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{{Short description|1991 studio album by Metallica}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2013}}
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{{Infobox album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
|Name = Metallica
|Type = Studio album
{{Infobox album
|Artist = [[Metallica]]
| name = Metallica
|Cover = Metallica - Metallica cover.jpg
| type = studio
| artist = [[Metallica]]
|Released = {{Start date|1991|8|12}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metallica.com/releases/the-black-album.asp |title=Metallica – The Black Album |publisher=Metallica.com |date=August 13, 1991 |accessdate=August 12, 2011}}</ref>
| cover = Metallica - Metallica cover.jpg
|Recorded = {{Start date|1990|10|6}} – {{Start date|1991|6|16}} at [[Extasy Records#|One on One Recording Studios]]
| alt = Black image with a 1:1 aspect ratio and a grey outline of a snake (bottom right)
|Genre = ((Heavy metal)) ((Thrash Metal
| released = {{Start date|1991|08|12}}
|Length = 62:31
| recorded = October 6, 1990 – June 16, 1991
|Label = [[
| border = yes

| studio = [[17 Hertz Studio|One on One]], Los Angeles

| genre = [[Heavy metal music|Heavy metal]]
Elektra Records|Elektra]
| length = 62:40
|Producer = [[Bob Rock]], [[James Hetfield]], [[Lars Ulrich]]
| label = [[Elektra Records|Elektra]]
|Last album = ''[[...And Justice for All (album)|...And Justice for All]]''<br/>(1988)
| producer = {{hlist| [[James Hetfield]] | [[Bob Rock]] | [[Lars Ulrich]] }}
|This album = '''''Metallica'''''<br/>(1991)
| prev_title = [[The Good, the Bad & the Live]]
|Next album = ''[[Load (album)|Load]]''<br/>(1996)
| prev_year = 1990
|Misc = {{Singles
| next_title = [[Load (album)|Load]]
|Name = Metallica
| next_year = 1996
|Type = studio
|single 1 = [[Enter Sandman]]
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = [[Metallica]] studio album
|single 1 date = {{Start date|1991|7|29}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metallica.com/releases/enter-sandman.asp|title=Enter Sandman information |publisher=Metallica.com |date=July 29, 1991 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}</ref>
| type = studio
|single 2 = [[The Unforgiven (song)|The Unforgiven]]
| prev_title = [[...And Justice for All (album)|...And Justice for All]]
|single 2 date = {{Start date|1991|10|28}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metallica.com/releases/the-unforgiven.asp|title=The Unforgiven information |publisher=Metallica.com |date=January 20, 1992 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}</ref>
| prev_year = 1988
|single 3 = [[Nothing Else Matters]]
| title = Metallica
|single 3 date = {{Start date|1992|4|20}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metallica.com/releases/nothing-else-matters.asp|title=Nothing Else Matters information |publisher=Metallica.com |date=April 20, 1992 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}</ref>
|single 4 = [[Wherever I May Roam]]
| year = 1991
| next_title = [[Load (album)|Load]]
|single 4 date = {{Start date|1992|7|31}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metallica.com/releases/wherever-i-may-roam.asp|title=Wherever I May Roam information |publisher=Metallica.com |date=August 19, 1992 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}</ref>
| next_year = 1996
|single 5 = [[Sad but True]]
|single 5 date = {{Start date|1993|2|8}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metallica.com/releases/sad-but-true.asp|title=Sad but True information |publisher=Metallica.com |date=January 8, 1993 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}</ref>
}}
}}
{{Singles
| name = Metallica
| type = studio
| single1 = [[Enter Sandman]]
| single1date = July 29, 1991<ref>{{cite web|url=https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4293/enter-sandman|title=Enter Sandman|publisher=Metallica.com|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111243/https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4293/enter-sandman|url-status=live}}</ref>
| single2 = [[The Unforgiven (song)|The Unforgiven]]
| single2date = October 28, 1991<ref>{{cite web|url=https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4294/the-unforgiven|title=The Unforgiven|publisher=Metallica.com|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065246/https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4294/the-unforgiven|url-status=live}}</ref>
| single3 = [[Nothing Else Matters]]
| single3date = April 20, 1992<ref>{{cite web|url=https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4295/nothing-else-matters|title=Nothing Else Matters|publisher=Metallica.com|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=March 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328095305/https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4295/nothing-else-matters|url-status=live}}</ref>
| single4 = [[Wherever I May Roam]]
| single4date = October 19, 1992<ref>{{cite web|url=https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4297/wherever-i-may-roam|title=Wherever I May Roam|publisher=Metallica.com|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=November 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120030124/https://www.metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4297/wherever-i-may-roam|url-status=live}}</ref>
| single5 = [[Sad but True]]
| single5date = December 15, 1992<ref>{{cite web|url=https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4298/sad-but-true|title=Sad but True|publisher=Metallica.com|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=December 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222124935/https://metallica.com/releases/singles-eps/4298/sad-but-true|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
}}
}}

'''''Metallica''''' (commonly known as the '''''Black Album''''') is the fifth studio album by American [[Heavy metal music|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 (song)|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 (Metallica 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|''Billboard'' 200]], making it Metallica's first album to top the album charts. With over 30 million copies sold worldwide,<ref name="ww">{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Kirk-Hammett-Some-kind-of-monster-fan-3850850.php#page-2|title=Kirk Hammett: Some kind of monster fan|first=Aidin|last=Vaziri|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=October 10, 2012|access-date=August 11, 2023|quote=The group's eponymous fifth album, known to fans as ''The Black Album'', meanwhile, sold 30 million copies worldwide.|archive-date=November 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121117071740/http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Kirk-Hammett-Some-kind-of-monster-fan-3850850.php#page-2|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Metallica'' is one of the [[List of best-selling albums|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 [[RIAA certification|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 "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]" list.<ref name="rollingstone.com">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/metallica-metallica-the-black-album-1062998/|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=September 22, 2020|access-date=May 31, 2021|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216235059/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/metallica-metallica-the-black-album-1062998/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2019/12/09/metallica-makes-history-with-their-self-titled-album/#14622ad3565c|author=McIntyre, Hugh|title=Metallica Makes History With Their Self-Titled Album|website=[[Forbes]]|access-date=December 9, 2019|archive-date=October 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029145708/https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2019/12/09/metallica-makes-history-with-their-self-titled-album/#14622ad3565c|url-status=live}}</ref>
'''''Metallica''''' (also known as '''''The Black Album''''') is the [[eponym]]ously titled fifth studio album by American [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band [[Metallica]]. It was released on August 12, 1991, through [[Elektra Records]], received widespread critical acclaim and became the band's best selling album. ''Metallica'' produced five singles that are considered to be among the band's best-known songs: "[[Enter Sandman]]", "[[The Unforgiven (song)|The Unforgiven]]", "[[Nothing Else Matters]]", "[[Wherever I May Roam]]", and "[[Sad but True]]". "[[Don't Tread on Me (Metallica song)|Don't Tread on Me]]" was also issued to rock radio shortly after the album's release, but the song did not receive a commercial single release. The album marked a change in the band's sound from the [[thrash metal]] style of the band's previous four albums to a less harsh one. Metallica promoted the album with a series of tours. In 2003, the album was ranked number 252 on ''[[Rolling Stone]]'''s list of [[The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]].


== Background and recording ==
The recording of ''Metallica'' was troubled; the band frequently entered conflicts with [[Bob Rock]], the band's new producer, during production. The album debuted at number one in ten countries and spent four consecutive weeks at the top spot of the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]], making it Metallica's first album to top album charts. {{As of|November 2014}}, the album has spent 328 weeks on the Billboard album chart, making it one of the ten longest running discs of all time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200?order=timeon|title=Billboard 200: Weeks on chart|publisher=Billboard.com|date= April 21, 2014}}</ref>


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.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)"/> 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]].<ref name="ulrichca">{{cite video|people=[[Lars Ulrich]]|title=Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Eagle Rock Entertainment]]|date=2001}}</ref> 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.<ref name="newstedca"/> The songs were written in two months in mid-1990; the ideas for some of them were originated during the [[Damaged Justice Tour]].<ref name=rsfricke/> Metallica was impressed with [[Bob Rock]]'s production work on [[Mötley Crüe]]'s ''[[Dr. Feelgood (album)|Dr. Feelgood]]'' (1989) and decided to hire him to work on their album.<ref name="rockca"/><ref name="Rosen">Rosen, Craig. ''The Billboard Book of Number One Albums''. Billboard Books, 1996 {{ISBN|0-8230-7586-9}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Rosen"/>
''Metallica'' is the group's best-selling album, one of the [[List of best-selling albums|best-selling albums worldwide]], and the best-selling album of the [[Nielsen SoundScan|SoundScan]] era. The album was certified [[RIAA certification|16× platinum]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA) on December 13, 2012 and has sold over sixteen million copies in the United States since its release, being the first album in the SoundScan era to do so.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://loudwire.com/metallica-black-album-new-sales-record-frayed-ends-of-sanity-live-first-time/ | title=Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ Sets New Sales Record, Band Plays ‘Frayed Ends of Sanity’ for First Time |publisher=[[Loudwire]] |author= Graham 'Gruhamed' Hartmann |date=May 29, 2014 |accessdate=May 29, 2014}}</ref> Metallica played the album in its entirety during the [[2012 European Black Album Tour]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rocksound.tv/news/article/metallica-to-headline-download-2012 |title=Metallica To Headline Download 2012! &#124; News &#124; Rock Sound |publisher=Rocksound.tv |date= |accessdate=February 20, 2012}}</ref>


Four demos for the album were recorded on August 13, 1990; "[[Enter Sandman]]", "[[The Unforgiven (song)|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.<ref name="ulrichca" /> 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.<ref name="rockca"/> 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."<ref name=gw/>
==Recording and production==
At the time of ''Metallica''{{'s}} recording, the band's songs were written mainly by vocalist-guitarist [[James Hetfield]] and drummer [[Lars Ulrich]], with Hetfield being the lyricist.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)"/> 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]].<ref name="ulrichca"/> 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.<ref name="newstedca"/> The songs were written in two months in mid-1990; the ideas for some of them were originated during the [[Damaged Justice Tour]].<ref name=rsfricke/> Metallica was impressed with [[Bob Rock]]'s production work on [[Mötley Crüe]]'s ''[[Dr. Feelgood (album)|Dr. Feelgood]]'' and decided to hire him to work on their album.<ref name="rockca"/><ref name="Rosen">Rosen, Craig. ''The Billboard Book of Number One Albums''. Billboard Books, 1996 ISBN 0-8230-7586-9</ref> 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".<ref name="Rosen"/>


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.<ref name="rockca">{{cite video|people=[[Bob Rock]]|title=Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Eagle Rock Entertainment]]|date=2001}}</ref> He also suggested recording tracks live and using harmonic vocals for Hetfield.<ref name=spin>{{cite journal|last=Mack|first=Bob|title=Precious Metal|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|volume=7|number=7|date=October 1991}}</ref> 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.<ref name="rockca"/> Rock wanted Hetfield to write better lyrics and found his experience recording with Metallica disappointing: the recording experience was so stressful that Rock briefly swore never to work with the band again.<ref name="rockca"/><ref name="Gibson Bob Rock Metallica 2011">{{cite web |last=Hodgson |first=Peter |date=August 2, 2011 |title=Metallica Producer: 'Black Album' 'Wasn't Fun' |url=http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/News/en-us/metallica-0802-2011.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201005154/http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/News/en-us/metallica-0802-2011.aspx |archive-date=February 1, 2013 |access-date=August 2, 2011 |publisher=[[Gibson Guitar Company]]}}</ref><ref name="hetfieldca"/> The tension between band and producer was documented in ''A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica'' and ''Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica''.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)" /><ref name="ulrichca" />
{{quote box|align=left|width=25em|quote="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."|source=—James Hetfield<ref name=gw/>}}
Four demos for the album were recorded on August 13, 1990; "[[Enter Sandman]]", "[[The Unforgiven (song)|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.<ref name="ulrichca">{{cite video | people =[[Lars Ulrich]] | title =[[Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica]] | medium =DVD | publisher = [[Eagle Rock Entertainment]] | date = 2001 }}</ref> On October 4, 1990, a demo of "[[Sad but True]]" was recorded. In October 1990, Metallica entered [[One on One Recording Studios]] in [[Los Angeles]], California, to record the album. The band also recorded the album at [[Little Mountain Sound Studios]] in [[Vancouver, British Columbia]] about a week.<ref name="rockca"/> On June 2, 1991, a demo of "Holier Than Thou" was recorded.


