Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” reenters Billboard’s Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart at No. 9, joining comebacks from AC/DC, Disturbed and Black Sabbath. (MANDATORY CREDIT Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images) Metallica in photo session at a hotel, Tokyo, November 1986. (Photo by Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images)
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Billboard’s Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart experiences quite the shake-up this week, with several classics of the genre returning. That includes one time-tested smash from Metallica, which reappears to claim a spot inside the top 10.
“Enter Sandman” Becomes a Top 10 Bestseller
“Enter Sandman” is once again counted among the bestselling hard rock tracks in the U.S. This frame, it reenters the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart at No. 9. The former No. 1 has now spent 705 weeks somewhere on the tally, which these days only features 10 spaces, making it an extremely competitive ranking.
“Enter Sandman” Lives Inside the Top 10 on Several Charts
At the same time that it breaks onto the sales ranking again, “Enter Sandman” can also be found on the Hard Rock Streaming Songs chart, where it climbs from No. 8 to No. 6. Unlike on the purchase-only tally tally, however, Metallica’s classic has never made it to No. 1 on streaming. The beloved tune only rose as high as No. 3 in the 273 weeks it’s spent on the roster.
A 35-Year-Old Metallica Smash
“Enter Sandman” was a big hit when Metallica released it decades ago, and in the years since, it has become not only a standard in the band’s discography, but one of the most successful hard rock cuts of all time. The fact that the nearly 35-year-old blockbuster appears inside the top 10 on multiple Billboard charts underlines its sustained popularity.
Metallica’s Self-Titled Album Rebounds
“Enter Sandman” served as the lead single from Metallica’s self-titled fifth full-length, which is sometimes referred to as The Black Album. That project continues to live on multiple album rankings in America. This week, Metallica lands at No. 14 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart and at No. 185 on the Billboard 200. The project even manages to ascend seven spaces on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, nearly breaking back into the top 40 as it climbs to No. 42.
AC/DC, Disturbed and Black Sabbath Join Metallica
Four tunes return to the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart this week. The roundup is led by AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” at No. 5, followed by Disturbed’s “The Sound of Silence” cover (No. 7) and “War Pigs/Luke’s Wall” by Black Sabbath (No. 10).
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2025/08/31/metallica-joins-acdc-disturbed-and-black-sabbath-with-a-comeback/