The discography of American heavy metal band

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

includes 11

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s, one covers album, eight

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

s, three

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

s, 49 singles, 10

video album A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s, 43

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s, one

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

, one collaboration album and three

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

s. They are a San Francisco-based metal band formed in 1981 by

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder, and a primary songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his raspy voice and intricate rhythm playi ...

(

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

) and Lars Ulrich (

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s). After several bassist and lead guitarist changes (including

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth and for his time as the lead guitarist of Met ...

), the band settled on Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett, respectively. Metallica started playing locally, releasing their first widely circulated demo, '' No Life 'til Leather'', in 1982. The demo caught the attention of Johny Zazula, who signed Metallica to

Megaforce Records Megaforce Records is an American independent record label founded in 1982 by Jon Zazula and his wife Marsha Zazula to release the first works of Metallica, and devoted primarily to hard rock and heavy metal. It has offices in New York City (whe ...

. The band released '' Kill 'Em All'' in 1983, and the following year they released ''

Ride the Lightning ''Ride the Lightning'' is the second studio album by the American thrash metal band Metallica, released on July 27, 1984, by the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmusse ...

''. After ''Ride the Lightning'' was released, Metallica left Megaforce and signed to

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. In March 1986, the band released its third studio album, ''

Master of Puppets ''Master of Puppets'' is the third studio album by the American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Metallica, released on March 3, 1986, by Elektra Records. Recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark, at Sweet Silence Studios with producer Flemming Rasmu ...

'', which was Metallica's first album to be certified gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). While promoting the album, Burton was killed in a bus accident. Jason Newsted was hired as a replacement. The band's first release to feature Newsted was '' The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Re-Revisited'', and then followed by '' ...And Justice for All'' in August 1988, which peaked at number six on the ''Billboard'' 200. Metallica's fifth, self-titled album, often called ''The Black Album'', was released in 1991 and debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200. The band embarked on a two-year tour in support of the album. ''Metallica'' has since been certified 2× Diamond by the RIAA. Metallica followed with the release of '' Load'' and '' Reload'', respectively. After the release of '' Garage Inc.'' and '' S&M'', Newsted (who would later join Voivod) departed from the band. Metallica recorded '' St. Anger'' without an official bassist (bass parts for the writing & recording during the album sessions were played by the band's long-time producer

Bob Rock Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, recording engineer and musician. In 1976, Rock joined Little Mountain Sound Studios, starting out as a recording engineer and sound mixer. During his time there, he coll ...

). Bassist

Robert Trujillo Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz (; born October 23, 1964) is an American musician who has been the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica since 2003. He first rose to prominence as the bassist of crossover thrash band ...

joined Metallica in 2003. In 2008, the band released its ninth studio album, '' Death Magnetic'', which was produced by

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...

and distributed through

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. In April 2009, the band's catalogue was released on the iTunes Store as ''the Metallica Collection''. In 2013, Metallica released the movie '' Metallica: Through the Never'', together with its

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. Metallica then started writing their tenth studio album, '' Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'', which was released on November 18, 2016. On April 14, 2023, Metallica released their eleventh studio album, titled '' 72 Seasons''. Metallica has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide, with over 67 million records in the United States alone (56.3 million albums since 1991 when SoundScan started tracking actual sales figures).

Albums

Studio albums

Cover albums

Live albums

Soundtrack albums

Collaboration albums

Tribute albums

Extended plays

Box sets

Singles

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Promotional singles

Other charted and certified songs

Other appearances

Videos

Video albums

Music videos

Notes

References

External links

*
Metallica
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Metallica Discography Heavy metal group discographies

Discography Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...

Discographies of American artists