record deal with Warner Bros. ended

Death Magnetic was a massive hit, it debuted at number one in the States, and it sold a whacking 490,000 units in its first week. That was a bit of a record because it made Metallica the first band to have 5 consecutive studio albums to make it to number one on the Billboard 200. A week in, it was still at number one on the Billboard 200 and the European album chart, and it even managed to be the fastest selling album in Australia for that year. And then to make it even more interesting Death Magnetic was still at number one on the Billboard 200 for 3 weeks in a row. Metallica were one of just two artist who had an album at number one on the Billboard 200 for 3 weeks in a row – the other one was Jack Johnson with his album Sleep Through the Static. And on top of that, Death Magnetic was also at number one on all the Billboard Rock album charts for 5 weeks. That album also made it to number one in 32 countries outside America, which is pretty impressive. By November of 2008 Metallica had finished up with Warner Bros and they were talking about putting their next album out online.