Black Album? Nope. The True Chart King of Metallica’s Catalog

🎸 When you think of Metallica’s commercial peak, what song blasts through the speakers? Chances are, you immediately flash back to 1991 and the ubiquitous “Enter Sandman.” Maybe it’s the power ballad universality of “Nothing Else Matters,” or perhaps an undisputed 80s thrash masterpiece like “Master of Puppets” or “One.”

You would be wrong on all counts.

In a metric defined purely by chart positions on both sides of the Atlantic—the kind of commercial penetration that signals true crossover success—Metallica’s highest-peaking song is a track that, ironically, confused and alienated a massive portion of their dedicated fanbase. It was a single born from five years of grueling anticipation, a total aesthetic overhaul, and a desperate search for a new sound in a post-grunge world.

The Albatross of the Black Album

The self-titled 1991 album, known universally as the Black Album, was not just a hit; it was a cultural reset button. It took Metallica from the biggest metal band in the world to arguably the biggest band in the world, full stop. Its stripped-down, groove-heavy production birthed an unstoppable string of singles and set a benchmark for success that was, frankly, impossible to follow.

The ensuing Wherever We May Roam tour was an absolute behemoth, lasting nearly three years and solidifying the band’s stadium-headlining status. But when the dust finally settled, the clamour for new material reached a fever pitch. By the middle of the 90s, the entire music landscape had shifted. Grunge had taken over, and the question loomed large: Just what would the biggest metal band in the world do to follow up this gargantuan albatross?

The faithful waited five, long years.

The Mid-90s Shock to the System

When 1996 arrived, it brought with it the answer: Load. But it wasn’t just a new album; it was a defiant declaration of change. The hair was cut short, the thrash aggression was largely traded for bluesy hard rock, and the artwork was a polarizing abstract piece involving blood and semen. The band was actively trying to shed the constraints of their own legacy.

The album’s first single, which premiered with a high-budget video directed by Samuel Bayer—the same visionary responsible for Nirvana’s iconic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video—was an immediate shock to the system. It was moody, melodic, and lacked the speed and technicality of their past. Critics and fans quickly noted its downtuned structure and atmosphere, with some even claiming it was partially “half-inched” from the sound of their grunge peers, bearing an unmistakable similarity to a Soundgarden riff (specifically “The Day I Tried to Live”).

The True Chart King

This single was, of course, “Until It Sleeps.”

Released in the summer of 1996, the song benefited from a perfect storm of unparalleled hype, a five-year drought of new material, and an MTV/radio machine that embraced its commercial, alt-rock-leaning sound. It was the moment Metallica’s brand name and its accessibility peaked in the pop landscape.

While “Enter Sandman” was a legendary radio hit, it struggled to hit the very top spots due to chart rules at the time. “Until It Sleeps,” however, flew up the charts. It became Metallica’s first-ever song to crack the US Top 10 (peaking at #10) and climbed to a career-best #5 on the UK Singles Chart, proving that sometimes, maximum commercial success is achieved not by staying true to your roots, but by audaciously embracing a completely new chapter.

This moment remains a powerful testament to the band’s star power—even when deliberately confusing their audience, Metallica still managed to top every chart record they had set before.