“Death Magnetic,” the recently launched Metallica album broke a solid record last week, when it shot straight to No. 1 in the Billboard albums sales chart, with 490,000 copies sold, which is so much more impressive, considering it came out on Friday, instead of the traditional Tuesday release date for US albums, thus having a smaller frame than the other aspirers to the title.

This is the band’s fifth consecutive studio album to debut at No. 1, making Metallica also the first group ever to have five No. 1 albums, as the previous record of four was tied with the Beatles, U2 and the Dave Matthews Band.   

Metallica's previous studio release, "St. Anger," started with 418,000 copies, but their greatest success was the release of their 1996 "Load," which rolled 680,000 units in its first frame. St. Anger debuted at No. 1 with 418,000 sold in 2003; 1997's Re-Load bowed with 435,000-plus units sold and the band's self-titled 1991 release, their first No.1 debut ever, sold more than 650,000 copies.

These numbers are obviously overwhelming for all the other acts that follow in the charts, including Young Jeezy's “The Recession,” with just 90,000 copies sold, or Kid Rock's “Rock N Roll Jesus,” with another 75,000 units in its 49th week on the Billboard 200.

The latest from Jessica Simpson, “Do You Know,” her all-new country album, comes in forth, with a mere 65,000 sold, a significant drop from her previous album, “A Public Affair,” with a debut of 101,000 copies sold.

Others to have scored big this week are the usual clients of the chart for the last few weeks: Jonas Brothers, Slipknot, The Game and Lil Wayne, none of them with sales over 52,000 copies.