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.<ref name="rockca">{{cite video | people =[[Bob Rock]] | title =[[Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica]] | medium =DVD | publisher =[[Eagle Rock Entertainment]] | date = 2001 }}</ref> He also suggested recording tracks live and using harmonic vocals for Hetfield.<ref name=spin>{{cite journal|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=yGjqAHJs488C&pg=PT45|title=Precious Metal|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|author=Mack, Bob|issue=|volume=7|number=7|ignore-isbn-error=true|date=October 1991}}</ref> 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.<ref name="rockca"/> Rock wanted Hetfield to write better lyrics and found his experience recording with Metallica disappointing.<ref name="rockca"/><ref name="hetfieldca"/><ref name="Gibson Bob Rock Metallica 2011"/> Since the band was perfectionist,<ref name="newstedca">{{cite video | people =[[Jason Newsted]] | title =[[Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica]] | medium =DVD | publisher =[[Eagle Rock Entertainment]] | date = 2001 }}</ref><ref name="hetfieldca">{{cite video | people =[[James Hetfield]] | title =[[Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica]] | medium =DVD | publisher =[[Eagle Rock Entertainment]] | date = 2001 }}</ref> Rock insisted they recorded as many takes as needed to get the sound they wanted.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)">{{cite video | people =[[Adam Dubin]], [[Metallica]] ([[James Hetfield]], [[Lars Ulrich]], [[Kirk Hammett]], [[Jason Newsted]]), [[Bob Rock]], [[Spinal Tap (band)|Spinal Tap]] | title =[[A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica]] : Part 1 | medium =VHS | publisher =[[Elektra Entertainment]] | date = 1992}}</ref> The album was remixed three times and cost {{US$|1&nbsp;million}}.<ref name="Metallica timeline February 1990 - August 13, 1991">{{cite web
Since the band was perfectionist,<ref name="newstedca">{{cite video|people=[[Jason Newsted]]|title=Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Eagle Rock Entertainment]]|date=2001}}</ref><ref name="hetfieldca">{{cite video|people=[[James Hetfield]]|title=Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Eagle Rock Entertainment]]|date=2001}}</ref> Rock insisted they record as many takes as needed to get the sound they wanted.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)">{{cite video|people=[[Adam Dubin]], [[Metallica]] ([[James Hetfield]], [[Lars Ulrich]], [[Kirk Hammett]], [[Jason Newsted]]), [[Bob Rock]], [[Spinal Tap (band)|Spinal Tap]]|title=[[A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica|A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica : Part 1]]|medium=VHS|publisher=[[Elektra Entertainment]]|date=1992}}</ref> The album was remixed three times and cost {{US$|1&nbsp;million}}.<ref name="Metallica timeline February 1990 August 13, 1991">{{cite web|title=Metallica timeline February 1990 – August&nbsp;13, 1991|publisher=[[MTV]]|url=http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=11|access-date=August 3, 2011|archive-date=October 25, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025054818/http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=11|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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".<ref name="playboy-2">{{cite journal|last=Tannenbaum|first=Rob|title=Playboy Interview: Metallica|quote=Lars, Jason and I were going through divorces. I was an emotional wreck. I was trying to take those feeling of guilt and failure and channel them into the music, to get something positive out of it.|url=http://geocities.com/hetfieldinter/metplayboy.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026195952/http://geocities.com/hetfieldinter/metplayboy7.htm|archive-date=October 26, 2009|journal=[[Playboy]]|date=April 2001}}</ref>
|title=Metallica timeline February 1990 – August&nbsp;13, 1991|work=MTV|url=http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=11|accessdate=August 3, 2011}}</ref> The troubled production led to 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".<ref name=playboy-2>{{cite journal|url=http://geocities.com/hetfieldinter/metplayboy.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20091026195952/http://geocities.com/hetfieldinter/metplayboy7.htm|archivedate=October 26, 2009|title=Playboy Interview: Metallica|author=Tannenbaum, Rob|journal=[[Playboy]]|date=April 2001|quote=Lars, Jason and I were going through divorces. I was an emotional wreck. I was trying to take those feeling of guilt and failure and channel them into the music, to get something positive out of it.}}</ref>


== Composition and lyrics ==
Rock altered Metallica's working schedule and routine so much that the members swore never to work with him again.<ref name="Gibson Bob Rock Metallica 2011">Hodgson, Peter. [http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/metallica-0802-2011/ ''Metallica Producer: Black Album 'wasn't fun']. [[Gibson Guitar Company]]. August 2, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.</ref> The animosity and tension between Metallica and Rock 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''.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)"/><ref name="ulrichca"/> Years after the production, 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.<ref name="roadrunnerrecords2"/> Rock said the petition hurt his children's feelings;<ref name="roadrunnerrecords2">{{cite web|url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=58651|title=Rock says Metallica fans' petition to dump him was 'hurtful' to his kids|publisher=Blabbermouth.net|accessdate=June 8, 2011}}</ref> he said, "sometimes, even with a great coach, a team keeps losing. You have to get new blood in there."<ref name="roadrunnerrecords2"/> Despite the controversies between the band and Rock, he continued to work with Metallica through the 2003 album ''[[St. Anger]]''.<ref name="Gibson Bob Rock Metallica 2011"/>


==Composition==
{{Listen
{{Listen
|filename = Metallica - Enter Sandman.ogg
|filename = Metallica - Enter Sandman.ogg
|title = "Enter Sandman"
|title = "Enter Sandman"
|description = Sample of [[lead single]] "[[Enter Sandman]]" from ''Metallica''. In this sample, the main riff of the song 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.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite video | people =[[Lars Ulrich]] | title =[[Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica]] | medium =DVD | publisher=[[Eagle Rock Entertainment]] | date = 2001 }}</ref>
|description = 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.<ref name="ulrichca" />
|filename3 = Metallica - The Unforgiven.ogg
|filename2 = Metallica - The Unforgiven.ogg
|title3 = "The Unforgiven"
|title2 = "The Unforgiven"
|description3 = "[[The Unforgiven (song)|The Unforgiven]]" is the third single released from ''Metallica''. Robert Palmer of ''Rolling Stone'' believed the band abandoned fast [[tempo]]s to expand its music and expressive [[range (music)|range]]. The song's theme deals with the struggle of an individual against the efforts of those who would oppose him.<ref name=True-AM>{{cite news|last=True|first=Chris|title=Metallica: The Unforgiven|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/the-unforgiven-mt0007572123|accessdate=June 12, 2013|newspaper=AllMusic}}</ref>
|description2 = "[[The Unforgiven (song)|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.<ref name=True-AM>{{cite news|last=True|first=Chris|title=Metallica: The Unforgiven|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/the-unforgiven-mt0007572123|access-date=June 12, 2013|newspaper=AllMusic|archive-date=January 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140114051825/http://www.allmusic.com/song/the-unforgiven-mt0007572123|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
}}


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.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)" /><ref name="Gibson Bob Rock Metallica 2011" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Thomas |title=Music of the 1980s |date=2011 |page=60 |isbn=9780313366000}}</ref> 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".<ref name="gw">{{cite journal|last=Bienstock|first=Richard|title=Metallica: Talkin' Thrash|url=http://www.guitarworld.com/metallica-talkin-thrash?page=0,7/1|journal=[[Guitar World]]|date=December 2008|access-date=December 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625065802/http://www.guitarworld.com/metallica-talkin-thrash?page=0%2C7%2F1|archive-date=June 25, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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."<ref name="rsfricke">{{cite magazine|last=Fricke|first=David|author-link=David Fricke|title=Metallica: From Metal to Main Street|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/metallica-from-metal-to-main-street-19911114|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321082148/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21395583/metallica/1|archive-date=March 21, 2009|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|issue=617|date=November 14, 1991}}</ref>
According to [[Robert Palmer (writer)|Robert Palmer]] of ''Rolling Stone'', "[t]empos were often slowed down in exchange for slower [[Beats per minute|BPM]]s, while they expand its music and expressive [[range (music)|range]]".<ref name="Palmer"/> The singles "[[Sad but True]]" and "The Unforgiven" are notable examples of this. 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 thrash characteristics.{{sfn|Harrison|2011|p=60}}<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)"/><ref name="Gibson Bob Rock Metallica 2011"/> Many fans 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.<ref name="Palmer"/> 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.<ref name=rsfricke/> Rock also raised the volume of the bass guitar, which had been nearly inaudible on the previous album ''[[...And Justice for All (album)|...And Justice for All]]''.<ref name=spin/> Newsted said he tried to "create a real rhythm section rather than a one-dimensional sound" with his bass.<ref name=gw/> Ulrich said he tried to avoid the "[[progressive rock|progressive]] [[Neil Peart|Peartian]] [[Drum rudiment#Terminology|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]].<ref name=spin/>


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.<ref name="rsfricke" /> Rock also raised the volume of the bass guitar, which had been nearly inaudible on the previous album ''[[...And Justice for All (album)|...And Justice for All]]''.<ref name="spin" /> Newsted said he tried to "create a real rhythm section rather than a one-dimensional sound" with his bass.<ref name="gw" /> 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.<ref>{{cite news|last=Featherstone|first=Falth|title=Metallica|url=https://archive.org/details/thecharleton21carl/page/408/mode/2up|work=[[The Charlatan (student newspaper)|The Charlatan]]|date=November 14, 1991|access-date=September 4, 2021}}</ref> Ulrich said he tried to avoid the "[[progressive rock|progressive]] [[Neil Peart|Peartian]] [[Drum rudiment#Terminology|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]].<ref name="spin" />
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".<ref name=gw>{{cite journal|url=http://www.guitarworld.com/metallica-talkin-thrash?page=0,7/1|title=Metallica: Talkin' Thrash|author=Bienstock, Richard|journal=[[Guitar World]]|date=December 2008}}</ref> 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."<ref name=rsfricke>{{cite journal|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21395583/metallica/1|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090321082148/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21395583/metallica/1|archivedate=March 21, 2009|title=Metallica|journal=[[Rolling Stone]]|author=[[David Fricke|Fricke, David]]|issue=617|date=November 14, 1991}}</ref>


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]].<ref name="Gibson Bob Rock Metallica 2011"/> According to Chris True of [[Allmusic]], "Enter Sandman" is about "nightmares and all that come with them".<ref name="allmusicreview">{{cite web |title =Enter Sandman Song Review|url ={{Allmusic|class=song|id=t850588|pure_url=yes}}|author =True, Chris|publisher =[[AllMusic]]|accessdate =August 27, 2007}}</ref> "[[The God That Failed (song)|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.<ref name="Palmer"/> 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."<ref name=playboy>{{cite journal|url=http://geocities.com/hetfieldinter/metplayboy.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20091026194022/http://geocities.com/hetfieldinter/metplayboy.html|archivedate=October 26, 2009|title=Playboy Interview: Metallica|author=Tannenbaum, Rob|journal=[[Playboy]]|date=April 2001}}</ref>
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]].<ref name="Gibson Bob Rock Metallica 2011"/> According to Chris True of [[AllMusic]], "Enter Sandman" is about "nightmares and all that come with them".<ref name="allmusicreview">{{cite web|last=True|first=Chris|title=Enter Sandman Song Review|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/t850588|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=August 27, 2007|archive-date=June 28, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120628154807/http://www.allmusic.com/song/t850588|url-status=dead}}</ref> "[[The God That Failed (song)|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.<ref name="Palmer"/>{{failed verification|date=April 2022}} 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."<ref name=playboy>{{cite journal|last=Tannenbaum|first=Rob|url=http://geocities.com/hetfieldinter/metplayboy.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026194022/http://geocities.com/hetfieldinter/metplayboy.html|archive-date=October 26, 2009|title=Playboy Interview: Metallica|journal=[[Playboy]]|date=April 2001}}</ref>


==Packaging==
== Packaging ==
Metallica had much discussion 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".<ref name=gw/> 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. Both emblems are dark gray so they stand out against the black background, giving ''Metallica'' the nickname "''The Black Album''". These emblems also appear on the back cover of the album.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)"/> The motto of the Gadsden flag, "[[Don't Tread on Me (Metallica song)|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 (band)|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.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)"/>


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."<ref name=gw/> 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. 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 [[Don't Tread on Me (Metallica song)|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.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)"/>
==Promotion==


The cover is reminiscent of [[Spinal Tap (band)|Spinal Tap]]'s album ''[[This Is Spinal Tap (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 (band)|Status Quo]] was the original inspiration as that band's ''[[Hello! (album)|Hello!]]'' album cover was also black.<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (1/2)" />
===Singles===
Six tracks on ''Metallica'' were released as singles. "Enter Sandman" was released as the [[lead single]] on July 29, 1991; it reached number 16 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] singles chart and was certified "Platinum" by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA).<ref name="riaasearch">{{cite web |title =RIAA Gold and Platinum Searchable Database|url =http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH|publisher =[[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]]|accessdate =September 1, 2007}}</ref><ref name="billboardcharts">{{cite web |title =Metallica&nbsp;— Artist Chart History|url ={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=metallica|chart=all}}|publisher =[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|accessdate =April 8, 2007}}</ref> The follow-up single, "Don't Tread on Me", was released promotionally and peaked at number 21 on the ''Billboard'' [[Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks]] singles chart.<ref name="billboardcharts"/> "The Unforgiven" was a Top 40 hit; it peaked in the Top 10 in Australia.<ref name="Australian Charts">{{cite web | url = http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Metallica&titel=The+Unforgiven&cat=s | title = Australia Top 50 Singles | accessdate = February 26, 2010}}</ref> In 1992, "Nothing Else Matters" was released to more success, reaching number six in the United Kingdom and Ireland.<ref name="UK Top 40 NEM">{{cite web|url=http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=19767 |title=Metallica – Nothing Else Matters |publisher=Chart Stats |date=September 27, 2008 |accessdate=November 13, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Jaclyn Ward – Fireball Media Group – http://www.fireballmedia.ie |url=http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement |title=The Irish Charts – All there is to know |publisher=Irishcharts.ie |date= |accessdate=July 15, 2011}}</ref> The fifth single from the album was also released in 1992; "Wherever I May Roam" peaked at number two on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart but was less successful on the Hot 100 chart, failing to reach the Top 80.<ref name="billboardcharts"/> In 1993, "[[Sad but True]]" did not repeat the successes of the album's previous singles, charting for one week on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at 98.<ref name="billboardcharts"/> 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]].<ref name="mettimeline1992">{{cite web |title =Metallica&nbsp;— Timeline – 1992|url =http://www.metallica.com/timeline.asp?page=events&n_categoryid=830&year=1992|publisher =[[Metallica]]|accessdate =August 28, 2007}}</ref>


== Marketing and sales ==
===Tours===
[[File:Metallica Of Wolf and Man.jpg|thumbnail|right|Metallica performing live "Of Wolf and Man" at [[The O2 Arena|02 Arena]], [[London]] (2008)]]


