Death doesn't die that easily.
Metallica's Death Magnetic staved off the Reaper this week, holding onto the No. 1 slot despite challenges from Ne-Yo's Year of the Gentleman, Nelly's Brass Knuckles and Darius Rucker's Learn to Live.
Despite the triple threat, Death Magnetic ruled the week ended Sunday by selling another 337,000 copies, per Nielsen SoundScan, bringing its 10-day tally to 827,000 discs.
While this should have been Metallica's debut week, the band moved up the release date by four days to combat piracy. Despite being on sale for just one weekend, Death Magnetic still topped last week's chart with ease.
It was a good week for the veteran metalheads. On Monday, they learned they were first-time finalists for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Leading the challengers, songsmith turned singer Ne-Yo nabbed the No. 2 spot , selling 250,000 of Year of the Gentleman, his third album in less than three years. Ne-Yo, whose new album features the hit singles "Closer" and "Miss Independent," previously topped the charts with 2006's In My Own Words and last year's Because of You.
Nelly capped his long hiatus with a disappointing No. 3 start for Brass Knuckles, his first new album in four years, which moved a relatively meager 84,000. His last albums, 2004's simultaneously released Sweat and Suit, debuted in the top two spots with a combined 738,000 first-week copies.
Pulling a Jessica Simpson, Hootie & the Blowfish main man Darius Rucker tossed his hat into the country-music ring with Learn to Live, which sold 60,000 copies at No. 5. His lead single, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It," has topped the Hot Country Songs chart, making Rucker the first African-American artist to accomplish this feat since Charley Pride's "Night Games" in '83.
All told, there were five top 10 debuts, with DJ Khaled selling 49,000 copies of We Global at No. 7 and L.A. rockers Buckcherry selling 47,000 copies of Black Butterfly at No. 8—career highs for both.
Elsewhere, All That Remains sold 29,000 copies of Overcome in the No. 16 slot, while Raphael Saadiq's first album in four years, The Way I See It, bowed in at No. 19, with 23,000.
Other noteworthy debuts include Avenged Sevenfold's CD/DVD Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough at No. 24, the Eli Young Band's Jet Black & Jealous at No. 33, Colby O'Donis' Colby O at No. 41, Jem's Down to Earth at 43 and American Idol contestant Kristy Lee Cook's Why Wait at No. 49.
With her new album Fearless set to drop Nov. 11, Taylor Swift's self-titled debut celebrated its 100th week on the charts at No. 25 with more than 3.4 million.
Over on the Digital Tracks chart, Pink sold 218,000 copies of "So What" for her third straight week at No. 1, though Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" debuted less than 6,000 copies behind at No. 2.
Overall, album sales are up a tick from last week but down 17 percent compared to the same week in 2007, when Reba McEntire's Reba Duets topped the charts.
Here's a rundown of the top 10:
1. Death Magnetic, Metallica
2. Year of the Gentleman, Ne-Yo
3. Brass Knuckles, Nelly
4. Rock N Roll Jesus, Kid Rock
5. Learn to Live, Darius Rucker
6. The Recession, Young Jeezy
7. We Global, DJ Khaled
8. Black Butterfly, Buckcherry
9. Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne
10. LAX, The Game