What are the most popular metal albums? (Gateway edition)

Inspired by Sonny sharing with us the top 20 most popular metal releases on RYM, I thought, what if we shared the most popular albums in each clan and judge which ones deserve their right in the list? So that's what I'm doing, starting with my main clans. Any of you please feel free to do the same with the other clans. Here are the the 20 most popular releases in the Gateway, according to RYM, with the number of ratings and average score:

#1 Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (23000 / 3.94)

#2 Tool - Lateralus (22547 / 3.94)

#3 System of a Down - Toxicity (21168 / 3.94)

#4 Tool - Ænima (20134 / 3.91)

#5 Alice in Chains - Dirt (18818 / 3.94)

#6 Deftones - White Pony (16601 / 3.90)

#7 Tool - 10,000 Days (15189 / 3.66)

#8 Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory (14576 / 3.16)

#9 Metallica - St. Anger (13719 / 1.82)

#10 Tool - Undertow (13049 / 3.53)

#11 System of a Down - System of a Down (12352 / 3.65)

#12 System of a Down - Mezmerize (12274 / 3.61)

#13 Faith No More - Angel Dust (11872 / 3.84)

#14 Deftones - Around the Fur (11490 / 3.75)

#15 Linkin Park - Meteora (11150 / 3.13)

#16 Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles (10648 / 3.65)

#17 Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire (10501 / 3.59)

#18 System of a Down - Hypnotize (10080 / 3.36)

#19 Alice in Chains - Facelift (9663 / 3.59)

#20 System of a Down - Steal This Album! (9435 / 3.30)

Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down, and Tool are just dominating the top 20 list, with all of those bands' albums up there except RATM's Renegades and Tool's Fear Inoculum. Still there a few bands that have made it this high in fame like Alice in Chains, Deftones, and Linkin Park, along with Faith No More's Angel Dust and Metallica's dreaded twist into nu/alt-metal St. Anger. So what do you all think?

With, as Daniel rightly pointed out, RYM being so US-centric I'm a bit surprised to see no Slipknot or Korn albums in the top 20 Gateway list. It also seems to indicate that there are a small number of acts that are exceedingly popular and dominate in the wider public mind.

That's right, Sonny! Albums from other well-known bands like Soundgarden, Slipknot, and Korn are missing from the Popular 20. But if we extend the list to 25:

#21 Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger (9180 / 3.77)

#22 Slipknot - Slipknot (9149 / 3.24)

#23 Faith No More - The Real Thing (8490 / 3.75)

#24 Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains (8276 / 3.66)

#25 Korn - Korn (8237 / 3.37)

At least we have also two more albums from bands in the Popular 20; Faith No More's The Real Thing and Alice in Chains' self-titled album.

Now let's check on the Metal Academy charts and see the differences. Here are all the Gateway releases with minimum 10 ratings, sorted by rating number:

#1 Tool - Lateralus (17 / 3.9)

#2 Alice in Chains - Dirt (16 / 4.3)

#3 Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (14 / 3.5)

#4 Tool - Ænima (13 / 4.0)

#5 System of a Down - Toxicity (13 / 3.7)

#6 Slipknot - Slipknot (13 / 3.5)

#7 Metallica - St. Anger (13 / 2.0)

#8 Tool - 10,000 Days (12 / 3.9)

#9 Korn - Korn (12 / 3.6)

#10 Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind (12 / 3.2)

#11 Deftones - White Pony (11 / 4.2)

#12 Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains (11 / 3.9)

#13 Tool - Undertow (11 / 3.8)

#14 Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (11 / 3.7)

#15 Alice in Chains - Facelift (11 / 3.6)

#16 Deftones - Around the Fur (10 / 4.1)

#17 Linkin Park - Meteora (10 / 3.8)

#18 Devin Townsend - Addicted (10 / 3.8)

#19 Slipknot - Iowa (10 / 3.4)

#20 System of a Down - System of a Down (10 / 3.2)

#21 Slipknot - Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (10 / 3.2)

I see a few more Slipknot albums here, along with the Devin Townsend Project album Addicted.

