If you’re a regular reader of Metal Insider (which come on now, you should be), you’re likely familiar with “Metal by Numbers,” a weekly look at album sales for hard rock and metal albums. Streaming has changed the game, so to speak, with numbers decreasing almost weekly. In a week like this one where the #1 album in the country has sold less than 30,000 copies, that’s pretty obvious. Yet people still buy music. We’re going to take a look at the biggest selling records of 2015. There isn’t a ton of metal and hard rock on here, but spoiler alert: some of them came out long before 2015.
Breaking Benjamin, Dark Before Dawn (Hollywood Records) 209,000 sold
Looks like their comeback is a success. They have the 37th biggest- selling album of the year so far.
AC/DC, Rock or Bust (Columbia Records) 143,400 sold
This is no bust. While the band sold more albums last year when it was released, that’s a solid haul, and the 63rd biggest selling album of 2015 so far.
Marilyn Manson, The Pale Emperor (Loma Vista) 124,200 sold
While on the low side of what Manson generally sells, it’s one of the few rock albums released in 2015 to be on this list.
Halestorm, Into the Wild Life (Atlantic) 114,500 sold
Lzzy Hale and friends have another success on their hands.
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti (Atlantic) 112,400 sold
The re-releases of the band’s catalog is likely helping things out.
AC/DC, Back in Black (Columbia) 110,000 sold
This is one of the biggest selling albums of all time, and will probably keep selling as long as there are sporting events.
Metallica, Master of Puppets (Blackened Recordings) 107,800 sold
Interesting that this is outselling the Black Album. At least this year.
Nickelback, No Fixed Address (Republic) 101,000 sold
Last year’s album is the band’s lowest-selling in recent history – but they still have 2015’s 104th biggest-selling album.
Foo Fighters, Sonic Highways (RCA) 87,800 sold
Even though the HBO series and album were released last year, this continues to sell.
Kid Rock, Devil Without a Cause (Atlantic) 86,000 sold
Kid’s Atlantic debut is diamond. That’s 10 million copies. Which is likely why it’s racked up almost 100,000 in the first seven months of the year.
Nickelback, Dark Horse (Roadrunner) 84,500 sold
Wow, another one from Nickelback. Everyone makes fun of them, but they’re laughing all the way to the bank.
Slipknot, 5: The Gray Chapter (Roadrunner) 84,000 sold
This is has sold 344,000 copies so far, and now we know how many of them were sold this year.
Sleeping With Sirens, Madness (Epitaph) 79,200 sold
While we have no idea what this band sounds like, there’s almost 80,000 people that do.
Guns N’ Roses, Greatest Hits (Interscope) 78,500 sold
Turns out that to sell about 100,000 copies/year of your greatest hits album, all you have to do is come out with the best debut album ever.
Nirvana, Nevermind (Interscope) 77,250 sold
Whether it’s Montage of Heck residual sales, or the fact that this is the defining album of a generation, it keeps selling.
Metallica, Metallica (Blackened) 77,100 sold
It’s interesting that Master is consistently selling more than the this, the biggest- selling album of the SoundScan era.
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin 4 (Atlantic) 75,000 sold
This will always sell, but the remastered edition probably has helped out this year.
Nirvana, Unplugged In New York (Interscope) 74,000 sold
See above.
