Which Metallica song became the band's first music video to reach one billion YouTube views?

“Nothing Else Matters” became Metallica's first music video to reach one billion YouTube views.

The video reached that milestone in August 2021, three decades after the song appeared on The Black Album. It combines performance footage with scenes from the documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, which followed the recording and touring period around the album.

The song was released as the album's third single on April 20, 1992. James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich are credited as its composers, while Hetfield wrote the lyrics. Although it began as a private guitar idea, it developed into one of Metallica's best-known power ballads.

Kirk Hammett does not play on the studio recording, despite being the band's lead guitarist; he appears in the video and performs the song live. That detail is a frequent source of confusion when people identify every instrument heard on the track.