Metallica storms charts worldwide

NEW YORK (Metallica Fans Forums) - The new album by Metallica, St. Anger, is proving to be a global giant, taking No. 1 chart positions on both sides of the Atlantic - and, in some countries, securing high chart entries on the basis of only a few days' sales.

Although the release of the band's 11th album by Vertigo/Mercury Records had to be advanced at the 11th hour to thwart piracy, St. Anger has opened at the chart summit in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Poland and Portugal.

In the U.K., St. Anger entered the official album chart at No. 3 earlier this week after only three days of sales, during which music fans bought more than 45,000 copies.

St. Anger enters at No. 1 spot in the most european album charts, and it achieves the same result on the USA album ranking in the U.S. The release also takes high entries in Chile, Spain and Switzerland (No. 2 in each), and Austria, Belgium, France, Holland and Hungary (No. 3).

St. Anger enjoys a clean sweep of No. 1 slots in the Nordic region: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Next week, the album is expected to gain high chart entries in Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

Yesterday, Metallica played three concerts in Paris during one 24-hour period, as part of their current promotional visit to Europe. They are continuing with scheduled concerts and appearances in Italy, Holland, Spain, Denmark and Belgium until the end of June.

Universal Music International has sold 1.3 million copies of St. Anger since its June 4 release. Metallica signed a new recording deal with UMI's Mercury Records U.K. in March for the world excluding North America and Japan. The band have sold 85 million albums worldwide since their 1983 debut, Kill 'Em All.