Metallica's The Black Album became the band's first number-one album on the Billboard 200.
The album debuted at number one in the United States after its August 1991 release. It was the first Metallica album to top that chart, a sign that the band's audience had expanded dramatically beyond the specialized metal market.
The Billboard 200 ranks albums and extended releases in the United States using consumption data. It is different from the Billboard Hot 100, which ranks individual songs. Confusing those two charts can lead to an incorrect answer, especially because “Enter Sandman” was a successful single but did not reach number one on the Hot 100.
The album also reached number one in several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. Its U.S. chart achievement was nevertheless the key domestic breakthrough.