Now let's decrease the minimum rating number to 9 and extend that list:

#22 Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance (9 / 4.2)

#23 Faith No More - Angel Dust (9 / 4.1)

#24 Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue (9 / 3.9)

#25 Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles (9 / 3.7)

#26 Deftones - Adrenaline (9 / 3.1)

#27 Tool - Opiate (9 / 2.7)

After having fun with the "most popular 50 Infinite albums and EPs in 2021" last week, I've decided to the same with my other 3 clans. So here they are for The Gateway, with the number of ratings and average score:

#1 Poppy - Eat (NXT Soundtrack) (2164 / 3.67)

#2 Limp Bizkit - Still Sucks (1813 / 2.73)

#3 Architects - For Those That Wish to Exist (1159 / 2.55)

#4 Spiritbox - Eternal Blue (1109 / 3.38)

#5 Chevelle - Niratias (832 / 3.44)

#6 Evanescence - The Bitter Truth (700 / 2.75)

#7 Lantlôs - Wildhund (683 / 3.28)

#8 Turnstile - Turnstile Love Connection (544 / 3.52)

#9 Whitechapel - Kin (495 / 3.44)

#10 Serj Tankian - Elasticity (331 / 2.74)

#11 Sleep Token - This Place Will Become Your Tomb (329 / 3.20)

#12 Bullet for My Valentine - Bullet for My Valentine (310 / 2.89)

#13 Beartooth - Below (278 / 3.08)

#14 Slaughter to Prevail - Kostolom (275 / 2.77)

#15 Coaltar of the Deepers - Revenge of the Visitors (273 / 3.28)

#16 While She Sleeps - Sleeps Society (256 / 3.14)

#17 The Gentle Men - The Evolution of Tears (175 / 2.83)

#18 Don Broco - Amazing Things (168 / 3.31)

#19 Atreyu - Baptize (164 / 2.49)

#20 The Bread Scientists - Troposphere (160 / 3.16)

#21 Twelve Foot Ninja - Vengeance (153 / 3.18)

#22 Tremonti - Marching in Time (144 / 3.46)

#23 The Plot in You - Swan Song (126 / 3.23)

#24 Times of Grace - Songs of Loss and Separation (115 / 3.19)

#25 Black Veil Brides - The Phantom Tomorrow (111 / 2.81)

#26 Love and Death - Perfectly Preserved (108 / 3.03)

#27 Tetrarch - Unstable (99 / 2.99)

#28 Sion - Sion (95 / 3.25)

#29 Blanket - Modern Escapism (92 / 3.28)

#30 Hacktivist - Hyperdialect (88 / 3.08)

#31 Imminence - Heaven in Hiding (83 / 3.47)

#32 Alien Weaponry - Tangaroa (79 / 2.89)

#33 The Gazette - Mass (76 / 3.23)

#34 Attila - Closure (75 / 1.93)

#35 Slope - Street Heat (73 / 3.35)

#36 ASkySoBlack - What Is Yet to Come? (68 / 3.52)

#37 Aborym - Hostile (65 / 2.14)

#38 LizZard - Eroded (65 / 3.09)

#39 Eisbrecher - Liebe Macht Monster (65 / 3.28)

#40 Loli in Early 20s - blood for evening (64 / 3.16)

#41 Bad Wolves - Dear Monsters (61 / 3.06)

#42 Dreamshade - A Pale Blue Dot (60 / 3.15)

#43 鬱P [Utsu-P] - Unique (54 / 3.59)

#44 Психея [Psiheya] - Видения (48 / 3.06)

#45 Sumo Cyco - Initiation (45 / 2.99)

#46 Blood Youth - Visions of Another Hell (45 / 3.11)

#47 Pain of Truth / Age of Apocalypse - Pain of Truth/Age of Apocalypse Split (43 / 3.26)

#48 ten56. - Downer Part 1 (42 / 3.25)

#49 MolyBaron -The Mutiny (39 / 3.60)

#50 Appalooza - The Holy of Holies (37 / 3.03)

I did not expect that Eisbrecher album to appear here. Neue Deutsche Härte apparently now covers alternative metal and industrial metal in RYM, instead of just the latter. Another RYM genre change to keep in mind...