(Reuters) — Heavy metal rockers Metallica soared to the top of the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Monday (November 28), edging out new records from R&B singer Bruno Mars and country singer Miranda Lambert.
“Hardwired… to Self-Destruct,” Metallica’s 10th studio album, sold 282,000 albums, 34,000 songs and was streamed 9.3 million times, totaling 291,000 album units according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan for the week ending Nov. 24.
Billboard said “Hardwired,” driven by the strength of physical album sales, was the third-largest album debut of the year, behind Drake’s “Views” and Beyonce’s “Lemonade.”
Mars’ “24k Magic” debuted at No. 2 with sales of 231,000 album units, while Lambert’s “Weight of These Wings” opened at No. 3 with 133,000 album units.
In third place was Miranda Lambert’s sixth album, “The Weight of These Wings” which shifted 133,000 copies. That result sees her secure the highest charting country album from a female artist in more than a year.
The Billboard 200 album chart tallies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).
On the Digital Songs chart, which measures online song sales, hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd held steady at No. 1 with “Black Beatles,” selling 138,000 copies in the past week.
