METALLICA's Death Magnetic At #1 Just Shy Of 500,000 Copies

METALLICA's Death Magnetic At #1 Just Shy Of 500,000 Copies In The US

According to Billboard.com, in just a three-day sales window, METALLICA's Death Magnetic skates close to the half million mark and will lead The Billboard 200 when Nielsen SoundScan releases its charts tomorrow morning (September 17). The band's first studio album since 2003 moved 490,000 copies in its abbreviated frame, scheduled off-cycle on a Friday to accommodate a worldwide release date. The total for Metallica's first Warner Bros. album after spending its career with Elektra outdistances the opening sum of its last studio set, St. Anger, which sold 418,000 copies in a similarly shorter-than-normal window. Originally set for a Tuesday release, Anger was rush released to an off-cycle Thursday start amid concerns over Internet leaks. The last Metallica album to stage a larger opener than Magnetic was 1996's Load, which rolled 680,000 units in its first frame.