TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Hard rock/Heavy metal songs/albums that hit #1

Go To

ZestierThanThou Since: Jun, 2013
#1: Jun 26th 2013 at 4:34:22 PM

Other than some Nu metal, I haven't been able to find much that hit #1 in the US or UK in ages.

As far as I can tell from my research.

Iron Maiden's "Bring Your Daugther...To The Slaughter" hit #1 in the UK for two weeks in 1991 despite being banned by BBC Radio(which traditionally plays the #1 hit that week in full on the radio.) This is ironic because a lot of Iron Maiden fans hate it. [lol]

Skid Row's 1991 release, "Slave To The Grind" was the last traditional Heavy Metal album to debut at #1 on the US Billboard charts by a band other than Metallica.

Hard rock group Guns N' Roses 1987 debut, "Appetite For Destruction" is the best-selling debut album of all time, at more than 18 million units.

Similarly Aussie Hard rock group AC/DC's 1980 album Back In Black is depending on who you ask, the 2nd to 4th best-selling album ever released.

Metallica still debuts at #1 for some reason, though they have dabbled in other genres more so than any other group listed here (except of course Guns N' Roses, whose follow-up albums were noticeably less successful.)

edited 26th Jun '13 4:36:44 PM by ZestierThanThou

Alucard Lazy? from Vancouver, BC Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Lazy?
#2: Jun 26th 2013 at 8:29:42 PM

How about Pyromania and Hysteria? Both are over 10x platinum in the US.

Disturbed is one of the Billboard 200's great record holders along with Metallica: 4 of their albums have debuted at #1 in a row, in a 5 album discography. For Metallica, it's just another feather in their hat, but for Disturbed it's pretty amazing (they've achieved some 13 million album sales world-wide compared to Metallica's approximately 100 million +).

ZestierThanThou Since: Jun, 2013
#3: Jun 26th 2013 at 8:59:31 PM

Those Def Leppard albums are earlier than what I was referring to. I was mostly looking for the last of everything for mainstream metal popularity (and should have put that in the thread title.) Otherwise there'd have to be some Glam Metal like Motley Crue and Quiet Riot for example.

You've got me on Disturbed's Ten Thousand Fists though.

edited 26th Jun '13 9:00:36 PM by ZestierThanThou

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#4: Jun 26th 2013 at 11:59:14 PM

Wasn't there that one metal song that people succeeded in making the UK Christmas Number One a few years back?

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
Alucard Lazy? from Vancouver, BC Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Lazy?
#5: Jun 27th 2013 at 12:04:58 AM

[up][up]They actually started charting at #1 after their second album, and haven't stopped since. I think that's one of the few instances where sales data can give an indication to fan-dedication.

Didn't Quiet Riot's Metal Health become the first "metal" album to chart at #1 or something? Frankly, they weren't that heavy even in context with the time period, but it's something.

[up]Killing in the Name?

edited 27th Jun '13 12:13:34 AM by Alucard

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#6: Jun 27th 2013 at 12:21:04 AM

[up]Okay, not quite metal. The genre is an offshoot of hard rock, though, so it counts, right?

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
ZestierThanThou Since: Jun, 2013
#7: Jun 29th 2013 at 7:52:25 PM

[up]Yeah, that's what I was thinking, also the lines sometimes are blurred. "Appetite For Destruction" or anything by The Scorpions for example.

So Rap Metal will count. I guess that means Nu Metal counts too so there's early Linkin Park. tongue

edited 29th Jun '13 7:53:53 PM by ZestierThanThou

DemonSharkKisame Since: May, 2009
#8: Jun 29th 2013 at 10:42:19 PM

Black Sabbath's new album 13 recently hit #1 in both the US and UK, notable in that it's Sabbath's first number-one in the US.

Add Post

Total posts: 8
Top