Metallica’s 2016 LP Hardwired … to Self-Destruct returned to No.2 on the Billboard 200 chart as a result of a ticket-album deal associated with their next run of U.S. dates.

Despite only redeemed album vouchers counting as purchases for those who got them along with show tickets, the thrash icons notched up 65,000 sales during the most recent charting period, with 63,000 of those traditional sales as opposed to an equivalent number of album units involving streaming. That was sufficient to take them from No.42 to No. 2.

Hardwired, which debuted at No.1 upon its release, also made No.2 last year as a result of the last campaign associated with U.S. tour dates. Billboard reported that it was Metallica’s 12th album to achieve more than a million sales since the beginning of the Nielsen Soundscan era in 1991. They’ve sold more than 58 million records since then, with 1991’s self-titled LP the top-seller, having moved more than 17 million copies and remaining their overall biggest-selling album in the U.S. since its release.

Earlier this month Bon Jovi’s This House Is Not For Sale enjoyed a return to No.1 as the result of a ticket-album deal, then suffered the longest drop in chart history when it plummeted to No.168 the following week.

Metallica's next run of Norther American dates begins on Sept. 2 in Madison, Wisc., and ends on March 13, 2019, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Earlier this year, band manager Peter Mensch discussed how they'd tripled ticket prices without suffering a backlash. "We hadn’t made a record in years," he said. "This is just what we do – we play in front of our fans. Rock bands have always had to bring it to the fans."

 

 

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