Metal By Numbers 1/11: Sales play it safe

Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.

The debut week drought continues, but it seems we’ll be seeing more action in the weeks to come. In the meantime however, many albums have reappeared on the charts thanks to a combination of albums dropping off without new ones to take their place. So you’ll see a lot of familiar faces (covers?) on here, but soon many new ones will be ushered in once the debuts start flowing in.

Notable Debuts:

Ice Nine Kills, Safe is Just a Shadow (Re-shadowed and Re-recorded) (Self-Released)
560 sold

These aren’t the real debut numbers for this album; those will becoming next week. But since we have absolutely nothing else to put here this week, I’ll include it.

Notable Sales:

Metallica, Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (Blackened)
#11 (from 6)
14,450 sold

The best-selling album of 2016 takes a 58% drop, but that doesn’t really affect it much.

Avenged Sevenfold, The Stage (Capitol)
#56 (from 56)
3,600 sold

A 51% drop, but it’s nearly at the 150,000 mark.

Nine Inch Nails, Not the Actual Events (The Null Corporation)
#59 (from 11)
3,475 sold

An 87% drop with over 50,000 sold.

Skillet, Unleashed (Atlantic)
#68 (from 84)
3,125 sold

A 40% drop in sales, but this actually moved up on the charts.

Disturbed, Immortalized (Reprise)
#85 (from 102)
2,500 sold

A 42% drop for the second biggest selling metal album of 2016.

I Prevail, Lifelines (Fearless)
#95 (from 140)
2,200 sold

Drawing the line at a 29% drop.

Korn, The Serenity of Suffering (Roadrunner)
#96 (from 114)
2,150 sold

This suffered a 43% drop.

Five Finger Death Punch, Got Your Six (Prospect Park)
#98 (from 117)
2,125 sold

A 43% drop at week 70.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Ghosts of Christmas Eve (Rhino Atlantic)
#106 (from 69)
2,000 sold

A spooky 69% drop.

Highly Suspect, The Boy Who Died Wolf (300 Entertainment)
#111 (from 152)
1,950 sold

A 29% drop with just under 30,000 sold.

The Pretty Reckless, Who You Selling For (Razor & Tie)
#134 (re-entry)
1,550 sold

A 6% boost brings this back up.

Shinedown, Threat To Survival (Atlantic)
#149 (from 193)
1,300 sold

A 34% drop is threatening.

Volbeat, Seal the Deal & Let’s Boogie (Universal)
#183 (re-entry)
1,050 sold

Here starts a series of albums that have re-entered the charts.

A Day To Remember, Bad Vibrations (ADTR)
#187 (re-entry)
1,025 sold

This has sold over 100,000 copies.

Testament, Brotherhood of the Snake (Nuclear Blast)
#189 (re-entry)
1,000 sold

Funnily enough, all three of these re-entries actually dropped in sales. It’s because of the dearth of album sales in January that they ended up higher on the charts.

Khemmis, Hunted (20 Buck Spin)
250 sold