Metallica`s self-titled album passes 16 million sale mark

Washington: Metallica`s self-titled 1991 album has become the best-selling record in US chart history after surpassing the 16 million sale mark.The album, widely referred to as `The Black Album` due to its plain cover art, continues to be a popular choice with fans and shifted an estimated 3,000 copies last week to take its grand total to 16,002,000 units sold in the 23 years since first it hit shelves, Contactmusic reported.

The Metallica album, released in the same year experts at Nielsen SoundScan began tracking music sales Stateside, is just one of two projects which have racked up over 15 million sales in the chart`s history - Shania Twain`s `Come On Over` boasts 15.57 million units.