Metallica
Metallica have wrapped up their live activity for 2024, finishing things off with their regular Helping Hands concert in California.
The musical component of the heavy metal outfit’s All Within My Hands foundation, the Helping Hands concert series is a biannual affair which has been running since 2018.
With “aims to assist and enrich the lives of members of the communities who have supported the band for years, as well as encourage participation from fans and friends”, the previous events have been wildly successful, with the 2018 and 2020 editions raising over $1.3 million, and 2022 resulting in over $3 million in donations.
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The latest Helping Hands concert took place on Friday (Dec. 13) at Inglewood, CA’s 6,000-seat YouTube Theater, with hosting duties performed by Jimmy Kimmel. The event also featured a handful of special guests, including Sammy Hagar and special guests Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Kenny Aronoff, with classically-trained siblings SistaStrings also taking part.
As is tradition, the event featured a handful of deep cuts from the band’s back catalog, with this recent performance being no exception. Launching proceedings with a five-song acoustic set, both San Francisco singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Avi Vincour and pianist Henry Salvia were also on hand to aid in the performance.
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The band’s acoustic set kicked off with a performance of “Low Man’s Lyric”, which hadn’t been played live since the band’s Reload tour in September 1998, before being followed by the first play-through of Diamond Head’s “Helpless” since 2018, and their first-ever rendition of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Away From Home”. Welcoming SistaStrings to the stage, the acoustic portion of the event wrapped up with versions of 2023’s “If Darkness Had a Son” and the enduring “Nothing Else Matters”.
The career-spanning electric set was slightly more traditional, featuring tracks from the band’s wider catalog. Alongside last year’s “Screaming Suicide”, Metallica leant into tracks from the likes of famed ’80s records Kill ‘Em All, Master of Puppets, and 1989’s …And Justice for All. While reintroducing “The Unforgiven II” to the live set for the first time since 2015, the band also welcomed Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament to the stage for a performance of “Hit the Lights”.
Metallica’s Helping Hands concert will also be uploaded to YouTube for streaming on Thursday (Dec. 19), while full details regarding how much was raised by the event is usually shared in the new year.
Metallica is mourning the loss of a dedicated fan who passed away during their concert in Edmonton, Canada, on Aug. 23.
The band took to social media on Aug. 28 to share a heartfelt tribute, remembering the fan, affectionately known as “Viking,” and expressing their sorrow over his passing.
In their post, Metallica wrote: “Friday night, August 23rd, in Edmonton, we lost a Metallica family member at the show. He died due to health conditions. Leaving the earthly body and onto the next adventure. Very sad when death happens, but we’re touched that he spent some of his final, hopefully joyful, time with us.”
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They continued, “Our condolences to the family and friends of Lorne ‘Viking.’ With Love and Respect, Metallica.”
A friend of Lorne’s shared more about the tragic event in a Metallica fan group on Facebook, describing how he was taken from the Snake Pit area on a stretcher and received urgent medical care. The friend remembered Lorne as “the kindest soul” and added, “We all called him Viking. He will be missed terribly! Please crank up a Metallica song, and raise a glass for the Viking.”
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Metallica is currently in the midst of their M72 World Tour, which supports their 2023 album, 72 Seasons. The tour, featuring back-to-back performances in each city, includes opening acts like Mammoth WVH, Pantera, Ice Nine Kills, and Five Finger Death Punch. The band’s next performances are set for Aug. 28 and Sept. 1 in Seattle, Washington.
Metallica’s career has been marked by consistent success on the Billboard charts, with their latest album, 72 Seasons, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, their seventh leader.
The band has also made a lasting impact on the Billboard Hot 100 with iconic tracks like “Enter Sandman” and “Nothing Else Matters,” and were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.
Metallica’s 72 Seasons opens at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated April 29) with the largest sales week in over three-and-a-half years for any rock or hard rock album. The set bows with 134,000 copies sold in the United States in the week ending April 20, according to Luminate. It’s the eighth No. 1 on Top Album Sales for the band.
72 Seasons marks the group’s first original album in nearly seven years, since 2016’s chart-topping Hardwired… To Self-Destruct.
Also on Top Album Sales, Waterparks notches its highest charting set and best sales week ever – as Intellectual Property bows at No. 2. Plus, Yung Bleu and Prof both log their first top 10s with the arrivals of Love Scars II and Horse, respectively.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
72 Seasons bows with the biggest sales week for any rock or hard rock album since Fear Inoculum’s debut with 248,000 sold (No. 1, chart dated Sept. 14, 2019).
Of 72 Seasons’ 134,000 sold, physical sales comprise 106,500 (59,000 on CD, 42,500 on vinyl and 5,000 on cassette) and digital download sales comprise nearly 27,500. The vinyl sales sum marks Metallica’s largest sales week for an album on the format since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991.
Waterparks collects its highest-charting set and best sales week yet as Intellectual Property debuts at No. 2 with 16,000 copies sold. It’s the third top 10 for the rock act. Melanie Martinez’s former No. 1 Portals falls 2-3 with 13,000 sold (down 33%), Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights climbs 5-4 with nearly 13,000 (down 6%) and Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time vaults 15-5 with 12,000 (up 102%) after a new vinyl edition of the album was released.
