band profile
Metallica
- 1982–2026
- 2,120 shows
- 100.0% of songs played matched to MusicBrainz
- half of the songs have left the setlist after 1,235 shows (median survival)
What Metallica played at its concerts, night after night, from the setlists on setlist.fm; the discography comes from MusicBrainz.
What stands out
Metallica went from a nearly fixed show in the 1980s to one that changes a lot, and its setlist got younger after each of its last three albums.
Rotation, how much the songs change from one concert to the next, rose from 0.09 in its first three years with enough shows (1983, 1984 and 1985) to 0.70 in its last three. By tour it was 0.52 on World Magnetic (2008–2010) and 0.75 on the M72 World Tour (2023–2026), and by year 0.87 in 2023 and 0.85 in 2024. Its average repertoire age (how old the songs played were) fell by 4.2, 5.1 and 6.9 years around Death Magnetic (2008), Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (2016) and 72 Seasons (2023). Ride the Lightning lost 1 of 7 eligible songs (those played at least 3 times and found in MusicBrainz) and 86% were still played after 2,074 shows, while Kill 'Em All lost 7 of 10 but only after a median of 2,005 shows.
Caveats and limits
- The overall median is 1,235 shows; 50 shows cover a longer stretch of time for Metallica than for the busiest-touring bands, so compare with care (see Methodology).
- The data shows that Metallica's rotation rose, not why, and a dip in repertoire age around an album release does not show that the release caused it (see the home page).
- Survival is counted in shows, not years, and years with fewer than 5 pairs of consecutive shows are left out of rotation (see Methodology).
How old the songs were: repertoire age
Years between a song's first release and the night it is played, averaged over all the songs played that year.
How to read: Each line is one band. Its height is how many years old the songs played that year were, on average. A rising line means the set leans on older songs; a falling line means newer songs took over.
Data table
| Year | Metallica |
|---|---|
| 1982 | 0.0 |
| 1983 | 0.7 |
| 1984 | 1.4 |
| 1985 | 2.3 |
| 1986 | 1.7 |
| 1987 | 2.7 |
| 1988 | 2.7 |
| 1989 | 3.5 |
| 1990 | 5.1 |
| 1991 | 4.5 |
| 1992 | 5.1 |
| 1993 | 6.1 |
| 1994 | 8.5 |
| 1995 | 8.4 |
| 1996 | 7.8 |
| 1997 | 8.0 |
| 1998 | 7.9 |
| 1999 | 9.1 |
| 2000 | 9.5 |
| 2002 | 14.5 |
| 2003 | 14.0 |
| 2004 | 13.7 |
| 2005 | 15.3 |
| 2006 | 17.8 |
| 2007 | 19.5 |
| 2008 | 17.2 |
| 2009 | 15.3 |
| 2010 | 18.7 |
| 2011 | 21.9 |
| 2012 | 23.2 |
| 2013 | 25.2 |
| 2014 | 25.1 |
| 2015 | 25.0 |
| 2016 | 23.5 |
| 2017 | 20.2 |
| 2018 | 19.9 |
| 2019 | 22.4 |
| 2020 | 27.4 |
| 2021 | 29.9 |
| 2022 | 32.3 |
| 2023 | 25.4 |
| 2024 | 26.2 |
| 2025 | 29.7 |
| 2026 | 31.1 |
Median age by tour
Each bar is one tour in one year: a tour that spans several years appears once per year, because a median cannot be combined across years. The diamond marks the mean. Cells with fewer than 15 shows are left out.
How to read: Each bar is one tour in one year. A longer bar means older songs were typically played (the median age, in years); the diamond marks the average.
