Metallica have been the most popular metal band by Google search for the last three years, according to results from an internet firm that maps such statistics.

And since 2007, when tabulation began, Metallica have battled just two other artists for that No. 1 spot. A clip showing the stats in an animated graph bears that out.

Watch the video down toward the bottom of this page.

The two bands that have at times overtaken Metallica to become the most searched metal band have been Linkin Park and Van Halen. But Motley Crue, Slipknot and Iron Maiden have come very close.

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Linkin Park started as the No. 1 most searched metal band in 2007 before Metallica took over the mantle later that year, as the chart dynamically displays. Metallica held it until Linkin Park regained it in 2009. Metallica then maintained the No. 2 position behind them.

Linkin Park
Linkin Park (Ethan Miller, Getty Images)
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In 2014, Metallica overtook the top slot until Linkin Park made a brief return in 2017, again being outdistanced by Metallica later that year. Linkin Park stayed at No. 2 behind Metallica until Motley Crue took No. 2 in 2019. Linkin Park recaptured No. 2 later that year before Van Halen had a blip at No. 1 in 2019.

Slipknot sat at No. 3 until 2010, when Avenged Sevenfold overtook them until 2013, Slipknot regaining that spot. Iron Maiden, shooting to No. 4 in 2015, took No. 3 from Slipknot in 2016. Motley Crue jumped ahead of both in 2019. (Watch to see how it played out.)

But Metallica were back at No. 1 by 2020. In 2022, Iron Maiden (No. 2) and Slipknot (No. 3) were between Metallica (No. 1) and Linkin Park (No. 4).

Some of the stats seem to align with times of note for the rising artist, although that may not explain all of it. For example, Van Halen's bump in 2019 corresponds with the news of the reunited band's demise a year before Eddie Van Halen's death in 2020.

The graph video, posted last year on YouTube, was created by the music charts and data analytics company Chartex. It is called a "platform for all data related to the musical world from the most popular streaming and social media" on its YouTube page.

As this was Chartex's own study, it alone decided what parameters make a "metal band"; Loudwire did not.

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