Metallica’s Reload earns the band its sixth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart after the group re-released an anniversary edition of the set. Metallica, portrait, Berlin, Germany, 9th October 1996. (Photo by Niels van Iperen/Getty Images)
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Nearly 30 years ago, Metallica dropped its seventh full-length album, Reload, which appropriately followed the similarly-titled Load by just one year. The project produced smashes like “The Memory Remains,” “The Unforgiven II” and “Fuel,” and the material that comprised Reload was recorded at the same time as Load, so the two aren’t too sonically different from one another.
For a decade now, Metallica has been reissuing remastered versions of its albums, with each project including lots of extras. The venture has turned each and every one of those re-releases into bestsellers all over again. Reload is the first to earn that treatment so far in 2026, and fans in America rushed to purchase the massive offering, which features, of course, the original album, as well as live recordings, demos and, in some instances, 15 CDs.
Reload returns to multiple Billboard charts this week and debuts on several it never appeared on in the past. Metallica even manages to score a new champion on one roster that the group has become used to ruling.
Metallica Rules With Reload
Reload opens at the summit on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart, Billboard’s ranking of the most-consumed collections in that style. Metallica replaces Queen’s Greatest Hits, which often leads the charge during quieter periods, and which this frame falls to second place – though it likely won’t be long before it leads again.
Metallica Scores Its Sixth Hard Rock Albums Leader
Reload marks Metallica’s sixth No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart. 21 projects by the Grammy winners have appeared on the genre-specific rundown, and all but three of those titles have broken into the top 10. Reload marks the band’s first new winner in three years, as 72 Seasons launched in first place back in the spring of 2023.
Here are all of Metallica’s No. 1s on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart.
- 72 Seasons
- Death Magnetic
- Hardwired… to Self-Destruct
- Metallica
- ReLoad
- S&M2 with the San Francisco Symphony
Reload Debuts on Several Rock Rankings
Reload also manages to launch on another three Billboard rosters in America. The remastered decades-old set is new at No. 3 on the Top Rock Albums list and No. 4 on the slightly more encompassing Top Rock & Alternative Albums roster. Metallica collects its nineteenth total appearance and thirteenth top 10 as Reload arrives on both charts, and the group scores the loftiest debut of the week on the two tallies.
Metallica Debuts on the Streaming Albums Chart
Reload helps Metallica appear on one rundown published by Billboard for the first time. The group debuts at No. 22 on the Top Streaming Albums chart, which ranks the projects that rack up the most plays on popular streaming outlets such as Spotify, Apple Music, iHeartRadio and others throughout the U.S. The roster is only a few years old, and there are many beloved acts, both soloists and bands, that have yet to score a win.
Metallica Scores the Second-Highest Debut This Week
Only four titles debut on the Top Streaming Albums chart this week, and Metallica claims the second-loftiest of the bunch. The hard rockers are beaten only by YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s latest release, ML2, which kicks off its time at No. 9. Metallica does manage to land ahead of Banks of the Trinity by country artist Cody Johnson and T.I.’s Kill the King. Those new releases open at Nos. 40 and 45, respectively.
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Reload Hits the Vinyl Chart’s Top 10
In addition to debuting on a quartet of Billboard rosters, Reload also finds its way back to three tallies, but it only manages to establish a new high point on one of them. Reload appears on the Vinyl Albums chart for only the second time, breaking into the top 10 and appearing at No. 7, its newly-set peak position.
Reload is one of 14 top 10 bestsellers on wax by Metallica out of 20 career appearances, and the project is now tied with the deluxe version of Kill ’Em All. That extended take on a Metallica classic opened in seventh place just over a decade ago, and then quickly disappeared.
Reload Returns to Several Billboard Charts
Reload sold – and apparently streamed – so well thanks to its re-release that the nearly 30-year-old project also reappears on both the Top Album Sales chart and the Billboard 200, the rankings of the bestselling titles in America and the most consumed, respectively. Reload is back at No. 9 on the sales rundown and at No. 16 on the Billboard 200. Those are not new highs, as the Metallica classic has already conquered both registers.
Metallica Charts Two Albums on the Sales Roster
Two collections by Metallica break back onto the Top Album Sales chart this week. As Reload reenters the top 10, the group’s self-titled full-length narrowly manages to find space as it lands at No. 48 on the 50-space rundown.