{{quote box|width=27%|salign=right|quote=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.|source=—[[Lars Ulrich]], on Metallica's first number one album<ref name=rsfricke/>}}
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 Union|Soviet]] history" and was attended by an estimated 150,000 to 500,000 people.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Schmidt |first=William E. |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/29/world/heavy-metal-groups-shake-moscow.html?pagewanted=1 |title=Heavy-Metal Groups Shake Moscow |work= The New York Times|publisher=NYTimes.com |date=September 29, 1991 |accessdate=January 15, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1G8VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mOoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5312,6600730&dq=monster+of+rock+1991+metallica&hl=en |title=Monsters of Rock hit Moscow |location=Eugene, Oregon|agency=[[Associated Press]] |publisher=''The [[Eugene Register-Guard]]'' |page=5A|date=September 29, 1991 |accessdate=January 17, 2010}}</ref> Some unofficial estimates put the attendance as high as 1,600,000.<ref name=Moscow>{{cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/articles/sneak-peek-guitar-hero-metallica |title=Sneak Peek: 'Guitar Hero: Metallica|author=Fitzmaurice, Larry |publisher=''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' |date=January 26, 2009 |accessdate=January 29, 2010}}</ref> 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", and Hetfield performed the Queen song "Stone Cold Crazy" with [[John Deacon]], [[Brian May]] and [[Roger Taylor (Queen drummer)|Roger Taylor]] of Queen and [[Tony Iommi]] of [[Black Sabbath]]. At one of the tour's first gigs the floor of the stage collapsed.<ref name="Snakepit tour"/> The January 13 and 14, 1992, shows in San Diego were later released in the box set ''[[Live Shit: Binge & Purge]]'',<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (2/2)"/> while the tour and the album were documented in the documentary ''A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica''.<ref name="Metallica timeline February, 1990 - August 13, 1991">{{cite web|title=Metallica timeline February, 1990 – August 13, 1991|work=MTV.com |publisher=MTV Networks |url=http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=11|accessdate=December 2, 2007}}</ref>
"Enter Sandman" was released as ''Metallica''{{'}}s [[lead single]] on July 29, 1991; it reached number 16 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] singles chart and was certified Platinum by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA).<ref name="riaasearch">{{cite web|title=RIAA Gold and Platinum Searchable Database|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH|publisher=[[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]]|access-date=September 1, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626050454/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH|archive-date=June 26, 2007}}</ref><ref name="billboardcharts">{{cite magazine|title=Metallica&nbsp;— Artist Chart History|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/metallica/chart-history/|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=April 8, 2007|archive-date=November 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119201217/https://www.billboard.com/artist/metallica/chart-history/|url-status=live}}</ref> The follow-up single, "[[Don't Tread on Me (Metallica song)|Don't Tread on Me]]", was released promotionally but did not chart.<ref name="billboardcharts"/> The subsequent single, "The Unforgiven", was a Top 40 hit; it peaked in the Top 10 in Australia.<ref name="Australian Charts">{{cite web|url=http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Metallica&titel=The+Unforgiven&cat=s|title=Australia Top 50 Singles|access-date=February 26, 2010|archive-date=September 22, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110922101348/http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Metallica&titel=The+Unforgiven&cat=s|url-status=live}}</ref>


''Metallica'' was released on August 12, 1991,<ref>{{cite web|title=Metallica|url=https://metallica.com/releases/albums/4213/metallica|publisher=Metallica.com|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=October 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007064552/https://metallica.com/releases/albums/4213/metallica|url-status=dead}}</ref> and was the band's first album to debut at number one on the [[Billboard 200|''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.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Garcia|first=Guy D.|title=Heavy Metal Goes Platinum|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974031,00.html|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=October 14, 1991|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=September 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921093508/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974031,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Epstein|first=Dan|title=Metallica's Black Album: 10 Things You Didn't Know|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/metallicas-black-album-10-things-you-didnt-know-w433976|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=August 12, 2016|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=September 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160906231340/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/metallicas-black-album-10-things-you-didnt-know-w433976|url-status=dead}}</ref> Meanwhile, more singles were released to further success. "Nothing Else Matters" reached number six in the United Kingdom and Ireland,<ref name="UK Top 40 NEM">{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/Accelerate|title=Metallica – Nothing Else Matters|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|date=September 27, 2008|access-date=November 13, 2010|archive-date=October 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021160117/https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/accelerate/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Jaclyn Ward|url=http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement|title=The Irish Charts – All there is to know|publisher=Irishcharts.ie|access-date=July 15, 2011|archive-date=March 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326112752/http://irishcharts.ie/search/placement|url-status=live}}</ref> and "Wherever I May Roam" peaked at number two on the [[Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks]] singles chart,<ref name="billboardcharts"/> although the 1993 single "[[Sad but True]]" charted only for one week on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at 98.<ref name="billboardcharts"/> 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]].<ref name="mettimeline1992">{{cite web|title=Metallica&nbsp;— Timeline – 1992|url=http://www.metallica.com/timeline.asp?page=events&n_categoryid=830&year=1992|publisher=[[Metallica]]|access-date=August 28, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930220157/http://www.metallica.com/timeline.asp?page=events&n_categoryid=830&year=1992|archive-date=September 30, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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 {{convert|12|ft|m|sing=on}} flame shot from a pyrotechnic during a live performance of the introduction of "[[Fade to Black (song)|Fade to Black]]".<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (2/2)">{{cite video | people =[[Metallica]] ([[James Hetfield]], [[Lars Ulrich]], [[Kirk Hammett]], [[Jason Newsted]])| title =[[A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica]] : Part 2 | medium =VHS | publisher =[[Elektra Entertainment]] | date = 1992}}</ref> 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 (film)|The Toxic Avenger]]''".<ref name="Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993"/> Although Hetfield was able to sing, he could not play guitar for the remainder of the tour. Guitar technician [[John Marshall (guitarist)|John Marshall]], who had previously filled in on rhythm guitar and was then playing in [[Metal Church]], played guitar for the recovering Hetfield.<ref name="Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993">{{cite web
|title=Metallica timeline August&nbsp;9, 1992 – November 23, 1993 |work=MTV |url=http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=12|accessdate=December 1, 2007}}</ref>
Internationally, ''Metallica'' was also a success. It debuted at number one on the [[UK Albums Chart]]<ref name="UK">{{cite web|title=Metallica UK Chart History|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/24423/metallica/|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|access-date=June 7, 2013|archive-date=July 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723042551/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/24423/metallica/|url-status=live}}</ref> and was certified 2× platinum by the [[British Phonographic Industry]] (BPI) for selling 600,000 copies in the UK.<ref name="BPI">{{cite web| url=http://www.bpi.co.uk/index.asp?Page=stats/content_file_118.shtml |title=British Phonographic Industry statistics |publisher=[[British Phonographic Industry]] |accessdate=April 6, 2008 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080308041552/http://www.bpi.co.uk/index.asp?Page=stats/content_file_118.shtml |archivedate = March 8, 2008}}</ref> ''Metallica'' topped the charts in Australia,<ref name="AUS">{{cite web|url=http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|title=Australian charts portal|publisher=Australian charts|access-date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305233034/http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref> Canada,<ref name="CAN">{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=v2a76h62to0aart05gg0u3agj2&q1=Metallica&x=20&y=5|title=Metallica Top Albums/CDs positions|work=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|access-date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=June 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601162204/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=v2a76h62to0aart05gg0u3agj2&q1=Metallica&x=20&y=5|url-status=live}}</ref> Germany,<ref name="GER">{{cite web|url=http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/METALLICA/?type=longplay|title=Chartverfolgung Metallica Longplay|language=de|publisher=Musicline|access-date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=March 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308185035/http://musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/metallica?type=longplay|url-status=dead}}</ref> New Zealand,<ref name="NZ">{{cite web|url=https://charts.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Metallica|title=Metallica New Zealand Charting|access-date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=June 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628010123/https://charts.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Metallica|url-status=live}}</ref> Norway,<ref name="NOR">{{cite web|url=http://norwegiancharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|title=Discography Metallica|language=no|publisher=Norwegian charts|access-date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205651/http://norwegiancharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref> the Netherlands,<ref name="NLD">{{cite web|url=http://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|title=Discography Metallica|language=nl|publisher=Dutch charts|access-date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=March 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310002227/http://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref> Sweden,<ref name="SWE">{{cite web|url=http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|title=Discography Metallica|language=sv|publisher=Swedish charts|access-date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063415/http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref> and Switzerland.<ref name="SWI">{{cite web|url=http://hitparade.ch/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|title=Discography Metallica|language=de|publisher=Hit parade|access-date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054337/http://hitparade.ch/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref> It also reached the top five in Austria,<ref name="AUT">{{cite web|url=http://austriancharts.at/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|title=Discography Metallica|language=de|publisher=Austrian charts|access-date=April 8, 2011|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034804/http://austriancharts.at/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref> Finland,<ref name="FIN">{{cite web|url=http://finnishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|title=Discography Metallica|language=fi|publisher=Finnish charts|access-date=April 8, 2011|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032823/http://finnishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref> and Japan,<ref name="Oricon">{{cite web|url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/168605/products/release/|title=Oricon Chart Database|publisher=Oricon|access-date=April 8, 2011|archive-date=May 3, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503054033/http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/168605/products/release/|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as the top 10 in Spain.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRAEAAAAMBAJ&q=metallica+metallica&pg=PA48|title=Hits of the World – Spain|date=June 20, 1992|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|page=48|access-date=October 5, 2020|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916120616/https://books.google.com/books?id=qRAEAAAAMBAJ&q=metallica+metallica&pg=PA48#v=snippet&q=metallica%20metallica&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The album failed to reach the top 20 in Ireland, having peaked at number 27.<ref name="IRE">{{cite web|first=Steffen|last=Hung|url=http://www.irish-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Metallica|title=Metallica discography|publisher=irishcharts.com|date=August 17, 2008|access-date=March 8, 2011|archive-date=October 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005184905/http://www.irish-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Metallica|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Australian Recording Industry Association]] (ARIA) certified the album 12× platinum.<ref name=ARIA/> It received diamond plaques from the [[Canadian Recording Industry Association]] (CRIA){{certification cite ref|region=Canada|title=Metallica|artist=Metallica}} and the [[Recorded Music NZ]] (RMNZ){{certification cite ref|region=New Zealand|title=Metallica|artist=Metallica|type=album|source=archive}} 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 (Carole King album)|Tapestry]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wiederhorn|first=Jon|title=25 Years Ago: Metallica Release ''The Black Album''|url=http://loudwire.com/metallica-the-black-album-anniversary/|work=[[Loudwire]]|date=August 12, 2016|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225201019/https://loudwire.com/metallica-the-black-album-anniversary/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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&nbsp;million in sales,<ref name="Hits">{{cite magazine|last=Caulfield|first=Keith|title=Metallica's 'Black Album' Hits 16 Million in Sales|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6099381/metallica-black-album-sales-16-million-nielsen-soundscan|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=May 28, 2014|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=September 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913061619/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6099381/metallica-black-album-sales-16-million-nielsen-soundscan|url-status=live}}</ref> and with 16.4&nbsp;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&nbsp;million were purchased on [[compact cassette|cassette]]. The album never sold fewer than 1,000 copies in a week, and moved a weekly average of 5,000 copies in 2016.<ref name="US">{{cite magazine|last=Christa Titus|first=Keith Caulfield|title=7 Fast Chart Facts About Metallica's 'Black Album,' 25 Years Later|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7469396/metallica-black-album-25-years-chart-facts|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=August 12, 2016|access-date=September 7, 2016|archive-date=September 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910063022/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7469396/metallica-black-album-25-years-chart-facts|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Metallica'' was certified [[RIAA certification|16× platinum]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA) in 2012 for shipping sixteen million copies in the US.<ref name="Hits"/> ''Metallica'' sold 31&nbsp;million copies worldwide on physical media.<ref>{{cite web|first=Andrew|last=Perry|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/10319029/Metallica-interview-We-can-drive-this-train-into-a-wall-if-we-want.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/10319029/Metallica-interview-We-can-drive-this-train-into-a-wall-if-we-want.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Metallica interview: 'We can drive this train into a wall if we want'|work=[[Telegraph Media Group|The Telegraph]]|date=September 19, 2013|access-date=January 27, 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> 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|''Billboard'' Hot 100]].<ref name="US"/>
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]],<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (2/2)"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=12 |title=Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993|work=MTV.com |publisher=MTV Networks |date= |accessdate=January 24, 2009}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|url={{Allmusic|class=album|id=r191427|pure_url=yes}}|title=Live Shit: Binge & Purge|date= November 23, 1993|publisher=[[AllMusic]]. [[Rovi Corporation]]|accessdate=June 8, 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 - November 23, 1993">{{cite web|title=Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993|work=MTV.com |publisher=MTV Networks |url=http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=12|accessdate=December 1, 2007}}</ref> ''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.<ref name="Snakepit tour">''Snakepit tour'' ([http://www.metsanitarium.com/page.php?id=176 transcript]). Unknown publisher (1999). Retrieved May 8, 2011.</ref> The Mexico City shows were also the first time the band met future member [[Robert Trujillo]], who was in [[Suicidal Tendencies]] at the time.<ref name="full">{{cite web|url=http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=710 |title=Metallica Is A Full Unit Again!!|publisher=Metallica.com |date= February 23, 2003|accessdate=January 24, 2009}}</ref>


=== Touring ===
The final tour supporting the album, [[Shit Hits the Sheds Tour|Shit Hits the Sheds]], 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.woodstock.com/concert/138990/metallica-woodstock-1994/ |title=Metallica – Woodstock 1994 – 13 August 1994 |publisher=Woodstock.com |date= |accessdate=August 17, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/29/nyregion/woodstock-94-site-is-clean-and-green.html?pagewanted=1 |author=DeChillo, Suzanne |title=Woodstock '94 Site Is Clean and Green |work= The New York Times|publisher=NYTimes.com |date=October 29, 1994 |accessdate=January 17, 2010}}</ref> 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, with Robert Trujillo on bass, began performing a more extensive back catalog of songs after Trujillo joined the band upon completion of the album ''St. Anger''.<ref name="Some Kinda">{{cite video| people=Metallica |date=January 21, 2004 |title=Some Kind of Monster |medium=Documentary |location=California |publisher=[[Universal Studios]]}}</ref>


[[File:Metallica Of Wolf and Man.jpg|thumbnail|right|Metallica performing live "Of Wolf and Man" at [[The O2 Arena|O2 Arena]], London in 2008]]
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.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/28/arts/heavy-metal-band-sues-record-label.html?pagewanted=1?pagewanted=1 "Heavy Metal Band Sues Record Label"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'' (September 28, 1994). Retrieved June 8, 2011.</ref> 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 [[Countersuit|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,<ref>Pat Wechsler & Roger D. Friedman, "Heavy Metal Gets the Heavy Bucks", Intelligencer section, ''New York'' magazine, December 19–26, 1994, p.26</ref> 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.<ref>Unknown author. [http://articles.sfgate.com/1995-01-06/entertainment/17791896_1_metallica-elektra-entertainment-group-band "Metallica Settles Lawsuit with its Record Label"]. ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' (January 6, 1995). Retrieved June 8, 2011.</ref>


