For the first time ever, there isn’t a single new rock or metal album on Billboard’s Year-End 200 List.
The publication just released their Year-End 200 list, which collects the most purchased and streamed albums of the year. For the first time in the list’s history, 2021 does not feature a single new rock or metal album in the Top 200.
The Billboard 200 began back in 1992 when the publication began using Nielsen SoundScan numbers to track album sales. The new and updated year-end charts are now tabulated by a cumulative total of physical and digital sales, with streaming numbers now included.
The list’s newest “rock” album included in the Year-End 200 is MACHINE GUN KELLY’s 2020 pop-punk-rock debut, “Tickets to My Downfall” at number 24.
Despite massive releases from FOO FIGHTERS, IRON MAIDEN, GRETA VAN FLEET and countless others, the rock and metal genres are very scarce on the 2021 Year-End 200. That being said, greatest hits collections from QUEEN, FLEETWOOD MAC and JOURNEY were represented as well as NIRVANA’s “Nevermind”, METALLICA’s “Black Album” and AC/DC’s “Back in Black” which all saw spots in the Top 200.