Yung Bleu bows at No. 6 with Love Scars II, scoring his first top 10 and best sales week yet, as the album starts with 10,000 sold. Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. falls 4-7 with 9,000 sold (down 35%). Rapper Prof achieves his first top 10 and best sales week with the No. 8 start of Horse (9,000 sold). TWICE’s former No. 1 Ready to Be dips 8-9 with nearly 9,000 (down 18%) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s chart-topping The Name Chapter: Temptation slips 9-10 with nearly 8,000 (down 14%).
In the week ending April 20, there were 2.023 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 0.4% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.675 million (up 0.4%) and digital albums comprised 348,000 (up 0.4%).
There were 693,000 CD albums sold in the week ending April 20 (up 0.3% week-over-week) and 965,000 vinyl albums sold (up 0.4%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 10.464 million (up 3.8% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 14.487 million (up 27.7%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 30.786 million (up 9.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 25.116 million (up 16.4%) and digital album sales total 5.670 million (down 12.6%).
Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time spends a seventh consecutive and total week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated April 29). The set earned 166,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 20 (down 1%) in the United States, according to Luminate.
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In the last 10 years, only two acts – Wallen and Taylor Swift – have had multiple albums with at least seven weeks at No. 1 each. Wallen has done so with One Thing at a Time and his previous release, Dangerous: The Double Album, which spent 10 weeks at No. 1 in 2021. Swift did it with Folklore (eight weeks in 2020) and 1989 (11 weeks in 2014-15).
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Metallica blasts in at No. 2 with its new studio album, 72 Seasons. The set debuts with 146,000 units earned – achieving the largest week, by units, for any rock or hard rock album in over three-and-a-half years. It also marks the band’s 12th top 10 charting album – of which eight have reached the top two. 72 Seasons marks the band’s first original album in seven years.
Plus, Taylor Swift’s 2019 album Lover ranks in the Billboard 200’s top 10 for the first time in over three years, climbing 12-9.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new April 29, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 25. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of One Thing at a Time’s 166,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 20, SEA units comprise 151,000 (down 5%, equaling 201.71 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 12,000 (up 102% following the release of a new vinyl edition of the set) and TEA units comprise 3,000 (up 7%).
Metallica’s new studio album 72 Seasons starts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, scoring the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band its 12th top 10-charting effort. The set opens with 146,000 equivalent album units earned – the biggest week for any rock or hard rock album since Tool’s Fear Inoculum arrived with 270,000 equivalent album units at No. 1 (Sept. 14, 2019-dated chart). (Rock and hard rock albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible to chart on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums chart.)
Of 72 Seasons’ 146,000 units earned, album sales comprise 134,000 — it’s the top-selling album of the week, and it bows with the biggest sales week for any rock or hard rock album since Fear Inoculum’s debut with 248,000 sold, SEA units comprise 11,500 (equaling 15.91 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 songs) and TEA units comprise 500.
72 Seasons was led by the single “Lux Æterna,” which racked up 11 weeks at No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart – tying the band’s cover of “Turn the Page” (1998-99) for its longest ruler atop the list. The album’s title track rose 8-6 on the most recently published Mainstream Rock Airplay chart (dated April 29), and marks the group’s 26th top 10-charting song on the tally.
SZA’s chart-topping SOS rises 4-3 on the Billboard 200 with 66,000 equivalent album units (up 9%), Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights falls 3-4 (60,000; up 1%) and Wallen’s former leader Dangerous: The Double Album rises 6-5 (49,000; up 3%). Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old bumps 7-6 (43,000; down 7%), Metro Boomin’ chart-topping Heroes & Villains goes up 9-7 (37,000; up 1%) and Bad Bunny’s former No. 1 Un Verano Sin Ti steps 10-8 (36,000; up 5%).
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Lover rises 12-9 (34,000; up 4%) – marking the first week in the top 10 for the set, which debuted at No. 1 in September 2019, in over three years – since the chart dated Feb. 22, 2020. The album has been bumping around the top 20 of the Billboard 200 in the last month, since Swift’s The Eras Tour launched on March 17. It’s moved 35-13-16-15-12-9 in the last six weeks.
Melanie Martinez’s Portals rounds out the top 10 of the Billboard 200, falling 5-10 with 33,000 (down 31%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Nothing can stop Virginia Tech students from supporting their team.
This year, the NCAA is hoping to keep on-campus host sites as neutral as possible by fining a host for playing traditional hype songs, such as Virginia Tech playing “Enter Sandman” as it usually does during women’s basketball games at Cassell Coliseum. Virginia Tech started playing the Metallica hit back in 2000 during the season opener for football at Lane Stadium.
While the NCAA is preventing actual venues from playing hype songs through their speakers, there’s nothing they can do about fans taking matters into their own hands. During VT’s Friday night (March 17) game against Chattanooga, Hokies supporters in the coliseum began belting the chorus to the heavy metal 1991 classic a capella, making for a special, uniting moment.
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It all paid off too, as Virginia Tech won 58-33 against Chattanooga.
Metallica shot to No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums and Hard Rock Albums tallies following the 2021 30th-anniversary reissue of its self-titled 1991 album, also known as “The Black Album.” The 30th anniversary reissue remasters the original 12 tracks and also includes a multi-disc box set including live versions, alternate takes and more.
Meanwhile, The Metallica Blacklist, the 53-song companion album featuring covers of Metallica’s tracklist from a variety of artists, also gained a No. 1 hit on the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart thanks to Miley Cyrus’ cover of “Nothing Else Matters,” featuring WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo and Chad Smith.
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