Rock by Metallica is last No. 1 seller of 2016
There are now only 30 days to go before we meet up with 2017. And just like those superstitious soul unwilling to be caught off-guard by the New Year, big-name artists are dropping new albums one after the other to avoid the traditionally laidback market of the month of January. It was amazing to open Billboard this Monday and find out that six of the Top 10 selling albums were released one after the other only these past few weeks.
Even more amazing is the variety of music that these albums contain, Christmas albums, rock, pop, R&B, country ballads, old school rap and a cappella singing. OK the music industry maybe in a flux but given the depth of creativity, the variety of talents and most of all the very evident, unstinting effort among these artists to keep the music alive, there can only be better things to come. On top of this batch is Hardwired… Self Destruct by Metallica. Surprised? Perhaps. The band has not done anything new in eight years. Its last effort was
Death Magnetic from 2008. That one was just OK and caused talks that the creative juices of the rock group formed 35 years ago is beginning to dry up.
Not that much was still expected of Metallica. The band has, after all, already done almost everything. And everything includes having performed in concert in seven continents. And when you say seven, that includes Antarctica. The band has sold over 110 million albums. One, The Black
Album has sold over 17 million copies. It has won nine Grammies, plus several trophies from the American Music Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards and other sources. So who cares if a new album is a dud? No one remembers duds. Hardwired, as a single and album, is no dud.
Metallica’s problem, if it can be called that, is that it is competing with itself as one of the greatest rock bands of all time. As such every new album or the latest performance will always be measured against the past. Hardwired…To
Self-Destruct has been measured and passed the test. It is one of Metallica’s best.
Hardwired is right up there with The Black Album. A two-disc package, it is filled with melodic originals that are among Metallica’s best works. That is one of the band’s strong points. It never neglects the melody. No song is ever a slam-bang effort. There is always method in the writing. Another great asset is vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield. His singing here is as compelling as in the early days. In fact, he got me thinking he would have made a good opera singer if he had never discovered rock.
Top 20 in Billboard’s Top 200 Albums
And now, here are the Top 20 in Billboard’s Top 200 Albums list: Hardwired…To Self-Destruct by Metallica; 24K Magic by Bruno Mars; The Weight Of These Wings by Miranda Lambert; A Pentatonix
Christmas by Pentatonix; We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service by A Tribe Called
Quest; Trolls, the motion picture soundtrack featuring Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick and others; Christmas
Together by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood; Sremmlife 2 by Rae Sremmurd; Hamilton: An American Musical by The Original Broadway Cast; Views by Drake. Collage by The Chainsmokers; That’s Christmas To Me also by Pentatonix; Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande; Joanne by Lady Gaga; Suicide Squad: The Album, the motion picture soundtrack by Various Artists; Moana, another movie soundtrack by Various Artists; DNCE by DNCE; Blurryface by twenty one pilots; Christmas by Michael Bublé; and Strait Out of the Box: Part 2 by George Strait. The Top 20 singles in the Hot 100 are: Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd feat. Gucci Mane; Closer by The Chainsmokers feat. Halsey, surely one of the biggest-selling songs of the year; Starboy by The Weeknd feat. Daft Punk; 24K Magic by Bruno Mars; Juju on that Beat (TZ Anthem) by Zay Hilfigerr and Zayion McCall; Side To Side by Ariana Grande feat. Nicki Minaj; Heathens by twenty one pilots, another biggie for 2016; Let Me Love You by DJ Snake feat. Justin Bieber; Broccoli by D.R.A.M. feat. Lil Yachty; Don’t Wanna Know by Maroon 5 feat. Kendrick Lamar. Fake Love by Drake; Caroline by Amine; Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey feat. Zedd; I Hate You I Love You by gnash feat. Olivia O’Brien; Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara; Cold Water by Major Lazer feat. Justin Bieber and Mo; Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes; The Greatest by Sia feat. Kendrick Lamar; Can’t Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake; and Unsteady by The X Ambassadors.