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.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Schmidt|first=William E.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/29/world/heavy-metal-groups-shake-moscow.html?pagewanted=1|title=Heavy-Metal Groups Shake Moscow|work=The New York Times|date=September 29, 1991|access-date=January 15, 2010|archive-date=October 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014175934/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/29/world/heavy-metal-groups-shake-moscow.html?pagewanted=1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1G8VAAAAIBAJ&pg=5312,6600730&dq=monster+of+rock+1991+metallica&hl=en|title=Monsters of Rock hit Moscow|location=Eugene, Oregon|agency=[[Associated Press]]|work=[[The Eugene Register-Guard]]|page=5A|date=September 29, 1991|access-date=January 17, 2010}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Some unofficial estimates put the attendance as high as 1,600,000.<ref name=Moscow>{{cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2009/01/sneak-peek-guitar-hero-metallica/|title=Sneak Peek: 'Guitar Hero: Metallica|author=Fitzmaurice, Larry|work=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|date=January 26, 2009|access-date=January 29, 2010|archive-date=June 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613230413/http://www.spin.com/2009/01/sneak-peek-guitar-hero-metallica/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 (Queen drummer)|Roger Taylor]] of Queen and [[Tony Iommi]] of [[Black Sabbath]]. At one of the tour's first gigs the floor of the stage collapsed.<ref name="Snakepit tour"/> The January 13 and 14, 1992, shows in San Diego were later released in the box set ''[[Live Shit: Binge & Purge]]'',<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (2/2)"/> while the tour and the album were documented in the documentary ''A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica''.<ref name="Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993"/>
==Critical reception==

{{Album reviews
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 {{convert|12|ft|m|adj=on}} flame shot from a pyrotechnic during a live performance of the introduction of "[[Fade to Black (Metallica song)|Fade to Black]]".<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (2/2)">{{cite video|people=[[Metallica]] ([[James Hetfield]], [[Lars Ulrich]], [[Kirk Hammett]], [[Jason Newsted]])|title=[[A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica|A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica : Part 2]]|medium=VHS|publisher=[[Elektra Entertainment]]|date=1992}}</ref> 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 (1984 film)|The Toxic Avenger]]''".<ref name="Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993"/> The tour recommenced on August 25 in [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], and although Hetfield could sing, he could not play guitar for the remainder of the tour. Guitar technician [[John Marshall (guitarist)|John Marshall]], who had previously filled in on rhythm guitar and was then playing in [[Metal Church]], played guitar for the recovering Hetfield.<ref name="Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993">{{cite web|title=Metallica timeline August&nbsp;9, 1992 – November 23, 1993|publisher=MTV|url=http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=12|access-date=December 1, 2007|archive-date=May 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502200916/http://www.mtv.com/onair/icon/metallica/timeline/?id=12|url-status=dead}}</ref> Brazilian musician [[Andreas Kisser]] from [[Sepultura]] was initially considered to join the tour, but Marshall ultimately was chosen.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sepultura's Andreas Kisser: How I Almost Landed Metallica Guitarist Gig|date=December 11, 2013|url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sepulturas-andreas-kisser-how-i-almost-landed-metallica-guitarist-gig/|access-date=January 11, 2018|archive-date=January 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112042827/http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sepulturas-andreas-kisser-how-i-almost-landed-metallica-guitarist-gig/|url-status=live}}</ref>

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]],<ref name="AY&½ITLOM (2/2)"/><ref name="Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/r191427|title=Live Shit: Binge & Purge|date=November 23, 1993|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=June 8, 2011|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916120542/https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-shit-binge-purge-mw0000107579/trackListingAjax|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Metallica timeline August 9, 1992 – November 23, 1993"/> ''Binge & Purge'' was packaged as [[Road case|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.<ref name="Snakepit tour">{{cite web |date=1999 |title=Snakepit tour |url=http://www.metsanitarium.com/page.php?id=176 |access-date=May 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006073007/http://www.metsanitarium.com/page.php?id=176 |archive-date=October 6, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Mexico City shows were also the first time the band met future member [[Robert Trujillo]], who was in [[Suicidal Tendencies]] at the time.<ref name="full">{{cite web |date=February 23, 2003 |title=Metallica Is A Full Unit Again!! |publisher=Metallica.com |url=http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=710 |access-date=January 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609233634/http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=710 |archive-date=June 9, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Metallica – Woodstock 1994 – 13 August 1994 |publisher=Woodstock.com |url=http://www.woodstock.com/concert/138990/metallica-woodstock-1994/ |access-date=August 17, 2010}}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=Jennica |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=DeChillo |first=Suzanne |date=October 29, 1994 |title=Woodstock '94 Site Is Clean and Green |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/29/nyregion/woodstock-94-site-is-clean-and-green.html?pagewanted=1 |access-date=January 17, 2010 |archive-date=December 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215233314/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/29/nyregion/woodstock-94-site-is-clean-and-green.html?pagewanted=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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''.<ref name="Some Kinda">{{cite video |people=Metallica |date=January 21, 2004 |title=Some Kind of Monster |medium=Documentary |location=California |publisher=[[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]]}}</ref>

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 [[De Havilland Law|after seven years]]. Metallica had sold 40&nbsp;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.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 28, 1994 |title=Heavy Metal Band Sues Record Label |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/28/arts/heavy-metal-band-sues-record-label.html?pagewanted=1%3Fpagewanted%3D1 |access-date=June 8, 2011 |archive-date=December 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215233329/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/28/arts/heavy-metal-band-sues-record-label.html?pagewanted=1%3Fpagewanted%3D1 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 [[Countersuit|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,<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Wechsler |first1=Pat |last2=Friedman |first2=Roger D. |date=December 19–26, 1994 |title=Heavy Metal Gets the Heavy Bucks |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |volume=27 |issue=50 |page=26}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 6, 1995 |title=Metallica Settles Lawsuit with its Record Label |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/1995-01-06/entertainment/17791896_1_metallica-elektra-entertainment-group-band |access-date=June 8, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811212130/http://articles.sfgate.com/1995-01-06/entertainment/17791896_1_metallica-elektra-entertainment-group-band |archive-date=August 11, 2011}}</ref> Metallica played the album in its entirety during the [[2012 European Black Album Tour]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Metallica To Headline Download 2012! &#124; News &#124; Rock Sound |publisher=Rocksound.tv |url=http://www.rocksound.tv/news/article/metallica-to-headline-download-2012 |access-date=February 20, 2012 |archive-date=December 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214090344/http://www.rocksound.tv/news/article/metallica-to-headline-download-2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Critical reception and legacy ==

{{Music ratings
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="Allmusic">{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|title=Metallica: ''Metallica''|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|url={{Allmusic|class=album|id=r12993|pure_url=yes}}|accessdate=December 5, 2007}}</ref>
|rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|title=Metallica: ''Metallica''|website=[[AllMusic]]|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/r12993|access-date=December 5, 2007|archive-date=July 18, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718103141/http://www.allmusic.com/album/r12993|url-status=live}}</ref>
|rev2 = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''
|rev2 = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''
|rev2Score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}<ref name="Kot">{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|authorlink=Greg Kot|date=December 1, 1991|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-12-01/entertainment/9104180330_1_star-cliff-burton-classic-status|title=A Guide to Metallica's Recordings|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|accessdate=July 28, 2013}}</ref>
|rev2score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}<ref name="Kot">{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|date=December 1, 1991|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/12/01/a-guide-to-metallicas-recordings/|title=A Guide to Metallica's Recordings|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=July 28, 2013|archive-date=September 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927224542/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-12-01/entertainment/9104180330_1_star-cliff-burton-classic-status|url-status=live}}</ref>
|rev3 = [[Robert Christgau]]
|rev3 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
|rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|year=2006|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=725|isbn=0-19-531373-9|edition=4th|volume=5}}</ref>
|rev3Score = {{rating-Christgau|dud}}<ref name="Christgau">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xVQbszFuEGMC&pg=PA205#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate=July 28, 2013|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|year=2000|pages=xvi, 205|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing|Macmillan]]|isbn=0312245602}}</ref>
|rev4 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
|rev4 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
|rev4score = B+<ref name="EW">{{cite magazine|first=David|last=Browne|title=Metallica Review|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315172,00.html|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=August 16, 1991|access-date=May 26, 2012|archive-date=January 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122144557/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315172,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|rev4Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|authorlink=Colin Larkin (writer)|year=2006|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=725|isbn=0-19-531373-9|edition=4th|volume=5}}</ref>
|rev5 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
|rev5 = ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
|rev5score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="Gold"/>
|rev5Score = B+<ref name="EW">{{cite web|first=David|last=Browne|title=Metallica Review|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315172,00.html|work=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=August 16, 1991|accessdate=May 26, 2012}}</ref>
|rev6 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
|rev6 = ''[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock]]''
|rev6score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Gary|editor-last=Graff|editor-link=Gary Graff|title=[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide]]|publisher=[[Visible Ink Press]]|location=Detroit|year=1996|isbn=0787610372|chapter=Metallica}}</ref>
|rev6Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="ReferenceA">''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'', October 1991</ref>
|rev7 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
|rev7 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
|rev7score = 7.7/10<ref name="pfrev">{{cite web|last1=Camp|first1=Zoe|title=Metallica: Metallica Album Review|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/metallica-metallica/|website=pitchfork.com|access-date=July 9, 2017|archive-date=July 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709110410/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/metallica-metallica/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|rev7Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Palmer">{{cite journal|last=Palmer|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Palmer (writer)|date=September 5, 1991|issue=612|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/metallica/albums/album/150659/review/5941896/metallica?|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080328072257/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/metallica/albums/album/150659/review/5941896/metallica?|archivedate=2008-03-28|title=Metallica|journal=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|accessdate=July 28, 2013|deadurl=no}}</ref>
|rev8 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
|rev8 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
|rev8score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="ReferenceA">''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'', October 1991</ref>
|rev8Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/metallica/albumguide|title=Metallica: Album Guide|publisher=''Rolling Stone''|accessdate=June 3, 2012}}</ref>
|rev9 = ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''
|rev9 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
|rev9score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Palmer">{{cite magazine|last=Palmer|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer)|date=August 12, 1991|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/metallica-19970121|title=Metallica Album Review|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=June 8, 2016|archive-date=May 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506172933/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/metallica-19970121|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|rev9Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="ReferenceB">''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'', September 1991</ref>
|rev10 = [[Sputnikmusic]]
|rev10 = ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''
|rev10score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="ReferenceB">''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'', September 1991</ref>
|rev10Score = 3.5/5<ref name="Butler"/>
}}
}}


''Metallica'' received critical acclaim upon its release from both heavy metal journalists and from mainstream publications, including the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', ''[[NME]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'', and ''[[The Village Voice]]''.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Q8fm8mN58lQC&pg=PA334|accessdate=January 28, 2014|title=Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica|last=Wall|first=Mick|page=334|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]|date=May 10, 2011|isbn=1429987030}}</ref> In his review for ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', critic [[David Browne]] called it "rock's preeminent speed-metal cyclone", and said, "Metallica may have invented a new genre: progressive thrash".<ref name="EW"/> ''[[Q (magazine)|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".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'' magazine's David Cavanagh believed the album lacks artifice and is "disarmingly genuine".<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In his review for ''[[Spin (magazine)|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".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Foege|first=Alec|authorlink=Alec Foege|date=September 1991|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=b4qmcLhXEsYC&pg=PA98#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Spins|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|location=New York|accessdate=July 28, 2013|pages=98–99}}</ref> Robert Palmer, writing in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine, 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".<ref name="Palmer"/> 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."<ref name="Kot"/>
''Metallica'' was met with widespread acclaim from both heavy metal journalists and mainstream publications, including ''[[NME]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'', and ''[[The Village Voice]]''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8fm8mN58lQC&pg=PA334|access-date=January 28, 2014|title=Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica|last=Wall|first=Mick|page=334|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]|date=May 10, 2011|isbn=978-1429987035|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916120454/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8fm8mN58lQC&pg=PA334#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', [[David Browne (journalist)|David Browne]] called it "rock's preeminent speed-metal cyclone", and said, "Metallica may have invented a new genre: progressive thrash".<ref name="EW"/> ''[[Q (magazine)|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".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'' magazine's David Cavanagh believed the album lacks artifice and is "disarmingly genuine".<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In his review for ''[[Spin (magazine)|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".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Foege|first=Alec|author-link=Alec Foege|date=September 1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b4qmcLhXEsYC&pg=PA98|title=Spins|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|location=New York|access-date=July 28, 2013|pages=98–99|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916120454/https://books.google.com/books?id=b4qmcLhXEsYC&pg=PA98#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Palmer"/> 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."<ref name="Kot"/>


