Welcome back to another edition of Metal By Numbers, where we crunch the numbers so you don’t have to. As per usual, the first chart of the year is like waking up hungover on New Year’s Day with a party hat on an a noisemaker stuffed in your ass. What I’m trying to say is that the party’s over from the holiday shopping season. Everyone used their iTunes gift cards, and album sales are universally down. While there were no metal debuts this week, we’ll kind of count Sonny Moore, who sang for post hardcore band From First To Last in the mid-aughts. You might know him better as Skrillex, seminal dubstep artist known for his terrible hairstyle and collaborations on Korn’s new record. Congratulations Mr. Skrillex.
Notable Sales:
Evanescence, Evanescence (Wind-Up) #39, 16,000 sold
Oh my goth! 320,000 copies sold, and I don’t know a single person that’ll cop to having bought this.
Korn, The Path of Totality (Roadrunner) #42, 14,900 sold
125,000 copies in four weeks is nothing to sneeze at, for either a metal album or an electronic one. Did Revolver‘s trolling naming it the album of the year help? Perhaps.
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [Soundtrack] (Null) #44, 14,300 sold
One of the few bright spots in a mostly down chart week is this soundtrack, which jumped an incredible 263% this week now that the movie’s out everywhere.
Five Finger Death Punch, American Capitalist (Prospect Park) #37, 13,800 sold
264,701 sold in three months. That means that this has a decent shot to eventually join the band’s first two albums as gold.
Metallica, Beyond Magnetic (Warner Bros.) 12,100 sold
57,00 copies sold of this EP, which isn’t bad for a digital-only release so far (it’s coming out physically later this month). It’s another rare increase from the previous week, when it sold 8,900.
Guns N’ Roses, Greatest Hits (Geffen) 11,800 sold
Who said being added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame didn’t help album sales. I’m sorry though, Guns N’ Roses already has a greatest hits album – it’s called Appetite For Destruction.
Disturbed, Lost Children (Reprise) #86, 9,100 sold
Disturbed’s b-sides collection sells roughly the same it did a few weeks ago the last time we did MBN. It’s sold over 116,000. The good news for haters is that it’s probably going to be the last Disturbed album for a while.
Chevelle, Hats Off to the Bull (Epic) #79, 10,000 sold
The band’s sixth album is closing in on 100,000 sold, a milestone they’ll probably cross in a few weeks.
Foo Fighters, Wasting Light (RCA) #88, 8,900 sold
Kind of hard to believe that this album’s only sold 660,000 so far. Then again, that’s a lot of albums for just about anyone.
Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare (Warner Bros.) #159, 4,800 sold
Is it the cult of Portnoy, or the band’s popularity in general that keeps this album going? It’s up to about 650,000 copies sold so far.
Megadeth, TH1RT3EN (Roadrunner), 4,000 sold
This has sold about 88,000, which is a solid number that’ll go up once the Gigantour starts.
Volbeat, Beyond Hell/Above Heaven (Universal) 2,300 sold
This album got a holiday spike, and while it had been selling about 1k/week before then, it’s still doing well now. Definitely a nice success story on Universal’s part.
Like Moths To Flames, When We Don’t Exist (Rise) 860 sold
This has continued to sell pretty consistently in the two months it’s been out.
Memphis May Fire, Hollow (Rise Records) 700 sold
Holla! Oh wait… Hollow. Over 16,500 in six weeks is pretty solid.
Carnifex, Until I Feel Nothing (Victory) 410 sold
The band’s tour with All Shall Perish could help the band stay on the charts for some more time.
Woe Is Me, Number(s) Rise Records 600 sold
A 10% increase from last week.
Motionless In White, Creatures (Fearless) 550 sold
Coming from seemingly out of nowhere, this year-old album reappears and has sold about 33,000 so far.
Volbeat, Live from Beyond Hell / Above Heaven (Universal) 460 sold
Some of the many people that bought the studio album came back for more after seeing them live, apparently.
Wolves in the Throne Room, Celestial Lineage (Southern Lord) 400 sold
Looks like all the year-end lists might have convinced some Pitchfork and Stereogum readers to pull their (animal) collective heads out of their asses and dig into some black metal.
Asking Alexandria, Life Gone Wild (Sumerian) 375 sold
Whether they’re fans of guys in makeup or Sebastian Bach, some more people picked up the band’s EP containing two Skid Row covers. Actually, I just realized the first half of that sentence is kinda redundant. Just kidding, we love you Bas!
Skeletonwitch, Forever Abomination (Prosthetic) 350 sold
Another deserving album that appears to have picked up some sales from year-end lists.
