Robert Trujillo & His Metallica Mates Tops Charts with Biggest Week for a Rock Album This Decade with “72 Seasons”

Robert Trujillo is celebrating a banner week…

The 58-year-old half-Mexican American bassist and his Metallica band mates’ latest album 72 Seasons has debuted atop multiple Billboard charts dated April 29, including the Top Rock & Alternative Albums survey.

MetallicaIn its first tracking week (April 14-20), Seasons 72 earned 146,000 equivalent album units, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 134,000 units were via album sales.

It’s Metallica’s fifth No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, which began in 2006.

The rockers first ruled with Death Magnetic in 2008 and then with 2016’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (the band’s last proper LP prior to Seasons 72) and 2020’s S&M2 with the San Francisco Symphony, along with a first week at No. 1 in 2021 for 1991’s Metallica upon its 30th anniversary.

The new set’s 146,000-unit start marks the best single-week sum on Top Rock & Alternative Albums this decade. It’s the biggest since Tool’s Fear Inoculum soared in with 270,000 units on the Sept. 14, 2019, ranking.

Seasons 72 is also Metallica’s fifth No. 1 on both Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums.

The set bows at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with its 134,000-unit sales count, becoming Metallica’s eighth leader dating to 1991’s self-titled album. On Vinyl Albums, it’s likewise No. 1 thanks to 43,000 first-week vinyl copies sold, marking the group’s sixth champ, tying the band with The Beatles and Jack White for the second-most, after Taylor Swift with nine.

On the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard 200Seasons 72 debuts at No. 2, behind Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which earned 166,000 units. The band adds its 12th top 10 on the chart, a run that began with …And Justice for All in 1988.

Concurrently, multiple songs from Seasons 72  reach Billboard song charts, with the entire album’s track list infusing Hot Hard Rock Songs. It’s led by the title track and current radio single, which leaps 12-2 thanks to 2.7 million radio audience impressions, 2.4 million official U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads sold. “Shadows Follow” is next at No. 6 (1.8 million streams).

Twelve songs at once on Hot Hard Rock Songs is the most since the chart’s 2020 inception, surpassing Deftones‘ 10 songs on the Oct. 10, 2020, ranking.

“72 Seasons” jumps 8-6 on the latest Mainstream Rock Airplay survey. It’s Metallica’s 26th top 10, placing the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers in a tie with Van Halen for the sixth-most since the chart began in 1981. Preceding single “Lux Æterna” reigned for 11 weeks beginning in December, while fellow teaser song “Screaming Suicide” (not promoted to radio) spent one week on the tally at No. 40 in February.

Robert Trujillo & His Metallica Band Mates Notch Five of the Top 10 Best-Selling Albums on Billboard’s Top Album Sales Chart

Robert Trujillo is makin’ a major mark on the Billboard charts…

The 56-year-old half-Mexican American bassist and songwriter and his Metallica band mates hold five of the top 10 best-selling albums of the week in the U.S., as reflected on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated February 13).

Robert Trujillo & Metallica

It’s the first time since 2016 that one act has five out of the top 10 on the tally.

Metallica jumps 67-3, while the group notches re-entries with Ride the Lightning (No. 4), …And Justice for All (No. 5), Master of Puppets (No. 7) and Kill ‘Em All (No. 8), respectively. The takeover is due to the band’s release of six of its earlier albums on limited edition color vinyl via Walmart on January 29.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now MRC Data. Pure album sales were the measurement solely utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated December 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units.

Here’s a look at Metallica’s five albums in the top 10 on Top Album Sales, along with a sixth that missed the region, but is at No. 15. Nearly all of the sales for each title are from their vinyl editions.

Title; Rank; Total Copies Sold on All Formats (Gain)
Metallica; No. 3; 10,000 (up 383%)
Ride the Lightning; No. 4; 9,700 (up 617%)
…And Justice for All; No. 5; 9,400 (up 776%)
Master of Puppets; No. 7; 8,100 (up 1,102%)Kill ‘Em All; No. 8; 8,000 (up 917%)
Hardwired… To Self-Destruct; re-entry at No. 15; 5,500 (up 2,433%)

The last act to have five of the top 10 on Top Album Sales was Prince, following his death in 2016, when he claimed half of the region on the list dated May 14, 2016.

Metallica also has six of the top 10 on the February 13-dated Vinyl Albums chart – the third time an act has held six of the top 10. It previously happened on March 19, 2016 (David Bowie) and Dec. 1, 2012 (The Beatles). Back on the Top Album Sales chart, Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album is steady at No. 1 for a third nonconsecutive week, with 25,000 sold (up 102%).

Robert Trujillo & His Metallica Band Mates Earn Third No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums Chart as “S&M2” Debuts at No. 1

Robert Trujillo’s hit albums keep on coming…

The 55-year-old half-Mexican American bassist and his Metallica band mates have scored their third No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Rock Albums chart, as S&M2 debuts at the top of the ranking list dated September 12.

Metallica

Recorded live on September 6 and 8, 2019, with the San Francisco Symphony, the set arrives with 56,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending September 3, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Of that sum, 53,000 units are via album sales.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-enshrined band now boasts three Top Rock Albums No. 1s since the chart began in 2006. Death Magnetic ruled for five weeks in 2008 and Hardwired… to Self-Destruct reigned for six in 2016-17.

The new set also debuts atop the Hard Rock Albums chart, where it’s Metallica’s third leader and the San Francisco Symphony‘s first. On Classical Albums, the LP likewise launches at No. 1, as Metallica earns its first leader; the orchestra also leads for the first time, as it ups its count to 11 top 10s.

On the all-genre Billboard 200, S&M2 bows at No. 4, marking Metallica’s 11th top 10. S&M2‘s predecessor, S&M, debuted and peaked at No. 2 in November 1999.

Metallica now becomes the first group, and the third act overall, with at least one new Billboard 200 top 10 in each of the last five decades. The band banked one top 10 in the ’80s (…And Justice for All, No. 6 in 1988); five in the ’90s (its No. 1 self-titled set in 1991; Load, No. 1 in 1996; Reload, No. 1 in 1997; Garage Inc., No. 2 in 1998; and S&M, No. 2 in 1999); two in the ’00s (St. Anger, No. 1 in 2003; and Death Magnetic, No. 1 in 2008); two in the ’10s (Metallica: Through the Never, No. 9 in 2013; and Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, No. 1 in 2016); and now one in the ’20s, with S&M2.

S&M2 debuted at No. 1 on Australia’s ARIA Albums Chart, Metallica’s seventh No. 1 album Down Under.