,000^

Turkey — 300,000[218]

United Kingdom (BPI)[219] 3× Platinum 900,000‡

United States (RIAA)[221] 16× Platinum 17,300,000[220]

Summaries

Worldwide — 30,000,000[6]

Sales figures based on certification alone.

*

Shipments figures based on certification alone.

^

‡
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.