The Ecstasy Of Gold! Metallica’s Ride The Lightning sales soar amid 40th anniversary celebrations

Sales of Metallica ’s Ride The Lightning have skyrocketed following the album’s 40th anniversary.

According to entertainment industry data company Luminate (via Forbes ), the heavy metal titans’ second full-length album sold the equivalent of 3,900 units last week and has re-entered the US Billboard charts. The week before, Ride The Lightning shipped 1,500 units or equivalent, meaning there’s been an uptick of 160 percent week-on-week.

The album is currently number 24 in the overall American sales ranking, a drastic improvement from the score it earned when it first came out, number 100. It previously peaked at number 48 in 2016, around the release of Metallica’s 10th album Hardwired… To Self-Destruct .

Ride The Lightning has already been certified six-times Platinum in the US, three-times Platinum in Australia, two-times Platinum in Denmark and one-times Platinum in the UK, Canada, Germany and Poland.

The album was released on July 27, 1984: one year and two days after Metallica’s debut, Kill ’Em All . It received rave reviews from contemporary critics and is now considered by many to be among Metallica’s greatest albums.

Ride The Lightning yielded one single, Creeping Death , which was released in November 1984. Several more of its tracks – including For Whom The Bell Tolls , Fade To Black and The Call Of Ktulu – have become fan-favourites and live staples. Creeping Death is Metallica’s second-most performed song, according to setlist wiki setlist.fm , trailing only behind the title track of 1986’s Master Of Puppets . For Whom The Bell Tolls and Fade To Black rank fourth and ninth respectively.

Metal Hammer got in on the Ride The Lightning anniversary celebrations with the release of its latest issue . The magazine hailed four decades of the album and “the year thrash metal broke”, with the cover featuring exclusive and officially licensed Ride The Lightning -themed artwork.

A t-shirt featuring the Hammer x Metallica artwork is available to buy in a bundle with the latest issue. Get yours now via the Louder webstore .