Judas Priest vs. Metallica

In my list, I've got 2 Metallica albums in my top four, but five Priest albums in my top 30, so Priest wins. And Slayer also beats out Metallica. It's easy to forget, but Metallica were still kind of a cult band until the 1991 album. I'd like to see the first week sales figures of And Justice For All. I remember buying it in college and no one else caring about it.

Looks like And Justice reached #6 on Billboard and was platinum within 9 weeks, so I was wrong about that. Master Of Puppets was much more of a slow burner, as it was release on March 3 1986, and wasn't certified gold until November 4, peaking at #29 on Billboard.

Pre-Soundscan Billboard charts were kinda wacky (esp. for non-"pop" stuff) so I'm not sure those Metallica numbers are entirely reflective. Definitely up to and including the Black Album each successive Metallica album was a bigger and bigger pop deal, but I'd say certainly by Master they had ceased to be a cult act.

i guess it depends on how we define "cult band". my recollection is that metallica were still very much a cultish niche act circa master. on release, it sold well to the large and loyal diehard metalhead crowd, but metallica's name was barely starting to spread beyond that.

based on what i saw at the time, justice was a huge street-date breakthrough. most of my college friends went nuts for it instantly. it went head-to-head with straight outta compton for jambox supremacy that late summer & fall. nevertheless, the appeal was still limited to an audience of beer & weed-sodden "rockers" and "partyers" (among whom masters and garage days had been building steam over the two years prior).

real pop-star-type visibility and mainstream/radio success had to wait on the self-titled.