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 [[Electric Dylan controversy|Bob Dylan going electric]] in the mid-1960s.<ref name="Gold">{{cite news|last=Gold|first=Jonathan|date=August 11, 1991|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-11-ca-1010-story.html|title=Advisory to Metallica Fans: It's a Pop Band Now|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=June 8, 2016|archive-date=August 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806150722/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-08-11/entertainment/ca-1010_1_metallica-fan|url-status=live}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj91.php|title=Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop 1991: Reality Used to be a Friend of Ours|access-date=April 25, 2018|archive-date=June 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616182804/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj91.php|url-status=live}}</ref> In his 2000 collection ''[[Christgau's Consumer Guide]]'', Christgau later graded ''Metallica'' a "dud", indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought".<ref name="Christgau">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVQbszFuEGMC&pg=PA205|access-date=July 28, 2013|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=2000|pages=xvi, 205|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing|Macmillan]]|isbn=0312245602|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916120454/https://books.google.com/books?id=xVQbszFuEGMC&pg=PA205#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
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".<ref name="CD Universe">{{cite web|url=http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1095617&style=music&fulldesc=T|title=Metallica LP|publisher=[[CD Universe]]. [[Muze]]|accessdate=July 28, 2013}}</ref> ''[[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".<ref name="CD Universe"/> In his review for [[BBC Music]], [[Sid Smith (author)|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".<ref name=BBC>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Sid|title=Metallica: Metallica (The Black Album)|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/8b8c|publisher=[[BBC Music]]|date=2007|accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref> [[Sputnikmusic]]'s Nick Butler called the album an improvement over the band's previous album and commended Metallica for taking a creative and commercial risk with what he said is "not Metallica's best, perhaps, but still a solid, enjoyable hard rock record".<ref name="Butler">{{cite web|last=Butler|first=Nick|date=February 22, 2007|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/soundoff.php?albumid=3015|title=Metallica - Metallica User Opinions|publisher=[[Sputnikmusic]]|accessdate=January 28, 2014|at=''Scroll to'' Nick Butler Staff|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6MxXegMdL|archivedate=January 28, 2014|deadurl=no}}</ref> ''[[Classic Rock (magazine)|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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Metallica (Black Album) by Metallica|url=http://www.classicrockreview.com/2011/08/1991-metallica-black-album/|work=[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]]|date=August 22, 2011|accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]] was less enthusiastic and graded the album a "dud", indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought".<ref name="Christgau"/>


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".<ref name="CD Universe">{{cite web|url=http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1095617&style=music&fulldesc=T|title=Metallica LP|publisher=[[CD Universe]]. [[Muze]]|access-date=July 28, 2013|archive-date=November 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107005948/http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1095617&style=music&fulldesc=T|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[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".<ref name="CD Universe"/> In his review for [[BBC Music]], [[Sid Smith (author)|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".<ref name=BBC>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Sid|title=Metallica: Metallica (The Black Album)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/8b8c|publisher=[[BBC Music]]|date=2007|access-date=January 27, 2014|archive-date=September 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140929203425/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/8b8c|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Classic Rock (magazine)|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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Metallica (Black Album) by Metallica|url=http://www.classicrockreview.com/2011/08/1991-metallica-black-album/|work=[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]]|date=August 22, 2011|access-date=January 27, 2014|archive-date=February 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223000725/http://www.classicrockreview.com/2011/08/1991-metallica-black-album/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Walker |first=Thomas |title=The Earth Becomes My Throne': Individualism in Metallica's ''Black Album''|journal=The Objective Standard |volume=15 |issue= 2 |pages=28–32 |publisher=Glen Allen Press |date=Summer 2020 }}</ref> [[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.]"<ref name="AllMusic"/>
===Accolades===
''Metallica'' was voted the eighth best album of the year in ''The Village Voice''{{'}}s annual [[Pazz & Jop]] critics poll for 1991.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres91.php|title=The 1991 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|date=March 3, 1992|accessdate=July 28, 2013}}</ref> ''Melody Maker'' ranked it number 16 in its December 1991 list of the year's best albums.<ref name="CD Universe"/> In 1992, the album won a [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance|Best Metal Performance]].<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=May 2, 2012|url=http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=Metallica&title=&year=1991&genre=All|title=Past Winners Search |publisher=[[National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref> In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked ''Metallica'' number 252 on its list of [[The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|the 500 greatest albums of all time]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|date=December 11, 2003|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time}}</ref> ''Spin'' ranked it number 52 in its 1999 list of the "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s" and said, "this record's diamond-tipped tuneage stripped the band's melancholy guitar excess down to melodic, radio-ready bullets and ballads".<ref name="CD Universe"/> It was included in [[Q (magazine)|''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".<ref name="CD Universe"/>


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."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/metallica-the-black-album-b1915581.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/metallica-the-black-album-b1915581.html |archive-date=May 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title = All that matters: How Metallica's Black Album changed metal forever|website = [[Independent.co.uk]]|date = September 10, 2021}}</ref>
==Commercial performance==
{{Quote box|align=right|width=25em|quote="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's just really difficult to get excited about it. We've never been really career-conscious. We never tried to be number one. But now we're number one and it's, like, okay."|source=—Lars Ulrich on the album's role as Metallica's first number one album.<ref name=rsfricke/>}}
''Metallica'' was the band's first album to debut at number one in the [[Billboard 200|U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart]].<ref name="Billboard">{{cite web| url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=metallica|chart=all}}|title=Metallica – Metallica chart history |publisher=[[Billboard charts|''Billboard'' charts]] |accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> It has spent 282 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200, making it the ninth-longest charting album. It last appeared on the charts in the issue dated January 18, 1997, after rising to 106 the week before, then leaving the chart.<ref name="Billboard January 11, 1997 charts">{{cite book|author=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|title=Billboard 200 (charts for the week of January 11, 1997)|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=wQ4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT73|accessdate=March 8, 2011|date=November 1, 1997|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|page=100|issn=00062510 }}</ref> ''Metallica'' sold over 650,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week of release, exceeding the sales of all albums released that week. It was certified platinum by the RIAA after two weeks.<ref name="Heavy Metal Goes Platinum">{{cite news|title=Heavy Metal Goes Platinum|author=Garcia, Guy|work=TIME|date=October 14, 1991|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974031,00.html|accessdate=December 12, 2007}}</ref> ''Metallica'' received a diamond certificate in 1997. The album was responsible for bringing Metallica to the attention of the mainstream; the RIAA has certified it [[RIAA certification|16× Platinum]] in the U.S.,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblDiamond|title=Gold & Platinum – January 17, 2010 |publisher=RIAA |date= |accessdate=January 17, 2010}}</ref> making it one of the joint 16th best-selling albums in the country.<ref name="Top 100 Albums">{{cite web|title=Top 100 Albums|publisher=RIAA.com|url=http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-100-albums |accessdate=December 2, 2007}}</ref> As of August 2015, the album has sold 16.2 million copies in the U.S.<ref name="us_sales">{{cite web |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6678677/this-week-in-billboard-chart-history-20-years-ago-michael |title=This Week in Billboard Chart History: 20 Years Ago, Michael Jackson Was 'Alone' at the Top |last=Trust |first=Gary |work=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]] |date=August 31, 2015 |accessdate=August 31, 2015}}</ref>


[[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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/news/bruce-dickinson-none-of-us-had-the-balls-to-step-up-but-metallica-did|author=Edwards, Briony|title=Bruce Dickinson: None of us had the balls to step up – but Metallica did|website=[[Metal Hammer|Louder Sound]]|date=August 16, 2021|accessdate=August 16, 2021|archive-date=August 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816141417/https://www.loudersound.com/news/bruce-dickinson-none-of-us-had-the-balls-to-step-up-but-metallica-did|url-status=live}}</ref>
Worldwide, ''Metallica'' has sold 30 million copies on physical media.<ref>{{cite news|first=Andrew|last=Perry|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/10319029/Metallica-interview-We-can-drive-this-train-into-a-wall-if-we-want.html|title=Metallica interview: ‘We can drive this train into a wall if we want’|newspaper=[[Telegraph Media Group|The Telegraph]]|date=September 19, 2013|accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref> In 2009, its sales surpassed those of [[Shania Twain]]'s ''[[Come on Over (Shania Twain album)|Come on Over]]'' (1997) as the best-selling album of the [[Nielsen SoundScan|SoundScan]] era.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hartmann|first=Graham|title=Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ Is Top-Selling Disc of Last 20 Years|url=http://loudwire.com/metallica-black-album-top-selling-disc-last-20-years/|work=[[Loudwire]]|date=January 5, 2012|accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref> The songs "Enter Sandman", "Nothing Else Matters", "Sad but True", "Wherever I May Roam" and "The Unforgiven" were among the 49 songs included on the 2009 [[rhythm video game]] ''[[Guitar Hero: Metallica]]''.<ref name="usatoday preview">{{cite web | url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2008-12-14-guitarhero-metallica-main_N.htm | title = First look: Metallica gets 'Guitar Hero' treatment | first = Mike | last = Snider | date = December 14, 2008 | accessdate= December 14, 2008 | publisher = ''[[USA Today]]''}}</ref>


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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Strauss|first=Matthew|date=June 22, 2021|title=Metallica Covers Album to Feature Phoebe Bridgers, Moses Sumney, St. Vincent, Mac DeMarco, and More|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/metallica-covers-album-to-feature-phoebe-bridgers-moses-sumney-st-vincent-mac-demarco-and-more/|access-date=June 22, 2021|work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|archive-date=June 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629162228/https://pitchfork.com/news/metallica-covers-album-to-feature-phoebe-bridgers-moses-sumney-st-vincent-mac-demarco-and-more/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Metallica Blacklist. Coming to Digital September 10th, Vinyl & CD on October 1st {{!}} Metallica.com|url=https://www.metallica.com/the-metallica-blacklist/|access-date=2021-09-10|website=www.metallica.com|language=en|archive-date=June 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629033221/https://www.metallica.com/the-metallica-blacklist/|url-status=live}}</ref>
''Metallica'' debuted at number one in the [[UK Albums Chart|UK]].<ref name="UK">{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/metallica/|title=Metallica UK Chart History|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|accessdate=June 7, 2013}}</ref> The only chart on which it failed to reach the Top 20 is the [[Irish Albums Chart]], having peaked at number 27.<ref name="IRE">{{cite web|author=Steffen Hung |url=http://www.irish-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Metallica |title=Discography Metallica |publisher=irishcharts.com |date=August 17, 2008 |accessdate=March 8, 2011}}</ref> After its release, the album was certified Platinum in the UK by the [[British Phonographic Industry]] (BPI).<ref name="BPI">{{cite web| url=http://www.bpi.co.uk/index.asp?Page=stats/content_file_118.shtml |title=British Phonographic Industry statistics |publisher=[[British Phonographic Industry]] |accessdate=April 6, 2008 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080308041552/http://www.bpi.co.uk/index.asp?Page=stats/content_file_118.shtml |archivedate = March 8, 2008}}</ref> ''Metallica'' topped the charts in [[ARIA Charts|Australia]],<ref name="AUS">{{cite web| url=http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a |title=Australian charts portal |publisher=Australian charts |accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> Switzerland,<ref name="SWI">{{cite web| url=http://hitparade.ch/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a |title=Discography Metallica |language=German |publisher=Hit parade |accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> the Netherlands,<ref name="NLD">{{cite web| url=http://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a |title=Discography Metallica |language=Dutch |publisher=Dutch charts |accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> Sweden,<ref name="SWE">{{cite web| url=http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a |title=Discography Metallica |language=Swedish |publisher=Swedish charts |accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> Norway,<ref name="NOR">{{cite web| url=http://norwegiancharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a |title=Discography Metallica |language=Norwegian |publisher=Norwegian charts |accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> [[Canadian Albums Chart|Canada]],<ref name="CAN">{{cite web| url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=v2a76h62to0aart05gg0u3agj2&q1=Metallica&x=20&y=5 |title=Metallica Top Albums/CDs positions|publisher=''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' |accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> Germany,<ref name="GER">{{cite web| url=http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/METALLICA/?type=longplay |title=Chartverfolgung Metallica Longplay |language=German |publisher=Musicline |accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> and New Zealand.<ref name="NZ">{{cite web| url=http://charts.org.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Metallica |title=Metallica New Zealand Charting| accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> It also reached numbers three, five, and four in [[Oricon Albums Chart|Japan]],<ref name="Oricon">{{cite web| url= http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/168605/products/release/ |title=Oricon Chart Database |publisher=Oricon |accessdate=April 8, 2011}}</ref> Austria,<ref name="AUT">{{cite web| url=http://austriancharts.at/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a |title=Discography Metallica |language=German |publisher=Austrian charts |accessdate=April 8, 2011}}</ref> and Finland respectively.<ref name="FIN">{{cite web| url=http://finnishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Metallica&cat=a |title=Discography Metallica |language=Finnish |publisher=Finnish charts |accessdate=April 8, 2011}}</ref> In the 21st century, the [[Australian Recording Industry Association]] (ARIA) certified the album 12× platinum.<ref name="ARIA">{{cite web| url=http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-accreditations.htm |title=ARIA Charts – Accreditations |publisher=[[Australian Recording Industry Association]] |accessdate=July 14, 2013}}</ref> It was given a Diamond certificate from the [[Canadian Recording Industry Association]] (CRIA).<ref name="CRIA">{{cite web|url=http://www.musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=&ica=False&sa=Metallica&sl=&smt=0&sat=-1&ssb=Artist|title=Gold Platinum Database: Metallica|publisher=[[Canadian Recording Industry Association]]|accessdate=July 12, 2011 }}</ref> The album was certified quintuple platinum in Argentina<ref name="ARG">{{cite web| url=http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=metallica&album=&LanDesde_MM=0&LanDesde_AA=0&LanHasta_MM=0&LanHasta_AA=0&Galardon=O&Tipo=0&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP|title=Metallica – Artist chart history Argentina|publisher=[[Capif]] |accessdate=March 30, 2008}}</ref> and triple platinum in Finland.{{Certification Cite Ref|region=Finland|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica}}


