Today we see the release of the Year end Top 200 list from Billboard. This yearly tradition compiles the albums that have the most purchases (and streams) for the year. If you are like me and taking a look through the list you will notice one big theme, there is not a single rock or metal artist on the list.
Granted the last couple years the list has not had a lot of metal artist included but 0, this is insane. I had to look it up and since the inception of the list (1992 when Billboard began using Nielsen SoundScan numbers to track album sales) there has never been not a single rock or metal artist to not make it into the year end top 200 list.
Last year, 2020, was close to no metal entries but Ozzy Osbourne made it in at 199 with his Ordinary Man album. That is unless we count Machine Gun Kelly’s, Tickets to My Downfall.
It was not like we did not have some major, mainstream releases this year. We were treated with a plethora of new music from Iron Maiden, Great Van Fleet, Foo Fighters, Pretty Reckless and Evanescence to name a view. I am shocked none of these were in the Top 200.
I guess it just shows we are stuck in a pop dominated world from the look of the list. That’s OK as long as we still get new kick ass music from our favorite artists. It just worries me about future artists and who they will be looking for as an influence.
You can view the full end of year Top 200 list here. Spoiler alert, Morgan Wallen Dangerous came in number one followed by Olivia Rodrigo Sour.
Want some more great metal info, check out our Top 10 Metal Singers.
What are your thoughts, let us know in the comments below.