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Credit: Far Out \/ NASA \/ Uwe Conrad<\/p>\n
Tue 14 July 2026 1:30, UK <\/p>\n
Despite a long tradition of mainstream shunning among fans, heavy metal<\/a> has fared better on the charts than is remembered.<\/p>\n Even before the music world became aware of hard rock\u2019s hefty offshoot, all of Black Sabbath\u2019s, Deep Purple\u2019s, and Led Zeppelin\u2019s classic LPs peaked in the UK top ten. As the new wave of British heavy metal reared its head toward the end of the 1970s, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Mot\u00f6rhead counted top ten records between them during the sleeveless denimed peaks of the headbanging underground.<\/p>\n Yet metal persisted with a critical rejection for years, existing in its own subcultural exclave that shared little to no affinity with the cluster of movements around it in UK musicland, save for Mot\u00f6rhead\u2019s bridge-building with the punk world<\/a>. Exclusion was the point; solidarity was born from the critical besiegement among the metal community, as well as a rejection of punk\u2019s nihilism, new wave\u2019s artificiality, and a broader trend of questioning masculine archetypes so essential to the beer-swiggin\u2019, scrappy affirmation of testosterone racing through the day\u2019s Kerrang! readers.<\/p>\n Metal would continue to explode, despite its base\u2019s two fingers to pop appeal. Hair metal would add some glossy production and cartoon hedonism to the guitar attack that would see heavy rock\u2019s most commercial, MTV-dominating peak, Van Halen breaking records with their $1.5million headliner fee for US Festival \u201983<\/a>. After grunge and alternative rock ushered in the Alternative Nation 1990s, metal would be catapulted to the pop charts with its nu variant\u2019s meld of guitar crunch and hip hop beats, Linkin Park\u2019s Hybrid Theory surpassing all expectations as 2001\u2019s biggest-selling album.<\/p>\n Which heavy metal band has the most number one albums?<\/p>\n While the likes of Poison and M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce were leading the 1980s\u2019 metal poster boys, a growing subterranean of uglier, angrier teens from Los Angeles and New York began to look back to the NWOBHM of their youth as a key influence and to wrest metal back toward the darker and meaner end of its heavy pummel.<\/p>\n Thrash was born, and before long, the \u2018Big Four\u2019 would emerge: New York\u2019s Anthrax, along with LA\u2019s Slayer, Megadeth, and one Metallica. Soon enough, the \u2018Big Four\u2019 became the \u2018Big One\u2019. Metallica would define thrash\u2019s sped-up fury and intricate soloing; 1988\u2019s \u2026And Justice for All peaked at number six before a shake-up of the formula would win ungodly sales, if irk the metal purists.<\/p>\n Tightening the songcraft and adding a little groove to the thrash, 1991\u2019s Metallica is still the biggest-selling heavy metal album of all time, unless AC\/DC\u2019s Back in Black counts in your definition<\/a>. Alone, their eponymous LP would shift as many as 31m claimed sales, as well as top the Billboard 200.<\/p>\n Their number one streak would continue across six consecutive albums. Through stylistic breaks and returns to form, the following Load, Reload, St Anger, Death Magnetic, and Hardwired\u2026 to Self-Destruct all topped the US albums charts before 2023\u2019s 72 Seasons would scrape second place. Now with a 155m record sale under their belt, Metallica\u2019s explosion from underdog fringes to global heavyweight in several short years must have been a dizzying trajectory none of the band was anticipating.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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