Every Hard Rock + Metal Album That Went No. 1 in the 2000s

There were over 35 hard rock and metal albums that went No. 1 in the 2000s.

We don’t see hard rock and metal top the Billboard 200 very often anymore. As of May 2025, Ghost‘s Skeleta is only the second album of the 2020s to top the chart, following AC/DC‘s Power Up in November of 2020.

But the first decade of the century was stacked with extremely successful hard rock and metal albums. That isn’t to say that there isn’t still amazing music coming out in the genre, it’s not just as mainstream as it used to be. Plus, the ability to stream and download music digitally has really impacted album sales numbers in recent years.

The 2000s may have been the last time rock and metal were really at the forefront of the music industry, so let’s look back on the releases between the years 2000 and 2009 to see which topped the Billboard 200.

There were a ton of huge nu-metal albums that came out during the decade, especially within the first couple of years. Releases from Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Disturbed, System of a Down and some others peaked at No. 1, and post grunge bands including Creed and Godsmack had a successful run too.

There was a bit of a shift that happened in the mid-2000s. A few huge supergroups put out chart-toppers that proved they weren’t just a one-off side project, and then a few legacy acts came back to reclaim the throne too. A particular American Idol contestant put out two No. 1 albums with their band despite being eliminated from the series, too.

For the sake of relevance, we limited this list to hard rock and metal artists only, so there were some releases that we omitted. We also didn’t include live albums or compilations — only new studio albums.

Keep scrolling to head back in time through the 2000s.