The Best Metal Bands of All Time (According to the Fans)

Jul 6
2 min read

The votes are in!

Watch the video here - Best Metal Bands of All Time

After an incredible 16,974,363 total votes, metal fans came together to rank the best metal bands of all time. Every vote on The People's Playlist at MrBaldman.com/vote helped shape these rankings, from underground legends to arena-filling icons. The #4 spot surpised me the most!

Final Rankings

Rank	Band	Votes
34	King Diamond	548
33	Napalm Death	763
32	Queensrÿche	1,135
31	Dio	1,861
30	Cannibal Corpse	2,445
29	Suffocation	2,624
28	Mastodon	3,368
27	Type O Negative	3,508
26	Opeth	3,510
25	Carcass	3,942
24	Children of Bodom	4,719
23	Judas Priest	4,785
22	Ozzy Osbourne (Solo)	7,331
21	Megadeth	7,576
20	Motörhead	11,224
19	Black Sabbath	14,472
18	Iron Maiden	16,556
17	Pantera	19,926
16	Slayer	22,994
15	Dream Theater	47,649
14	System of a Down	60,590
13	Exodus	61,657
12	Mötley Crüe	80,584
11	Anthrax	155,155
10	Korn	199,069
9	Testament	679,182
8	Avenged Sevenfold	794,905
7	Slipknot	802,045
6	Rammstein	974,971
5	Metallica	1,367,414
4	GWAR	1,498,201
🥉 3	Lamb of God	3,004,669
🥈 2	Death	3,515,659
🥇 1	Tool	3,599,326

More than 16.9 million votes for the best metal bands of all time.

This edition of The People's Playlist generated an incredible 16,974,363 total votes, making it the largest rankings we've hosted by quite a margin. The previous record vote holder was The Best Rock Band of All Time with 14.1 Million Votes.

Tool takes the top spot

Tool claimed the title with 3,599,326 votes, narrowly edging out Death, while Lamb of God rounded out the podium. The margin between first and second was fewer than 84,000 votes, making it one of the closest finishes at the top we've seen in terms of jsut a 5% margin.

Surprises throughout the rankings

The results produced plenty of debate. GWAR earned a remarkable fourth-place finish (which blew my mind), while Metallica rounded out the Top 5. Classic pioneers like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Megadeth finished well behind modern favorites, showing just how diverse today's metal fanbase is.

Every era of metal is represented

From traditional heavy metal and thrash to death metal, groove metal, progressive metal, industrial metal, and nu metal, nearly every major subgenre found representation in the final rankings.