The RIAA has announced that Metallica have received two new milestone certifications for classic albums Metallica AKA The Black Album and Master of Puppets.
Metallica’s self-titled fifth album has been certified 20x platinum for sales in excess of 20 million copies, while the band’s third full length, Master of Puppets, has been certified 8x platinum, having crossed the eight million mark.
The Black Album‘s release in 1991 gave Metallica its first No.1 album in 10 countries, including a 4-week run at No.1 in the U.S. The project, which features iconic, all-time singles like “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” “Wherever I May Roam,” and “Sad But True,” helped the band achieve their current status as hard rock superstars.
The album’s reception from the press was similarly superlative, building over the years from the top 10 of the 1991 Village Voice Pazz & Jop national critics poll to becoming a constant presence in the likes of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.
Metallica’s 1986 massive third LP Master of Puppets has attained 8x platinum status, having sold more than eight million albums. The heaviest rock album ever to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” Master of Puppets remains a standout in one of rock’s most thrilling discography.
The album would earn Metallica its first gold record, elevating the band to new heights of critical acclaim on the strength of enduring favorites including “Battery,” “Orion” and of course the title track, which recently followed “Enter Sandman” and “Nothing Else Matters” as the third Metallica song to join Spotify’s Billions Club.
Metallica is currently in the midst of the third year of its M72 World Tour, which has seen the band play to more than three million fans across the globe.
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