Metallica's 1991 album, commonly called The Black Album, debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200.
It was the first Metallica album to reach the top position on that chart. The record sold about 598,000 copies in its first US week and remained at number one for four consecutive weeks.
The achievement reflected a dramatic expansion of the band's audience. Earlier albums had made Metallica a major force in heavy metal, but the self-titled record's polished production, shorter structures, and broad singles appeal brought the group to a much larger mainstream audience.
The album also topped charts in several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. Its US chart performance was not a brief peak: the album became one of the longest-running records in Billboard 200 history and continued selling steadily for decades.