Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.
It’s a pretty solid week for album sales, with the top four albums selling upwards of 240,000 and the top 11 selling over 100,000. These things happen around Black Friday, but there should be an asterisk there, since a lot of discs were on sale on Amazon for $3.99. At any point, even though a decent amount of stuff is selling, there’s not going to be a ton of metal under the Christmas tree/Hanukkah bush/Kwanzaa whatever if this week is any indication. After the Burial is the only metal debut in the top 200, and metal releases are pretty sparse. If you like Kanye and Susan Boyle, on the other hand, you’re golden.
Notable Debuts:
After the Burial, In Dreams (Sumerian) #198, 4,050 sold
Sumeriancore by way of Meshuggah . This well-reviewed album has enough buzz to land them in the top 200. If it wasn’t a holiday shopping week and this album came out, it would have been a lot closer to 100, probably.
Have Heart, 10.17.09 (Bridge Nine) 3,800 sold
This CD/DVD of the hardcore band’s final show brought out a lot of nostalgic hardcore fans. We’re not sure what date the show was, though…
Agalloch, Marrow of the Spirit (Profound Lore) 1,100 sold
The new album from the black metal band was not only non-kvlt enough for NPR to host a stream of their album, but it probably gave Profound Lore their biggest sales week ever.
Killing Joke, Absolute Dissent (Spinefarm) 1,100 sold
Back in their original lineup, this is Killing Joke’s best album in years. A solid number of you took notice.
God Dethroned, Under the Sign of the Iron Cross, (Metal Blade) 400 sold
The Dutch death metal band’s ninth album has a pretty modest debut.
OFF!, The First Four EPs (Vice) 375 sold
This is a punk and hardcore fan’s dream: Keith Morris from Black Flag and the Circle Jerks with members of Burning Brides, Rocket From the Crypt and Earthless. 16 songs in 18 minutes.
Notable Sales:
Kid Rock, Born Free (Atlantic) #11, 104,000 sold
Bawitdabadabangdabang – oh wait. Americaaaaaa!! Kid’s moved nearly 300,000 copies in two weeks. That makes him a superstar.
A Day to Remember, What Separates Me from You (Victory) #52, 22,000 sold
A 62% drop for ADTR in their second week still sees them moving a decent amount of albums.
Linkin Park, A Thousand Suns (Warner Bros.) #66, 16,650 sold
After almost three months, this album went gold this past week. While that’s amazing for just about any artist in this day and age, their last album, Minutes to Midnight, sold 100,000 more copies than that in its first week.
Disturbed, Asylum (Reprise) #121, 8,100 sold
Happy first day of Hanukkah, David Draiman! Or is that David Dreidel? Come on, don’t hate, I’m half Jewish, I’m allowed to say that.
Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare (Warner Bros.) #131, 7,200 sold
A nice 28% increase. While this album probably won’t be gold by Christmas, it will be pretty soon after.
Five Finger Death Punch, War is the Answer (Prospect Park) #150, 5,600 sold
A pretty solid 17% increase from last week. This band is unstoppable, and have sold over 375,000 of this album.
Godsmack, Oracle (Universal) #190, 4,200 sold
There are apparently 400,000 people out there that think a Godsmack album is an event. I say good luck to them.
Alter Bridge, AB III (Alter Bridge Recordings/Capitol) #196, 4,000 sold
This is more straight up rock than metal, but if it stops Creed from touring again, we’re happy about it.
Asking Alexandria, Stand up and Scream (Sumerian) 1,000 sold
I would like to ask Alexandria why their band name is so terrible.
Oceano, Contagion (Earache) 800 sold
A 36% drop in their third week must mean there aren’t too many people buying the album because of the Earache Extreme Stage Diving app.
Helloween, 7 Sinners (The End) 600 sold
Are you metal? Apparently, only 600 of you were this week.
Halford, Halford IV: Made of Metal (Metal God) 500 sold
Is the tour with Ozzy helping album sales? It’s taken nine weeks to cross 10,000, which is good for someone that isn’t a self-proclaimed metal god.
Jesu Heartache & Dethroned (Hydra Head) 500 sold
Justin Broadrick has fans that will think nothing of picking up EPs repackaged as an album.
Kylesa, Spiral Shadow (Season Of Mist) 500 sold
Maybe the holiday tour with Clutch will help pick up sales of this solid album.
Volbeat, Beyond Hell/Above Heaven (Universal) 450 sold
You’d think a high profile tour with Metallica and signing to a major label would translate to more sales.
We Came as Romans To Plant A Seed (Equal Vision) 450 sold
The Metal By Numbers mainstays have sold over 43,000 copies of this album.
Blind Guardian, At the Edge of Time (Nuclear Blast) 400 sold
There’s a lot of German metal on the chart this week. Any by “a lot,” I mean Blind Guardian and Helloween.
