Metallica — Enter Sandman (Remastered)

The opening track from Metallica's 1991 self-titled "Black Album" is broadly charting again, tracked across 18 country and platform charts today after a month-long dip. The lead single and lasting commercial breakthrough for the band, it carries one of metal's most recognizable riffs — written by Kirk Hammett — under lyrics James Hetfield built around childhood nightmares and crib death, deliberately darkening a song he worried sounded "catchy and kind of commercial," per Wikipedia. Its life beyond the album has been relentless: a stadium walk-out staple for Virginia Tech football and a Yankees-wedding fixture, plus recurring use in TikTok edits, from The Last of Us fan cuts to Warhammer montages. Few metal singles have stayed this load-bearing across generations of listeners.