Breaking records is nothing new for Metallica. Metal's biggest band has accomplished another impressive feat, becoming the first band to have a No. 1 song on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart in four different decades.

Leading up to last week's (Aug. 28) release of the S&M2 concert album alongside the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Metallica had issued a stream of preview songs, including "All Within My Hands," which recently hit No. 1 on the aforementioned chart.

For Metallica, that brings the total of No. 1 Mainstream Rock Songs to 10, making them one of just six rock acts to have breached the double digit mark. Shinedown recently broke the record with their 16th chart-topping track, while Three Days Grace sit right behind them at 15. Also on the leader board are Van Halen (13 No. 1 songs), Godsmack (11 No. 1 songs) as well as Disturbed (10 No. 1 songs) and Tom Petty (10 No. 1 songs - solo and with the Heartbreakers).

Despite the successes of those other artists, Metallica are the only group to have a No. 1 song in four different decades — the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. Since the chart began in 1981, no act accomplished this in the four decades spanning from the 1980s through the 2010s.

The list of Metallica's No. 1 Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs is as follows:

"Until it Sleeps" — Load (1996)
"Hero of the Day" — Load (1996)
"Turn the Page" — Garage Inc. (1998)
"No Leaf Clover" — S&M (2000)
"I Disappear" — Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack (2000)
"The Day That Never Comes" — Death Magnetic (2008)
"Cyanide" — Death Magnetic (2009)
"Hardwired" — Hardwired... To Self-Destruct (2016)
"Atlas, Rise!" — Hardwired... To Self-Destruct (2017)
"All Within My Hands" — S&M2 (2020)

In other celebratory Metallica news, a newly discovered species of venomous snake was named after frontman James Hetfield. The snake inhabits the base of a volcano, which is pretty metal, as noted by the scientist who elected to name the reptile after Papa Het.

See Metallica in the Most Streamed Spotify Songs From 66 Rock + Metal Artists

 

 

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