Metallica’s The Black Album topped the Billboard 200 for four consecutive weeks. It was the band’s first album to reach number one on that chart.
The record arrived on August 12, 1991, and debuted at the summit after selling 598,000 U.S. copies in its first week. Its sustained run reflected both strong early demand and the album’s unusually broad appeal across rock and metal audiences.
The album’s chart performance continued long after its original release. It logged hundreds of weeks on the Billboard 200 and became one of the longest-charting traditional albums of the SoundScan era. Its staying power was reinforced by widely played songs such as “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” and “Sad but True.”