==Track listing==
=== Accolades ===

{{tracklist
''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''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres91.php|title=The 1991 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|date=March 3, 1992|access-date=July 28, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703040145/http://robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres91.php|archive-date=July 3, 2011}}</ref> ''Melody Maker'' ranked it number 16 in the magazine's December 1991 list of the year's best albums.<ref name="CD Universe"/> In 1992, the album won a [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance|Best Metal Performance]].<ref>{{cite web|access-date=May 2, 2012|url=http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=Metallica&title=&year=1991&genre=All|title=Past Winners Search|publisher=[[National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences]]|archive-date=August 1, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801073620/http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=Metallica&title=&year=1991&genre=All|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2000, it was voted number 88 in [[Colin Larkin]]'s ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]''.<ref name="Larkin2">{{cite book|title=[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]|author=[[Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=71}}</ref> In 2012, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked ''Metallica'' number 255 on "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]",<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|date=December 11, 2003|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time}}</ref> and then number 235 in a 2020 revised edition of the list.<ref name="rollingstone.com"/> It was also ranked 25th on the magazine's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" (2017).<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Spanos|first1=Brittany |title=100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-100-greatest-metal-albums-of-all-time-w486923/pantera-far-beyond-driven-1994-w487081|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|publisher=Wenner Media LLC|access-date=June 21, 2017|date=June 21, 2017|archive-date=August 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810090739/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-100-greatest-metal-albums-of-all-time-w486923/pantera-far-beyond-driven-1994-w487081|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Spin'' ranked it number 52 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".<ref name="CD Universe"/> ''Metallica'' featured in [[Q (magazine)|''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".<ref name="CD Universe"/> In 1999, eight years after the album's release, ''Metallica'' won a [[Billboard Music Award]] for Catalog Album of the Year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/569986/backstreet-boys-britney-spears-rake-in-billboard-awards/|title=Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears Rake in Billboard Awards|website=[[MTV]]|access-date=June 6, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125162919/http://www.mtv.com/news/569986/backstreet-boys-britney-spears-rake-in-billboard-awards/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|all_lyrics = [[James Hetfield]]

|music_credits = yes
== Track listing ==
|title1 = [[Enter Sandman]]

|music1 = [[James Hetfield]], [[Lars Ulrich]], [[Kirk Hammett]]
{{Track listing
|length1 = 5:29
|title2 = [[Sad but True]]
| all_lyrics = [[James Hetfield]]
|music2 = Hetfield, Ulrich
| all_music = Hetfield and [[Lars Ulrich]] except where noted.
| title1 = [[Enter Sandman]]
|length2 = 5:24
| music1 = {{hlist|Hetfield|[[Lars Ulrich]]|[[Kirk Hammett]]}}
|title3 = Holier Than Thou
| length1 = 5:31
|music3 = Hetfield, Ulrich
| title2 = [[Sad but True]]
|length3 = 3:47
| length2 = 5:24
|title4 = [[The Unforgiven (song)|The Unforgiven]]
| title3 = Holier than Thou
|music4 = Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett
|length4 = 6:26
| length3 = 3:47
|title5 = [[Wherever I May Roam]]
| title4 = [[The Unforgiven (song)|The Unforgiven]]
|music5 = Hetfield, Ulrich
| music4 = {{hlist|Hetfield|Ulrich|Hammett}}
|length5 = 6:42
| length4 = 6:27
| title5 = [[Wherever I May Roam]]
|title6 = [[Don't Tread on Me (Metallica song)|Don't Tread on Me]]
| length5 = 6:44
|music6 = Hetfield, Ulrich
| title6 = [[Don't Tread on Me (Metallica song)|Don't Tread on Me]]
|length6 = 3:59
| length6 = 4:00
|title7 = Through the Never
| title7 = Through the Never
|music7 = Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett
| music7 = {{hlist|Hetfield|Ulrich|Hammett}}
|length7 = 4:01
| length7 = 4:04
|title8 = [[Nothing Else Matters]]
| title8 = [[Nothing Else Matters]]
|music8 = Hetfield, Ulrich
|length8 = 6:29
| length8 = 6:28
|title9 = Of Wolf and Man
| title9 = Of Wolf and Man
|music9 = Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett
| music9 = {{hlist|Hetfield|Ulrich|Hammett}}
|length9 = 4:16
| length9 = 4:16
|title10 = [[The God That Failed (song)|The God That Failed]]
| title10 = [[The God That Failed (song)|The God That Failed]]
| length10 = 5:08
|music10 = Hetfield, Ulrich
| title11 = My Friend of Misery
|length10 = 5:05
| music11 = {{hlist||Hetfield|Ulrich|[[Jason Newsted]]}}
|title11 = My Friend of Misery
| length11 = 6:49
|music11 = Hetfield, [[Jason Newsted]], Ulrich,
| title12 = The Struggle Within
|length11 = 6:47
| length12 = 3:53
|title12 = The Struggle Within
| total_length = 62:31
|music12 = Hetfield, Ulrich
|length12 = 3:51
|total_length = 62:31
}}
}}
{{Track listing
{{tracklist
| headline = Japanese edition bonus track<ref name=web>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metallica.com/releases/albums/release-4213.html|title=Metallica|author=[[Metallica]]|website=metallica.com|access-date=June 22, 2021|archive-date=May 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515112801/https://www.metallica.com/releases/albums/release-4213.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|collapsed = yes
| title13 = [[So What? (Anti-Nowhere League song)|So What]]
|headline = Japanese bonus track
| note13 = [[Anti-Nowhere League]] cover
|writing_credits = yes
| writer13 = {{hlist|Chris Exall|Clive Blake|Nick Culmer|Djahanshah Aghssa}}
|total_length = 65:40
| length13 = 3:08
|title13 = [[So What?]]
|note13 = originally performed by [[Anti-Nowhere League]]
|writer13 = Nick "Animal" Kulmer, [[Chris Exall|Chris "Magoo" Exall]], [[Clive Blake|Clive "Winston" Blake]]
|length13 = 3:09
}}
}}

* 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 ==

''Metallica'' has been [[reissue]]d several times, including in 2008,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Metallica-Deluxe-4-LP-Vinyl/dp/B001I10ABE|title=Metallica – Metallica|website=[[Amazon.com]]|quote='The Black Album' is now be reissued as a Deluxe Vinyl edition (4LP) in honor of the 25th anniversary of 'Kill em All', Metallica's debut album.|access-date=June 22, 2021|archive-date=March 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314180016/http://www.amazon.com/Metallica-Deluxe-4-LP-Vinyl/dp/B001I10ABE|url-status=live}}</ref> in 2010,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/metallica-black-album-white-vinyl-gets-green/|title=Metallica's Black Album On White Vinyl Gets the Green|date=November 6, 2011|first=Karen|last=Laney|work=[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]|access-date=June 22, 2021|archive-date=June 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628125751/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/metallica-black-album-white-vinyl-gets-green/|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.captainstomp.com/vinyl/lp/metallica-black-album-reissue|title=Metallica – Black Album|publisher=Captain Stomp Records|access-date=June 22, 2021|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418201043/https://www.captainstomp.com/vinyl/lp/metallica-black-album-reissue|url-status=dead}}</ref> To mark its 30th anniversary, a [[remaster]]ed 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Metallica (The Black Album) Remastered – Deluxe Box Set {{!}} Metallica.com|url=https://www.metallica.com/store/metallica-the-black-album-remastered-deluxe-box-set/REBADLXBS.html|access-date=2021-09-10|website=www.metallica.com|language=en|archive-date=June 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625152317/https://www.metallica.com/store/metallica-the-black-album-remastered-deluxe-box-set/REBADLXBS.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="rs30">{{Cite magazine|last=Blistein|first=Jon|date=June 22, 2021|title=Metallica Plot 30th-Anniversary 'Black Album' Reissue With Massive Box Set, Covers Compilation|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/metallica-black-album-anniversary-reissue-covers-1187571/|access-date=June 22, 2021|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|archive-date=July 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702090749/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/metallica-black-album-anniversary-reissue-covers-1187571/|url-status=live}}</ref>


== Personnel ==
== Personnel ==
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.<ref name="booklet">{{cite book|title=Metallica ''liner notes''|year=1991|publisher=[[Elektra Records]]}}</ref>


Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes| title=Metallica| others=[[Metallica]]| date=1991| type=liner notes| publisher=[[Vertigo Records]]| id=510 022-2}}</ref><ref name=web /><ref>{{Cite AV media notes| title=Metallica| others=[[Metallica]]| date=2021| type=liner notes| publisher=Blackened Recordings| id=00602577471063}}</ref>
;Metallica

{{col-begin}}
'''Metallica'''
{{col-2}}

* [[James Hetfield]] – [[Lead vocalist|lead vocals]], [[rhythm guitar]], [[acoustic guitar]], [[12-string guitar]]; [[lead guitar]] on "[[Nothing Else Matters]]" and harmony guitar solo in "My Friend of Misery"
* [[Kirk Hammett]] – [[lead guitar]]
* [[James Hetfield]] – vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, lead guitar on "[[Nothing Else Matters]]"
* [[Kirk Hammett]] – lead guitar
* [[Lars Ulrich]] – [[Drum kit|drums]], [[Percussion instrument|percussion]]
* [[Jason Newsted]] – [[bass guitar]], [[Backing vocalist|backing vocals]]
* [[Jason Newsted]] – bass
* [[Lars Ulrich]] – drums, percussion
;Additional performers

* [[Michael Kamen]] – [[Orchestration|orchestral arrangement]] on "[[Nothing Else Matters]]"
'''Additional musicians'''
{{col-2}}

;Production
* [[Michael Kamen]] – orchestral arrangement on "Nothing Else Matters"
* [[Bob Rock]]; [[James Hetfield]]; [[Lars Ulrich]] – [[Record producer|producers]]

* [[Randy Staub]]; Mike Tacci – [[Audio engineering|engineer]]s
'''Production'''
* [[George Marino]] – [[Audio mastering|mastering]]

* [[Metallica]]; Peter Mensch – cover concept
* [[Bob Rock]] – production
* Don Brautigam – [[illustration]]
* James Hetfield – production
* [[Ross Halfin]]; Rick Likong; [[Rob Ellis (producer)|Rob Ellis]] – [[photography]]
* Lars Ulrich – production
{{col-end}}
* [[Randy Staub]] – engineering
* Mike Tacci – assistant engineering
* [[George Marino]] – mastering
* [[Bob Ludwig]] – 2021 remastering


==Charts==
== Charts ==


{{col-begin}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{{col-2}}


===Weekly charts===
=== Weekly charts ===


{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+Weekly chart performance for ''Metallica''
|-
!Chart (1991)
!Chart (1991–2021)
!Peak<br/>position
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Australia|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=AUS chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Australia|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=AUS chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
{{Album chart|Austria|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=AUT chart|access-date=September 21, 2021}}
|-
{{Album chart|Flanders|7|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=BE-NL chart|access-date=November 19, 2021}}
|-
{{Album chart|Wallonia|2|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=BE-WA chart|access-date=November 19, 2021}}
|-
{{Album chart|BillboardCanada|8|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=BBCAN chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
{{album chart|Czech|43|date=202137|rowheader=true|refname="cz"|access-date=September 20, 2021}}
|-
{{Album chart|Denmark|5|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=DEN chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Austria|5|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=AUT chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Netherlands|4|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=NLD chart|access-date=November 19, 2021}}
|-
|-
!scope="row"|[[European Top 100 Albums|European Albums]] (''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1991/MM-1991-09-07.pdf|title=Eurochart Top 100 Albums – September 7, 1991|magazine=[[Music & Media]]|volume=8|issue=36|page=26|date=September 7, 1991|access-date=November 18, 2021|archive-date=July 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716093327/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1991/MM-1991-09-07.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Albumchart|Flanders|69|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=BE-NL chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
|align="center"|2
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Finnish Albums ([[The Official Finnish Charts]])<ref name=FINI>{{cite book|last=Pennanen|first=Timo|title=Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972|edition=1st|publisher=Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava|location=Helsinki|year=2006|isbn=978-951-1-21053-5 | language= fi}}</ref>
{{Albumchart|BillboardCanada|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=BBCAN chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
|align="center"|1
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Denmark|69|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=FIN chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|France|53|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=FRA chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Finland|4|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=FIN chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Germany|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=GER chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
|-
{{album chart|Hungary|10|year=1991|week=40|rowheader=true|access-date=November 24, 2021}}
{{Albumchart|France|53|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=FRA chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Irish Albums ([[Irish Albums Chart|IRMA]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1991/MM-1991-09-14.pdf|title=Top National Sellers: Ireland|work=[[Music & Media]]|page=42|date=September 14, 1991|access-date=September 21, 2021|archive-date=September 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929224849/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1991/MM-1991-09-14.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Albumchart|Germany|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=GER chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
|align="center"|2
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Italian Albums (''[[Musica e dischi]]'')<ref>{{cite web|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1991/MM-1991-09-14.pdf|title=Top National Sellers: Italy|work=[[Music & Media]]|page=42|date=September 14, 1991|access-date=September 21, 2021|archive-date=September 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929224849/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1991/MM-1991-09-14.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Albumchart|Ireland|27|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=IRE chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
|align="center"|2
|-
|-
|Japanese Albums ([[Oricon]])<ref name="Oricon"/>
!scope="row"|Japanese Albums ([[Oricon]])<ref name="Oricon"/>
|style="text-align:center;"|3
|style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Mexico|42|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=MEX chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Mexico|42|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=MEX chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Netherlands|6|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=NLD chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|New Zealand|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=NZ chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|New Zealand|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=NZ chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Norway|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=NOR chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
|-
{{Album chart|Poland|5|id=1392|rowheader=true|access-date=September 23, 2021}}
{{Albumchart|Norway|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=NOR chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Spain|49|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=SPA chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Portugal|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=PTE chart|access-date=September 27, 2021}}
|-
|-
{{album chart|Scotland|4|date=20210917|rowheader=true|access-date=November 1, 2021}}
{{Albumchart|Sweden|4|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=SWE chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Switzerland|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=SWI chart|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Spain|5|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=SP chart|access-date=September 21, 2021}}
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|UK|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=UK chart|date=1991-08-24|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Sweden|4|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=SWE chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
|-
{{Albumchart|Billboard200|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|refname=BB200|accessdate=2013-08-27}}
{{Album chart|Switzerland|1|album=Metallica|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=SWI chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
{{Album chart|UK2|1|artist=Metallica|date=19910818|rowheader=true|refname=UK chart|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
{{Album chart|Billboard200|1|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|refname=BB200|access-date=August 27, 2013}}
|-
{{Album chart|BillboardRock|1|artist=Metallica|rowheader=true|access-date=September 21, 2021}}
|}
|}

