Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts 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 that have metal shows, as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice, and more.

And just like that, it’s the holiday shopping season. How can you tell, other than a TSO album? Well, other than the ridiculous spikes in music sales you’ll start seeing in about two weeks, you’re seeing compilations (Motley Crue, Foo Fighters), box sets (AC/DC) and repackaged albums of remixes and stuff (Hollywood Undead, Lady Gaga).  That said, there really aren’t any real METAL metal debuts this week, so away we go after the jump.

Notable Debuts:

Flyleaf, Memento Mori (A&M/Octone) #8 56,000 sold
This Family Values-approved band went platinum with their last album. Did their Christian fan base help this debut in the top ten?

Hollywood Undead, Desperate Measures (Octone) #29 21,000 sold
Quick, who wants to hear Hollywood Undead cover “Shout at the Devil” and “Immigrant Song?” Yeah, didn’t think so. This CD/DVD compilation also has a bunch of remixes and shit on it.

AC/DC, Backtracks (Sony Legacy) #39 15,500 sold
For those 15,500 about to rock, AC/DC salutes you. But if you really wanna rock, you would have thrown down for the $200 version that features a working amp.

Notable Sales:

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Night Castle (Atlantic) #26, 25,000 sold
There are only a few things that are certain: death, taxes, and a TSO album every other Christmas or so.

Slayer, World Painted Blood (Sony) #44, 13,500 sold
If you haven’t picked this up yet, throw down for the deluxe version that comes with the creepy, disturbing short animated film “Playing With Dolls.”55,000 sold in two weeks is pretty solid.

Alice In Chains, Black Gives Way To Blue (Virgin) #64, 10,500 sold
To keep things in grunge perspective, this sold about 400 copies more than Pearl Jam’s new album this week. However, Backspacer has sold 110,000 more copies than AIC in just one more week.

Chickenfoot, Chickenfoot (Fontana) #84, 8,700 sold
This album, at about 355,000 shifted in less than half a year, should go gold inside of its first year.

KISS, Sonic Boom (KISS Records) #97, 6,800 sold
With their iconic “you wanted the best, you got the best” show intro, wouldn’t an exclusive at Best Buy have been a slightly better fit than Wal-Mart?

Wolfmother, Cosmic Egg (Interscope) #103, 6,300 sold
Has anyone heard this album? I’m a little curious, since the first album was a total stealth album I wound up liking even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

Dethklok, Dethalbum II (Williams Street) #119 5,500 sold
This will cross 100,000 sold next week. That’s pretty huge.

Five Finger Death Punch, War Is The Answer (Prospect Park) #120 5,400 sold
Is Ivan Moody’s last name really Moody, or does it just describe how he’s feeling when his guitarist disappears?

Atreyu, Congregation of the Damned (Hollywood Records) #126, 5,000 sold
5k copies sold isn’t bad, but the album’s only in its third week, so it needs to pick up a bit to remain on the charts.

Hollywood Undead, Swan Songs (A&M/Octone) #131 4,900 sold
I guess since their new “album” is on the list, we can bring back their old one, which keeps selling about 5,000/week 15 months after it came out.

Rammstein, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (Vagrant) #147, 4,200 sold
A pretty modest 18% drop this week means it should keep selling through the holidays.

Nile, Those Whom the Gods Detest (Nuclear Blast) 1,550 sold
The band’s sixth album has sold 5,000 so far.

Halford, Halford III: Winter Songs (Metal God) 1,145 sold
I saw daddy kissing Santa Claus?

Epica, Design Your Universe (Nuclear Blast) 850 sold
For a band called Epica, you should be absolutely epic. I don’t know if I’d define them as such.

Baroness, Blue Record (Relapse) 800 sold
This will hit 10,000 sold next week. I’d think some of the year-end polls this album will likely be on should keep it selling through the end of the year.

The Red Chord, Fed Through the Teeth Machine (Metal Blade) 730 sold
At only a 24% drop, Teeth has some legs. Wait, did I just write that? Shoot me.

Pelican, What We All Come to Need (Southern Lord) 700 sold
I like this band because whenever I see them, I know all the lyrics.

Austrian Death Machine, Double Brutal (Metal Blade) 630 sold
This does keep selling, regardless of how tired the “Arnold is in a metal band” thing is becoming. 

Attack Attack!, Someday Came Suddenly (Rise Records) 620 sold
Inching towards 60,000 sold, I think that this band is doomed for a lot of “what’s the most embarrasing record you own” answers a few years down the road.

Shrinebuilder, Shrinebuilder (Neurot Recordings) 570 sold
This sold more than it did last week, and with the band laying waste to New York this past weekend, will likely see another sales increase next week.

Skeletonwitch, Breathing the Fire (Prosthetic) 540 sold
This sold about the same as it did last week, which is solid.

Immortal, All Shall Fall (Nuclear Blast) 530 sold
Why is it called “black metal” when they wear white corpse paint?

Hypocrisy, A Taste of Extreme Divinity (Nuclear Blast) 520 sold
Bummer that the band had to pull out of their tour with Ensiferum due to work visa problems. It would have been rad to see Alexi Laiho filling in on guitar.

Russian Circles, Geneva (Suicide Squeeze) 500 sold
See my comments for Pelican above.

Bring Me The Horizon, Suicide Season (Epitaph) 450 sold
77,000 sold. Wow. This will probably keep selling about this much for the foreseeable future, even though the new chart rules will push them off.

FMQB Most Added
1.  Fear Factory, “Powershifter” single (Candlelight)
2. Volbeat, The Strength/The Sound/The Songs (Mascot)
3. Mudvayne, 3 Song EP (Epic)
4. The Company Band, The Company Band (Restricted Release)
5. Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Night Castle (Atlantic)

FMQB Top Ten Albums

1. Slayer, World Painted Blood (Columbia/American)
2. Dethklok Dethalbum II (Williams Street)
3. Rammstein, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (Vagrant)
4. Hatebreed, Hatebreed (E1)
5. Arch Enemy, Root of All Evil (Century Media)
6. Shadows Fall Retribution (Everblack Industries/Ferret)
7. Megadeth, Endgame (Roadrunner)
8. Throwdown, Deathless (E1)
9. Baroness, The Blue Album (Relapse)
10. Converge, Axe To Fall (Epitaph)