Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.
The first MBN of 2018 isn’t usually all that exciting. There’s always a bit of a drought in new releases and it takes a bit for things to get rolling again. I always like to refer to the Wikipedia page for metal music to keep track of releases. It doesn’t cover everything and if one of your favorite bands is relatively obscure/doesn’t have a Wikipedia page you probably won’t find them on here. Still, it’s a pretty good and simply reference point for seeing what the new year has to offer. January is already looking like a pretty packed month with releases from Shining, Corrosion of Conformity, Machine Head, and more heading our way.
Note: the selected art for this week’s column is Asking Alexandria’s newest album, which was the top debut last week.
Notable Sales:
Five Finger Death Punch, A Decade Of Destruction (Prospect Park)
8,400 sold
This is still selling pretty well for an album with only two new songs on it (one of them an Offspring cover).
Foo Fighters, Concrete and Gold (RCA/Roswell)
6,700 sold
This got a big boost of 79% last week followed by a 13% drop this week.
Avenged Sevenfold, The Stage (Capitol)
4,900 sold
This got boosted back up the charts by the resissue with all the b-sides, pushing it to over 202,000 sold.
Linkin Park, One More Light Live (Warner Bros.)
4,800 sold
This live album debuted last week with 21,000 sold.
Greta Van Fleet, From the Fires EP (Lava)
4,600 sold
I expect this will be sticking around well into the new year.
Linkin Park, 
Asking Alexandria,
Metallica, Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (Blackened)
2,700 sold
Still hanging in there after over a year on the charts.
Skillet, Unleashed (Atlantic)
2,100 sold
Just under 230,000 sold.
Queens Of The Stone Age, Villains (Matador Records)
2000 sold
Over 123,000 sold.
Theory of a Deadman,
Evanescence, Synthesis (BMG)
1,900 sold
Just under 50,000 sold.
Marilyn Manson, Heaven Upside Down (Loma Vista)
1,800 sold
Just under 60,000 sold.
Iron Maiden, The Book Of Souls: Live Chapter (BMG)
1,400 sold
23,000 sold.
Hollywood Undead,
Trivium, The Sin And The Sentence (Roadrunner)
1,200 sold
Just under 30,000 sold.
Black Sabbath, The End (Eagle Rock)
800 sold
Over 10,000 sold.
August Burns Red, Phantom Anthem (Fearless)
600 sold
Hopefully some of you remembered to listen to August Burns Red’s excellent Christmas album over the holidays.
Cannibal Corpse, Red Before Black (Metal Blade)
500 sold
The limited edition bonus disc includes covers of Metallica, Accept, and Kreator among others.
Prophets of Rage, Prophets of Rage (Caroline)
500 sold
37,000 sold.
Morbid Angel, Kingdoms Disdained (Silver Lining)
400 sold
Though it’s received much praise, the album has only sold about 4,000 thus far. This is perhaps mostly due to being released so late in the year.
Power Trip,
Cavalera Conspiracy, Psychosis (Napalm Records)
300 sold
18,000 sold.
Glassjaw, Material Control (Century Media)
300 sold
5,000 sold.
Electric Wizard, Wizard Bloody Wizard (Spinefarm)
300 sold
6,000 sold.
Converge, The Dusk In Us (Epitaph/Deathwish)
300 sold
About 13,000 sold.
Project 86, Sheep Among Wolves (Team Black)
250 sold
4,500 sold.
Ghost, Ceremony and Devotion (Loma Vista)
200 sold
This dropped pretty far in it’s third week.
The Faceless, In Becoming A Ghost (Sumerian Records)
200 sold
5,000 sold.
War Of Ages,
Sweet & Lynch, 