{{col-2}}
{{col-2}}


===Year-end charts===
=== Year-end charts ===

{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
|+Year-end chart performance for ''Metallica''
!Chart (1991)
!Chart (1991)
!Position
!Position
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aria.com.au/charts/1991/albums-chart|title=ARIA Top 100 Albums for 1991|publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=March 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307171916/http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-50albums-1991.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1991/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]]|date=1991|accessdate=2015-08-03}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|28
|-
!scope="row"|Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://austriancharts.at/year.asp?cat=a&id=1991|title=Jahreshitparade Alben 1991|website=austriancharts.at|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=December 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231193735/https://austriancharts.at/year.asp?cat=a&id=1991|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|40
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (''RPM'')<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.1702&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062 |title=RPM 100 Albums (CDs & Cassettes) of 1991 |magazine=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|date=21 December 1991 |volume=55|issue=3|page=14|access-date=January 31, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408213817/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.1702&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062 |archive-date=April 8, 2014}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1991&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten – Album 1991|website=dutchcharts.nl|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=December 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231193726/https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1991&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|36
|-
! scope="row"|European (European Top 100 Albums)<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Media-IDX/IDX/90s/91/MM-1991-12-21-OCR-Page-0024.pdf |title=European Top 100 Albums – 1991 |magazine=Music & Media |volume=8 |issue=51/52 |date=21 December 1991 |page=24 |oclc=29800226 |via=World Radio History |access-date=November 18, 2021 |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220101045809/https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Media-IDX/IDX/90s/91/MM-1991-12-21-OCR-Page-0024.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|26
|-
!scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-1991|title=Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts|language=de|work=[[GfK Entertainment]]|publisher=offiziellecharts.de|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=May 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509161510/https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-1991|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|29
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand (RMNZ)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/annual-albums/1991-12-31|title=Top Selling Albums of 1991|publisher=RIANZ|access-date=November 16, 2021|archive-date=February 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210184811/http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/albums?chart=3880|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|28
|-
!scope="row"|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1991/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=August 3, 2015|archive-date=April 6, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406203120/http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1991/the-billboard-200|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|62
|style="text-align:center;"|62
|}
|}
{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
|-
!Chart (1992)
!Chart (1992)
!Position
!Position
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aria.com.au/charts/1992/albums-chart|title=ARIA Top 100 Albums for 1992|publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=March 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313224507/https://www.aria.com.au/charts/1992/albums-chart|url-status=live}}</ref>
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1992/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]]|date=1992|accessdate=2013-08-27}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|49
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1992&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten – Album 1992|website=dutchcharts.nl|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=November 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110152816/https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1992&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|18
|-
! scope="row"|Europe (European Top 100 Albums)<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Media-IDX/IDX/90s/92/MM-1992-12-19-OCR-Page-0017.pdf |title=1992 Year-End Sales Charts – Eurochart Top 100 Albums |magazine=Music & Media |volume=9 |issue=51/52 |date=19 December 1992 |page=17 |oclc=29800226 |via=World Radio History |access-date=November 18, 2021 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308235759/https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Media-IDX/IDX/90s/92/MM-1992-12-19-OCR-Page-0017.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|33
|-
!scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-1992|title=Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts|language=de|work=[[GfK Entertainment]]|publisher=offiziellecharts.de|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=January 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106180815/https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-1992|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|12
|-
! scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/annual-albums/1992-12-31 |title=Top Selling Albums of 1992 |publisher=[[Recorded Music NZ]] |access-date=November 16, 2021 |archive-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108020640/https://nztop40.co.nz/chart/albums?chart=3881 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|35
|-
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1992/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=August 27, 2013|archive-date=July 13, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130713050358/http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1992/the-billboard-200|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|7
|style="text-align:center;"|7
|}
|}
{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
|-
!Chart (1993)
!Chart (1993)
!Position
!Position
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aria.com.au/charts/1993/albums-chart|title=ARIA Top 100 Albums for 1993|publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=July 21, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080721010559/http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-50albums-1993.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1993/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]]|date=1993|accessdate=2015-08-03}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|31
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1993&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten – Album 1993|website=dutchcharts.nl|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224082540/https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1993&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|42
|-
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1993/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=August 3, 2015|archive-date=February 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215010448/http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1993/the-billboard-200|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|32
|style="text-align:center;"|32
|}
|}
{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
|-
!Chart (1994)
!Chart (1994)
!Position
!Position
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref name=aria94>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025122130/http://i.imgur.com/LHigR9p.jpg|title=The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1994|url=http://i.imgur.com/LHigR9p.jpg|publisher=Australian Record Industry Association Ltd.|archivedate= October 25, 2015|accessdate=May 19, 2022}}</ref>
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1994/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]]|date=1994|accessdate=2015-08-03}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"| 94
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1994&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten – Album 1994|website=dutchcharts.nl|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=January 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104114853/https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1994&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|75
|-
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1994/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=August 3, 2015|archive-date=April 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404212700/http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1994/the-billboard-200|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|71
|style="text-align:center;"|71
|}
|}
{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
|-
!Chart (1995)
!Chart (1995)
!Position
!Position
|-
|-
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1995/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]]|date=1995|accessdate=2015-08-03}}</ref>
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1995/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=August 3, 2015|archive-date=January 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106235613/http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1995/the-billboard-200|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|94
|style="text-align:center;"|94
|}
|}
{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
|-
!Chart (1996)
!Chart (1996)
!Position
!Position
|-
|-
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1996/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media]]|date=1996|accessdate=2015-08-03}}</ref>
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1996/the-billboard-200|title=Year-End top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=August 3, 2015|archive-date=January 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107014057/http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1996/the-billboard-200|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|91
|style="text-align:center;"|91
|}
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

! scope="col"| Chart (2000)
===Decade-end charts===
! scope="col"| Position
{|class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jamshowbiz.com/JamMusicCharts/2000_2.html|title=Canada's Top 200 Albums of 2000|publisher=[[Jam!]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040906184459/http://www.jamshowbiz.com/JamMusicCharts/2000_2.html|archive-date=September 6, 2004|access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref>
!Chart (1990-1999)
|181
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Chart (2002)
!Position
!Position
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040812035533/http://www.jamshowbiz.com/JamMusicCharts/2002_metal.html|archivedate=August 12, 2004|url=http://www.jamshowbiz.com/JamMusicCharts/2002_metal.html|title=Top 100 Metal Albums of 2002|website=[[Jam!]]|accessdate=March 23, 2022}}</ref>
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Geoff|last=Mayfield|url=http://books.google.com/?id=9w0EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=RA1-PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade – The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s|work=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=1999-12-25|accessdate=2013-08-27}}</ref>
|35
|style="text-align:center;"|8
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2004)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2004&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album – År 2004|publisher=Sverigetopplistan|language=Swedish|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=August 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812224058/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2004&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|99
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2014)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2014&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album – År 2014|publisher=Sverigetopplistan|language=Swedish|access-date=February 16, 2022|archive-date=October 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004191344/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2014&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|81
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2015)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2015&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album – År 2015|publisher=Sverigetopplistan|language=Swedish|access-date=February 16, 2022|archive-date=June 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603155845/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2015&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|60
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2016)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2016&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album – År 2016|publisher=Sverigetopplistan|language=Swedish|access-date=February 16, 2022|archive-date=December 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214074854/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2016&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|70
|-
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2016/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2016|magazine=Billboard|access-date=January 14, 2017|archive-date=July 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702025902/http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2016/top-billboard-200-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|92
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2017)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sverigetopplistan.se/netdata/ghl002.mbr/lista?liid=83&dfom=20170001|title=Årslista Album – År 2017|publisher=[[Sverigetopplistan]]|language=sv|access-date=January 16, 2018|archive-date=January 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116135356/http://www.sverigetopplistan.se/netdata/ghl002.mbr/lista?liid=83&dfom=20170001|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|72
|-
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2017/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2017|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 12, 2017|archive-date=December 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224115207/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2017/top-billboard-200-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|95
|-
!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2017/top-rock-albums|title=Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2017|magazine=Billboard|access-date=February 10, 2021|archive-date=February 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180214003518/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2017/top-rock-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|16
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2018)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Icelandic Albums (Plötutíóindi)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://plotutidindi.is/arslistar/tonlistinn-plotur-2018/|title=Tónlistinn – Plötur – 2018|publisher=Plötutíóindi|language=is|access-date=January 3, 2022|archive-date=January 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115131318/https://plotutidindi.is/arslistar/tonlistinn-plotur-2018/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| align=center|84
|-
!scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2018/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2018|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 5, 2018|archive-date=December 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204224411/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2018/top-billboard-200-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|109
|-
!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2018/top-rock-albums|title=Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2018|magazine=Billboard|access-date=February 10, 2021|archive-date=October 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007214703/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2018/top-rock-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|14
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2019)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2019&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten 2019|publisher=Ultratop|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=February 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222160730/https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2019&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|103
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=2019&cat=a|title=Rapports Annuels 2019|publisher=Ultratop|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=February 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222203201/https://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=2019&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|195
|-
! scope="row"|Icelandic Albums (Plötutíóindi)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://plotutidindi.is/arslistar/tonlistinn-plotur-2019/|title=Tónlistinn – Plötur – 2019|publisher=Plötutíóindi|language=is|access-date=1 April 2022|archive-date=January 12, 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210112114032/https://plotutidindi.is/arslistar/tonlistinn-plotur-2019/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|78
|-
!scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2019&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album, 2019|publisher=Sverigetopplistan|access-date=January 14, 2020|archive-date=March 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322185410/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2019&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|59
|-
!scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2019/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2019|magazine=Billboard|access-date=February 10, 2021|archive-date=December 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205172547/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2019/top-billboard-200-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|174
|-
!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2019/top-rock-albums|title=Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2019|magazine=Billboard|access-date=February 10, 2021|archive-date=December 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206164800/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2019/top-rock-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|23
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2020)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2020&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten 2020|publisher=Ultratop|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=December 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222205127/https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2020&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|134
|-
!scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2020&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album, 2020|publisher=Sverigetopplistan|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=January 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127204606/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2020&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|74
|-
!scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2020/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2020|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 5, 2020|archive-date=December 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207204455/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2020/top-billboard-200-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|177
|-
!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2020/top-rock-albums|title=Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2020|magazine=Billboard|access-date=February 10, 2021|archive-date=December 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204110837/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2020/top-rock-albums|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|18
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2021)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oe3.orf.at/charts/stories/3020714/|title=Ö3-Austria Top40 Longplay-Jahrescharts 2021|date=November 8, 2019 |publisher=Ö3 Austria Top 40|access-date=January 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220101195807/https://oe3.orf.at/charts/stories/3020714/|archive-date=January 1, 2022}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|57
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2021&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten 2021|publisher=Ultratop|access-date=January 5, 2022|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104110928/https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2021&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|84
|-
!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=2021&cat=a|title=Rapports annuels 2021|publisher=Ultratop|access-date=January 5, 2022|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104091938/https://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=2021&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|75
|-
!scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-2021|title=Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts 2021|publisher=[[GfK Entertainment charts]]|language=de|access-date=January 9, 2022|archive-date=December 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221011642/https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-2021|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|23
|-
! scope="row"| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://slagerlistak.hu/archivum/eves-osszesitett-listak/album_db/2021|title=Összesített album- és válogatáslemez-lista – eladási darabszám alapján – 2021|publisher=Mahasz|language=hu|access-date=February 1, 2022|archive-date=February 1, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201203848/https://slagerlistak.hu/archivum/eves-osszesitett-listak/album_db/2021|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|85
|-
!scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2021&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album, 2021|publisher=[[Sverigetopplistan]]|access-date=January 14, 2022|archive-date=January 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115034935/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2021&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|56
|-
!scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hitparade.ch/charts/jahreshitparade/2021/alben|title=Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2021|website=hitparade.ch|access-date=December 26, 2021|language=de|archive-date=December 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226193355/https://hitparade.ch/charts/jahreshitparade/2021/alben|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|82
|-
!scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2021|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 3, 2021|archive-date=May 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510220738/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/top-billboard-200-albums/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|99
|-
!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/top-rock-albums|title=Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2021|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 3, 2021|archive-date=December 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203002037/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/top-rock-albums/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|13
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2022)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2022&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten 2022|publisher=[[Ultratop]]|language=nl|access-date=January 14, 2023|archive-date=January 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113102633/https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2022&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 152
|-
! scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2022&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album, 2022|publisher=[[Sverigetopplistan]]|language=sv|access-date=January 15, 2023|archive-date=February 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202140827/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2022&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 91
|-
!scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2022/top-billboard-200-albums/|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2022|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 3, 2022|archive-date=December 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202030432/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2022/top-billboard-200-albums/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 102
|-
!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2022/top-rock-albums/|title=Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2022|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 3, 2022|archive-date=December 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202055400/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2022/top-rock-albums/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 13
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2023)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2023&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten 2023|publisher=[[Ultratop]]|language=nl|access-date=January 7, 2024|archive-date=January 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107174051/https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2023&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 133
|-
! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=2023&cat=a|title=Jaaroverzichten – Album 2023|website=dutchcharts.nl|language=nl|access-date=January 3, 2024|archive-date=January 2, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102193216/https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=2023&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 93
|-
! scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2023&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album, 2023|publisher=[[Sverigetopplistan]]|access-date=January 18, 2024|archive-date=January 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118060947/https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2023&dspp=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 80
|-
!scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2023/top-billboard-200-albums/|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2023|magazine=Billboard|access-date=November 23, 2023|archive-date=November 21, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121210007/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2023/top-billboard-200-albums/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 125
|-
!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2023/top-rock-albums/|title=Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2023|magazine=Billboard|access-date=November 23, 2023|archive-date=December 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204132446/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2023/top-rock-albums/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 22
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2024)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-2024|title=Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts|publisher=[[GfK Entertainment charts]]|language=de|access-date=December 9, 2024}}</ref>
| 97
|}
|}


=== Decade-end charts ===
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Decade-end chart performance for ''Metallica''
!Chart (1990–1999)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Geoff|last=Mayfield|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9w0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA4|title=1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade – The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s|page=20|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=December 25, 1999|access-date=August 27, 2013}}</ref>
|style="text-align:center;"|8
|}
{{col-end}}
{{col-end}}


