Every Rock + Metal Album That Went No. 1 in the ’90s

Here’s a list of every rock and metal album that went No. 1 in the ’90s.

The decade saw a lot of change in heavy music, from the fizzling out of ’80s hair metal and the rise of alternative rock and grunge, all the way to the nu-metal explosion near the end of the millennium.

And even as new subgenres became popular, there were still some legacy acts from previous decades coming out on top, such as Van Halen, Aerosmith, U2 and a couple of others.

To showcase how the trends shifted over time, we went through every album that reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart during the ’90s, and compiled all of the rock and metal ones into a gallery below. The year the record came out is listed next to the title, and the release and peak dates are noted underneath each album cover.

Some of these releases peaked at the top of the chart more than once, reappearing at No. 1 a few months or even years later, so we just gave the date that they reached the top for the first time.

READ MORE: Best New Rock / Metal Band for Each Year of the 1990s

We only included studio albums in the roundup, so live albums, greatest hits compilations and other types of non-studio releases aren’t listed. There is one EP that we mentioned, though, because it was the first EP in history to ever top the chart.

See the full list below.