Hardwired… to Self-Destruct is the tenth studio album by the heavy metal band Metallica, released as a double album on November 18, 2016, by the band’s record label Blackened Recordings. It was Metallica’s first studio album in eight years following Death Magnetic (2008), marking the longest gap between studio albums in the band’s career, and its first studio album released through Blackened. The album was produced by Greg Fidelman, who engineered and mixed Death Magnetic.
Hardwired… to Self-Destruct was Metallica‘s sixth consecutive studio album to debut at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 291,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, and topping the charts in 57 countries. The number one ranking marked only the second time in the chart’s history that any band had six consecutive albums debut at number one, following Dave Matthews Band. Hardwired… to Self-Destruct received generally positive reviews from critics, and in 2020, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich ranked the album as the band’s best.
Hardwired… to Self-Destruct debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 291,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, of which 282,000 were pure album sales. The remaining 9,000 units comprised 34,000 song purchases and 9.3 million streams. It was the third-largest debut of the year in the US on pure sales, behind Drake’s Views and Beyoncé’s Lemonade. The album slipped to number 3 on the Billboard 200 in its second week, selling 75,000 units, including 71,000 copies. Hardwired… to Self-Destruct was the best selling heavy metal album of 2016 in the US and seventh overall, with 516,000 copies sold by the end of December. It became the highest selling debut of the year in Germany with more than 200,000 copies shipped in its first week, earning a platinum certification. Hardwired… to Self-Destruct had the biggest opening week of 2016 in Australia with 26,000 copies sold, debuting at number one on the ARIA chart. Overall, the album was number one in 57 countries, entered the top three in 75 nations and the top five in 105 countries.
On April 12, 2017, the album went platinum. Since July 7, 2017 the album officially sold more than 1,004,000 copies in the United States. The former No. 1 set is the band’s 12th album to sell at least a million copies since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991. The album earned gold certification in Netherlands on September 6, 2017. With 585,000 copies sold in the US during 2017, it finished as the country’s ninth highest selling album of the year.
Tracklist:
DISC ONE
- Hardwired
- Atlas, Rise!
- Now That We’re Dead
- Moth into Flame
- Dream No More
- Halo on Fire
DISC TWO
- Confusion
- ManUNkind
- Here Comes Revenge
- Am I Savage?
- Murder One
- Spit Out the Bone
Metallica
James Hetfield: vocals, rhythm guitar, second guitar solo on “Now That We’re Dead”, production
Kirk Hammett: lead guitar
Robert Trujillo: bass, backing vocals on “Dream No More”[81]
Lars Ulrich: drums, production
Production
Dave Collins: mastering
Turner Duckworth: cover design
Greg Fidelman: production, mixing, recording
Mike Gillies: additional recording
Jason Gossman: digital editing
Herring & Herring: photography, creative direction
Sara Lyn Killion: additional recording
Ken Matcke: assistant engineering
Dan Monti: digital editing
Jim Monti: digital editing