==Certifications==
== Certifications and sales ==

{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications and sales for ''Metallica''}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Argentina|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=5|relyear=1991|certref=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20110706084844/http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP|archivedate = July 16, 2013|title = Discos de oro y platino|accessdate=September 16, 2013|publisher=[[Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas]]|language=Spanish}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Argentina|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=5|relyear=1991|certref=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110706084844/http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP|archive-date=July 6, 2011|title=Discos de oro y platino|access-date=September 16, 2013|publisher=[[Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas]]|language=es|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Australia|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=12|certyear=2015|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Mexico|title=Metallica|artist=Metallica|type=album|award=Platinum|number= 1||salesamount=250,000<ref>https://books.google.com.co/books?id=aggEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=billboard+books+1994&hl=es&sa=X&ved=0CCAQ6AEwATgKahUKEwil7f7Q8I3HAhUEGR4KHevgArg#v=snippet&q=metallica&f=false</ref>|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Australia|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=13|certyear=2021|refname=ARIA}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Austria|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1991|certyear=2013|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Austria|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1991|certyear=2013}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Canada|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Diamond|relyear=1991|certyear=1991|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Belgium|type=album|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1991|certyear=2008|access-date=May 26, 2021}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=France|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|recent=false|relyear=1991|certyear=2013|relmonth=10|salesamount=438,200 |salesref=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infodisc.fr/CDCertif_P.php?debut=550 |title=InfoDisc : Les Certifications (Albums) du SNEP (les Disques de Platine) |publisher=Infodisc.fr |date= |accessdate=November 30, 2013}}</ref>|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Canada|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Diamond|relyear=1991|certyear=1991}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Finland|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=5|salesamount=112,856|autocat=yes|accessdate=2013-11-29}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Denmark|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=8|relyear=1991|access-date=January 3, 2023|id=11983|certyear=2023}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Germany|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=1|relyear=1991|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Finland|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=2|salesamount=118,956|access-date=November 29, 2013}}
{{certification Table Entry|title=Metallica|artist=Metallica|relyear=1991|autocat=yes|type=album|region=Japan|award=Platinum|number=2|salesamount=400,000}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=France|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|source=infodisc|relyear=1991|certyear=1994}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Germany|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|relyear=1991|certyear=2019|type=album|award=Platinum|number=4|access-date=May 25, 2019}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Italy|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Gold|salesamount=50,000|autocat=yes|certref=<ref name=ItaCert>{{cite web | url = http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1992/novembre/19/disco_oro_anche_Italia_co_0_92111913689.shtml | work = [[Corriere della Sera]] | language = Italian | date = November 13, 2013 | title = Disco d'oro anche in Italian | accessdate = July 9, 2012 | page = 21}}</ref>|salesref=<ref name=ItaCert/>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Netherlands|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=1|relyear=1991|id=1236805|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Italy|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1991|certyear=2017|note=sales since 2009|id=10342|access-date=December 12, 2022}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=New Zealand|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=10|recent=true|autocat=yes}}
{{certification Table Entry|region=Japan|title=メタリカ|artist=メタリカ|relyear=1991|certyear=1993|certmonth=9|type=album|award=Platinum}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Mexico|title=Metallica|artist=Metallica|type=album|award=Gold|relyear=1991|certyear=2000|access-date=October 4, 2019|salesamount=75,000<sup>^</sup> / 210,000|salesref=<ref>{{cite magazine|date=November 26, 1994|title=The Gringos Are Coming!|magazine=Billboard|volume=106|issue=48|pages=73|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aggEAAAAMBAJ&q=madonna+erotica&pg=PA73|access-date=January 25, 2014|archive-date=August 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804154911/https://books.google.com/books?id=aggEAAAAMBAJ&q=madonna+erotica&pg=PA73|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Norway|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1991|autocat=yes|certref=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ifpi.no/component/rstrophybridge/?limit=0|publisher=[[International Federation of the Phonographic Industry]] of Norway | language = Norwegian | accessdate = January 18, 2013 | title= Trofe Oversikt | archivedate = November 18, 2013 | archiveurl = http://archive.is/S4g3W}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Poland|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=1|relyear=1991|certyear=2013|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Netherlands|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1991|id=1236805}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Sweden|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1991|certyear=2013|autocat=yes}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=New Zealand|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=10|source=archive}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Norway|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1991|certyear=2012|access-date=April 13, 2020}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Poland|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|relyear=1991|certyear=2019|date=August 7, 2019|access-date=February 9, 2021}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Sweden|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|relyear=1991|certyear=1992|accessdate=November 9, 2021}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Switzerland|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1991}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Switzerland|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1991}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Turkey|nocert=true|salesamount=300,000|salesref=<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.milliyet.com.tr/kultur-sanat/metalcilere-dort-buyuk-mujde-1188525|title=Metalcilere 'dört büyük' müjde|language=tr|work=[[Milliyet]]|access-date=March 3, 2021|author=[[Radikal]]|date=January 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303233946/https://www.milliyet.com.tr/kultur-sanat/metalcilere-dort-buyuk-mujde-1188525|archive-date=March 3, 2021|quote=Metallica’nın 1991 albümü 300 bin kopya sattı Türkiye’de, AC/DC’nin öyle bir satış durumu da yok.}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United Kingdom|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=2x Platinum|numbe=8|salesamount=600,000}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United States|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=16 |salesamount=16,200,000 |salesref= <ref name="us_sales"/>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United Kingdom|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1991|certyear=2023|certmonth=7|id=4245-2158-2|access-date=May 26, 2023}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United States|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|award=Platinum|number=16|salesamount=17,300,000|salesref=<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9632452/metallica-black-album-top-10-billboard-200-albums-chart-30th-anniversary-reissue|title=Metallica's 'Black Album' Returns to Top 10 on Billboard 200 After 30th Anniversary Reissue|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=November 12, 2021|archive-date=November 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112220030/https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9632452/metallica-black-album-top-10-billboard-200-albums-chart-30th-anniversary-reissue|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Bottom}}
{{Certification Table Summary}}
{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Worldwide|artist=Metallica|title=Metallica|nocert=true|salesamount=30,000,000|salesref=<ref name="ww"/>|access-date=August 11, 2023}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true}}

== See also ==


* [[List of best-selling albums in Australia]]
==See also==
* [[List of best-selling albums in Finland]]
* [[List of best-selling albums in Finland]]
* [[List of best-selling albums in Turkey]]
* [[List of best-selling albums in the United States]]
* [[List of best-selling albums in the United States]]
* [[List of best-selling albums worldwide]]
* [[List of best-selling albums]]
* [[The Beatles (album)|''The Beatles'' (album)]] – an eponymous album by the Beatles also known as "the White Album" due to its packaging design


==References==
== References ==

{{reflist|30em}}
{{reflist}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{Discogs master|type=album|name=Metallica|6651}}


*{{Discogs master|type=album|name=Metallica|6651}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before = ''[[Unforgettable... with Love]]'' by [[Natalie Cole]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] [[Number-one albums of 1991 (USA)|number-one album]]|years = August 31&nbsp;– September 27, 1991}}
{{s-aft|after = ''[[Ropin' the Wind]]'' by [[Garth Brooks]]}}
{{s-bef|before = ''[[Essential Pavarotti II]]'' by [[Luciano Pavarotti]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[List of number-one albums (UK)|UK number one album]]|years = August 24–30, 1991}}
{{s-aft|after = ''[[Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]]'' by London Stage Cast}}
{{s-bef|before = ''[[Unforgettable... with Love]]'' by [[Natalie Cole]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = Australian [[ARIA Charts|ARIA Albums Chart]] [[Number-one albums of 1991 (Australia)|number-one album]]|years = August 25–31, 1991}}
{{s-aft|after = ''[[On Every Street]]'' by [[Dire Straits]]}}
{{end}}


{{Metallica}}
{{Metallica}}

{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Metallica (Album)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metallica (Album)}}
[[Category:1991 albums]]
[[Category:1991 albums]]
[[Category:Metallica albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Bob Rock]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Bob Rock]]
[[Category:Elektra Records albums]]
[[Category:Elektra Records albums]]
[[Category:Vertigo Records albums]]
[[Category:English-language albums]]
[[Category:Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance]]
[[Category:Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance]]
[[Category:Metallica albums]]
[[Category:Vertigo Records albums]]

Latest revision as of 19:37, 12 December 2024

Metallica
Black image with a 1:1 aspect ratio and a grey outline of a snake (bottom right)
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 12, 1991 (1991-08-12)
RecordedOctober 6, 1990 – June 16, 1991
StudioOne on One, Los Angeles
GenreHeavy metal
Length62:40
LabelElektra
Producer
Metallica chronology
The Good, the Bad & the Live
(1990)
Metallica
(1991)
Load
(1996)
Metallica studio album chronology
...And Justice for All
(1988)
Metallica
(1991)
Load
(1996)
Singles from Metallica
  1. "Enter Sandman"
    Released: July 29, 1991[1]
  2. "The Unforgiven"
    Released: October 28, 1991[2]
  3. "Nothing Else Matters"
    Released: April 20, 1992[3]
  4. "Wherever I May Roam"
    Released: October 19, 1992[4]
  5. "Sad but True"
    Released: December 15, 1992[5]

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: the recording experience was so stressful that Rock briefly swore never to work with the band again.[13][17][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.[9][10]

Since the band was perfectionist,[11][18] 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]

Composition and lyrics

[edit]

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.[9][17][22] 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]

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.[23] 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 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.[17] According to Chris True of AllMusic, "Enter Sandman" is about "nightmares and all that come with them".[24] "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.[25][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."[26]

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. 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.[9]

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).[27][28] The follow-up single, "Don't Tread on Me", was released promotionally but did not chart.[28] The subsequent single, "The Unforgiven", was a Top 40 hit; it peaked in the Top 10 in Australia.[29]

Metallica was released on August 12, 1991,[30] 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.[31][32] Meanwhile, more singles were released to further success. "Nothing Else Matters" reached number six in the United Kingdom and Ireland,[33][34] and "Wherever I May Roam" peaked at number two on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks singles chart,[28] although the 1993 single "Sad but True" charted only for one week on the Billboard Hot 100 at 98.[28] 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.[35]

Internationally, Metallica was also a success. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart[36] and was certified 2× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling 600,000 copies in the UK.[37] Metallica topped the charts in Australia,[38] Canada,[39] Germany,[40] New Zealand,[41] Norway,[42] the Netherlands,[43] Sweden,[44] and Switzerland.[45] It also reached the top five in Austria,[46] Finland,[47] and Japan,[48] as well as the top 10 in Spain.[49] The album failed to reach the top 20 in Ireland, having peaked at number 27.[50] The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) certified the album 12× platinum.[51] It received diamond plaques from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)[52] and the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ)[53] 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.[54] 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,[55] 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.[56] Metallica was certified 16× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2012 for shipping sixteen million copies in the US.[55] Metallica sold 31 million copies worldwide on physical media.[57] 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.[56]

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.[58][59] Some unofficial estimates put the attendance as high as 1,600,000.[60] 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.[61] The January 13 and 14, 1992, shows in San Diego were later released in the box set Live Shit: Binge & Purge,[62] while the tour and the album were documented in the documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica.[63]

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".[62] 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".[63] 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.[63] Brazilian musician Andreas Kisser from Sepultura was initially considered to join the tour, but Marshall ultimately was chosen.[64]

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,[62][63] 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.[65] 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.[63] 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.[61] The Mexico City shows were also the first time the band met future member Robert Trujillo, who was in Suicidal Tendencies at the time.[66]

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.[67][68] 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.[69]

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.[70] 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,[71] 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.[72] Metallica played the album in its entirety during the 2012 European Black Album Tour.[73]

Critical reception and legacy

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[74]
Chicago Tribune[75]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[76]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[77]
Los Angeles Times[78]
MusicHound Rock[79]
Pitchfork7.7/10[80]
Q[81]
Rolling Stone[25]
Select[82]

Metallica was met with widespread acclaim from both heavy metal journalists and mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times, and The Village Voice.[83] In Entertainment Weekly, David Browne called it "rock's preeminent speed-metal cyclone", and said, "Metallica may have invented a new genre: progressive thrash".[77] 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".[81] Select magazine's David Cavanagh believed the album lacks artifice and is "disarmingly genuine".[82] 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".[84] 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".[25] 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."[75]

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.[78] 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".[85] In his 2000 collection Christgau's Consumer Guide, Christgau later graded Metallica a "dud", indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought".[86]

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".[87] 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".[87] 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".[88] 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.[89] 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."[90] 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.]"[74]

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."[91]

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."[92]

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.[93][94]

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.[95] Melody Maker ranked it number 16 in the magazine's December 1991 list of the year's best albums.[87] In 1992, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.[96] In 2000, it was voted number 88 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[97] In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked Metallica number 255 on "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time",[98] 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).[99] Spin ranked it number 52 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".[87] 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".[87] In 1999, eight years after the album's release, Metallica won a Billboard Music Award for Catalog Album of the Year.[100]

Track listing

[edit]

All lyrics are written by James Hetfield; all music is composed by Hetfield and Lars Ulrich except where noted.

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Enter Sandman"5:31
2."Sad but True" 5:24
3."Holier than Thou" 3:47
4."The Unforgiven"
  • Hetfield
  • Ulrich
  • Hammett
6:27
5."Wherever I May Roam" 6:44
6."Don't Tread on Me" 4:00
7."Through the Never"
  • Hetfield
  • Ulrich
  • Hammett
4:04
8."Nothing Else Matters" 6:28
9."Of Wolf and Man"
  • Hetfield
  • Ulrich
  • Hammett
4:16
10."The God That Failed" 5:08
11."My Friend of Misery"
6:49
12."The Struggle Within" 3:53
Total length:62:31
Japanese edition bonus track[101]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."So What" (Anti-Nowhere League cover)
  • Chris Exall
  • Clive Blake
  • Nick Culmer
  • Djahanshah Aghssa
3:08
  • 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,[102] in 2010,[103] and in 2014.[104] 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.[105][106]

Personnel

[edit]

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[107][101][108]

Metallica

Additional musicians

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

Production

Charts

[edit]

Certifications and sales

[edit]
Certifications and sales for Metallica
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Argentina (CAPIF)[201] 5× Platinum 300,000^
Australia (ARIA)[51] 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]
sales since 2009
2× Platinum 100,000*
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)[53] 10× Platinum 150,000^
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.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
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