'80s Rock Icons Suddenly Score Biggest Chart Debut of Their Career 45 Years After Forming
Nearly 30 years after it debuted atop the Billboard 200, Reload is making chart history all over again.
The 1997 Metallica album has debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums chart for the week dated July 11, marking the highest debut on that ranking of the band's career. At the same time, Reload has re-entered the Billboard 200 at No. 16, nearly three decades after its original release.
Metallica formed in 1981, and over the past 45 years the band has become one of the most commercially successful acts in rock history. While Reload originally debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 when it was released in November 1997, the album never had the opportunity to appear on Billboard's standalone Top Hard Rock Albums chart because the ranking did not exist at the time. The newly released super deluxe reissue has now given the album a new milestone to add to its lengthy résumé.
Originally released on Nov. 18, 1997, Reload served as the follow-up to 1996's Load. The two albums were largely recorded during the same sessions with producer Bob Rock after Metallica initially considered releasing the material as a double album before deciding to split it into two separate records.
The album showcased the band's continued evolution beyond its thrash metal roots, embracing a more hard rock-oriented sound while still delivering some of the era's biggest songs. It produced the hit singles "The Memory Remains," featuring Marianne Faithfull, "The Unforgiven II" and "Fuel," while also becoming the final Metallica studio album to feature bassist Jason Newsted.
Commercially, Reload was a major success from the start. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after selling more than 436,000 copies in its first week and ultimately spent 76 weeks on the chart. It has since been certified 4× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and reached No. 1 in seven countries.
Although Reload received mixed reviews upon release, critics generally praised the band's musicianship while debating whether the material could have been combined with Load into a single album. In a review of the 2026 deluxe edition, Rolling Stone argued that despite criticism over the years, the expanded set demonstrates "when Metallica lost themselves, they found themselves more truly and more strange. And they will never sound that way again."
The album's return to the charts comes just weeks after the release of its expansive super deluxe box set on June 26, which includes a newly remastered version of the album along with demos, live recordings, rough mixes and previously unreleased material. The renewed interest has propelled Reload back into the upper reaches of the Billboard 200 while giving the band a brand-new No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart.
For a band that has spent decades setting commercial records, it's a fitting twist that one of Metallica's biggest chart milestones arrived not in the 1990s, but 45 years after the group first came together in 1981.
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This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 5:59 AM.