Data table
| Tour | Year | Shows | Median age | Mean age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ride the Lightning | 1984 | 25 | 1 | 1.3 |
| Ride the Lightning | 1985 | 37 | 2 | 2.3 |
| Damage Inc. | 1986 | 106 | 2 | 1.7 |
| Damage Inc. | 1987 | 26 | 3 | 2.7 |
| Damaged Justice | 1988 | 64 | 2 | 2.5 |
| Monsters of Rock 1988 | 1988 | 27 | 4 | 3.6 |
| Damaged Justice | 1989 | 144 | 3 | 3.5 |
| Monsters of Rock 1991 | 1991 | 19 | 5 | 5.3 |
| Wherever We May Roam | 1991 | 34 | 3 | 4.2 |
| 1992 North American Tour | 1992 | 26 | 4 | 5.2 |
| Wherever We May Roam | 1992 | 141 | 4 | 5.0 |
| Nowhere Else to Roam | 1993 | 24 | 7 | 6.5 |
| Wherever We May Roam | 1993 | 53 | 5 | 6.0 |
| Shit Hits the Sheds | 1994 | 51 | 9 | 8.5 |
| Lollapalooza 1996 | 1996 | 22 | 6 | 7.3 |
| Poor Touring Me | 1996 | 57 | 8 | 8.0 |
| Poor Touring Me | 1997 | 79 | 7 | 8.1 |
| Poor Re-Touring Me | 1998 | 60 | 8 | 7.9 |
| Garage Remains the Same | 1999 | 44 | 9 | 9.4 |
| Summer Sanitarium 2000 | 2000 | 20 | 10 | 9.7 |
| European Festivals 2003 | 2003 | 19 | 16 | 14.4 |
| Madly in Anger with the World | 2003 | 20 | 15 | 13.6 |
| Summer Sanitarium 2003 | 2003 | 20 | 15 | 13.9 |
| Madly in Anger with the World | 2004 | 116 | 16 | 13.7 |
| European Summer Vacation | 2008 | 20 | 22 | 20.8 |
| World Magnetic | 2008 | 26 | 18 | 14.6 |
| World Magnetic | 2009 | 90 | 19 | 15.2 |
| World Magnetic | 2010 | 63 | 22 | 18.7 |
| 2012 European Black Album Tour | 2012 | 16 | 22 | 22.9 |
| 2013 Summer Tour | 2013 | 23 | 27 | 25.2 |
| Metallica by Request | 2014 | 25 | 26 | 25.1 |
| Worldwired | 2017 | 56 | 27 | 20.1 |
| Worldwired | 2018 | 47 | 28 | 19.7 |
| Worldwired | 2019 | 41 | 29 | 22.4 |
| M72 World Tour | 2023 | 26 | 33 | 25.7 |
| M72 World Tour | 2024 | 28 | 34 | 26.2 |
| M72 World Tour | 2025 | 29 | 35 | 29.2 |
| M72 World Tour | 2026 | 16 | 36 | 31.1 |
How much shows change: rotation
How much the setlist changes from one show to the next within a tour, by year. 0 is the same setlist every night; 1 is no song in common.
How to read: Each line is one band. Height is how different one show is from the next on the same tour: 0 means the same songs every night, 1 means no song in common. A falling line means a more fixed show; a rising line, a more changeable one.
Data table
| Year | Metallica |
|---|---|
| 1983 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 0.14 |
| 1986 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 0.22 |
| 1991 | 0.07 |
| 1992 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 0.13 |
| 1997 | 0.20 |
| 1998 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 0.13 |
| 2003 | 0.24 |
| 2004 | 0.39 |
| 2006 | 0.16 |
| 2007 | 0.33 |
| 2008 | 0.41 |
| 2009 | 0.50 |
| 2010 | 0.57 |
| 2011 | 0.20 |
| 2012 | 0.14 |
| 2013 | 0.50 |
| 2014 | 0.22 |
| 2015 | 0.32 |
| 2016 | 0.23 |
| 2017 | 0.34 |
| 2018 | 0.37 |
| 2019 | 0.32 |
| 2022 | 0.30 |
| 2023 | 0.87 |
| 2024 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 0.62 |
| 2026 | 0.62 |
How long songs last: survival
Share of the band's songs still in the setlist after t shows since their live debut, by studio album. A curve that stays high is an album whose songs became permanent; one that drops fast is an album that passed through.
How to read: Each line follows one album's songs from the night they were first played live. Height is the share still in the setlist (100% at the start): a high, flat line means the songs stayed, a steep drop means they left quickly. The axis counts shows, not years; the grey line marks half.
Data table
| Album | after 25 shows | after 50 shows | after 100 shows | after 200 shows | after 400 shows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 Seasons (9 songs) | 89% | 89% | 89% | – | – |
| Death Magnetic (9 songs) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 67% | 33% |
| Hardwired… to Self‐Destruct (9 songs) | 100% | 89% | 89% | 22% | – |
| Kill ’Em All (10 songs) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Load (8 songs) | 100% | 88% | 88% | 75% | 75% |
| Master of Puppets (8 songs) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Metallica (12 songs) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 75% |
| Reload (6 songs) | 100% | 100% | 83% | 83% | 83% |
| Ride the Lightning (7 songs) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| St. Anger (6 songs) | 83% | 67% | 67% | 67% | 67% |
| …And Justice for All (9 songs) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 89% |
| non-album (14 songs) | 86% | 64% | 64% | 57% | 34% |
| All songs (107 songs) | 96% | 91% | 90% | 79% | 68% |
Albums
Eligible discography songs by reference album (the earliest studio album that contains the song). Median survival is in shows.
| Album | Songs | Abandoned | Censored (still played, or came back) | Median (shows) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All songs | 107 | 62 | 45 | 1,235 |
| 72 Seasons | 9 | 1 | 8 | not reached |
| Death Magnetic | 9 | 7 | 2 | 289 |
| Hardwired… to Self‐Destruct | 9 | 7 | 2 | 150 |
| Kill ’Em All | 10 | 7 | 3 | 2,005 |
| Load | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1,068 |
| Master of Puppets | 8 | 3 | 5 | not reached |
| Metallica | 12 | 5 | 7 | not reached |
| Reload | 6 | 2 | 4 | not reached |
| Ride the Lightning | 7 | 1 | 6 | not reached |
| St. Anger | 6 | 6 | 0 | 736 |
| …And Justice for All | 9 | 5 | 4 | 1,458 |
| non-album | 14 | 12 | 2 | 262 |