As a follow-up to my review of Metallica and Lou Reed's Lulu album, first week sales figures for the release are in and it is not pretty. As predicted, this is Metallica's worst first week of sales for an album ever, with just 13,000 (!) copies sold in the U.S. By comparison, their previous release (2008's Death Magnetic) sold just under 500,000 copies in a shortened sales window. Albums are normally released on Tuesdays with their first week of sales tracked through to the end of Sunday, but Death Magnetic received a special Friday release and only had three days to compile those numbers. To see what kept music fans away in droves, check out the trailer for Lulu:
