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"Cyanide" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica, the first promotional single taken from their ninth studio album, Death Magnetic. On September 1, 2008, it was made available for streaming on the band's official website, as well as a download (for Platinum Members only) from the Death Magnetic website Mission: Metallica. It has since been made available for purchase as a digital single in the iTunes Store.
| "Cyanide" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| SinglebyMetallica | ||||
| from the album Death Magnetic | ||||
| Released | September 2, 2008 (2008-09-02) | |||
| Recorded | March 12, 2007 – May 11, 2008 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Length | 6:39 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Composer(s) |
| |||
| Lyricist(s) | James Hetfield | |||
| Producer(s) | Rick Rubin | |||
| Metallica singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
The song was played live for the first time on August 9, 2008 at OzzfestinDallas, Texas, and was the first song from Death Magnetic to be performed live in its entirety. An audio recording of the performance is featured on the band's MySpace page. The song was also performed live on Later... with Jools Holland in 2008.[1]
In March 2009, "Cyanide" became Metallica's seventh number-one hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It is their second consecutive number one on the chart from Death Magnetic, making the album only the band's second to spawn two number-one hits on the chart (1996's Load being the first). It is also the band's fifth top twenty hit on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, peaking at No. 19. The song peaked at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 due to being released as a digital single prior to Death Magnetic's release.[3]
"Cyanide" has been successful worldwide as well, reaching the top twenty in Canada, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, and the top fifty in Australia, the UK, and Ireland.
| Chart (2008)[4] | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 48 |
| Canadian Hot 100 | 19 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 23 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 3 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 48 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 15 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 14 |
| UK Singles Chart | 48 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 50 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 19 |