Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top sellers of the week as well as what’s getting played at Metal Radio courtesy of radio trade magazine FMQB, whose metal panel consists of about 80 college and commercial stations, as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice, and more.

The holidays are over, and now that everyone’s finished with their shopping, redeeming iTunes gift cards, and exchanging crappy albums for ones they want, January starts off with a pretty slow week. In fact, only two albums sold over 70,000 copies. Jeez. On the FMQB front, one of last year’s best albums, Gojira, finally takes the top slot in the first week back.

Notable Sales:

Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (Geffen) #30, 21,000 copies sold
This finally pushes GN’Rs album past gold. The fact that it sold more this week than Metallica and AC/DC suggests it might have some staying power, though.

Metallica, Death Magnetic (Warner Bros.) #32, 21,000 copies sold
Now nearly at 1.6 million copies sold, this album’s one of the top ten biggest sellers of last year.

AC/DC, Black Ice (Columbia) #37, 19,000 copies sold
Wow. Sales are off 80% from last week. I wonder if Wal Mart took down the AC/DC sections at their stores.

Slipknot, All Hope is Gone (Roadrunner), #61, 12,500 copies sold.
Slipknot stays at 61 for a second week. Nobody said they aren’t consistent.

Mudvayne, The New Game (Epic) #81, 8,900 copies sold
Go Mudvayne!

Avenged Sevenfold, Avenged Sevenfold (Warner Bros) #115, 6,200 copies sold
This album won’t quit – over a year later, it’s up past gold.

Five Finger Death Punch, The Way of the Fist (The Firm) #152, 4,800 copies sold
Another consistent seller that’s been around for well over a year.

All That Remains, Overcome (Prosthetic/Razor & Tie) #180, 4,100 copies sold
Rebounding back on to the chart, the band’s sold over 100,000.

Bullet For My Valentine, Scream Aim Fire (Jive) #183, 4,000 copies sold
Another chart rebounder, this ones past half gold.

Bring Me The Horizon, Suicide Season (Epitaph) 2,500 copies sold
These guys are blowing up, having sold almost 30,000 copies already. Great for a band a lot of people probalby haven’t heard of.

The Faceless, Planetary Duality (Victory) 850 copies sold

Gojira, The Way of All Flesh (Prosthetic) 800 copies sold

Whitechapel, This is Exile (Metal Blade) 750 copies sold
They’ve sold 32,000 copies so far. Not too shabby.

Dir en Grey, Uroboros (The End) 725 copies sold
A little uptick in sales for them.

The Sword, Gods of the Earth (Kemado) 700 copies sold
With 45,000 copies sold, the Metallica tour is definitely helping these guys out.

Austrian Death Machine, Total Brutal (Metal Blade)
Ahnuld and friends will have sold 25,000 after next week.

Bring Me The Horizon, Count Your Blessings (Earache) 625 copies sold
Even their first album is selling!

FMQB Top Ten Albums

1. Gojira, The Way of All Flesh (Prosthetic)
2. Cradle of Filth, Godspeed On the Devil’s Thunder (Roadrunner)
3. Haunted, Versus (Century Media)
4. Unearth, The March (Metal Blade)
5. Mudvayne, The New Game (Epic)
6. Cynic, Traced In AiIr (Season of Mist)
7. Six Feet Under, Death Rituals (Metal Blade)
8. In Flames, “The Mirror’s Truth” EP (Koch)
9. Exodus, Let There Be Blood (Zaentz)
10. All That Remains, Overcome (Prosthetic/Razor & Tie)