METALLICA have posted the following message:

"Happy New Year!!!

As you know, we generally make it a policy not to comment on gossip or rumors, but we also pride ourselves on being first with 'Tallica news. So, with that said, the more astute of you may have noticed a couple of mentions in trade publications, and most recently in the new issue of Rolling Stone, that a Metallica 3D movie is in the works.

We're here to tell you that, yes, there is indeed a 3D project in the very early stages of production! We wish we could tell you more right now, but we don't have all the finer points nailed down just yet.

What we can tell you is that we are planning on being in a theatre near you sometime in 2013 and as you hear us say ever so often, this will be the space for all the details as we finalize them.

Welcome to 2012... we're pretty psyched about the year ahead!"

Nielsen SoundScan has published its annual list of Top 10 albums of the SoundScan era (1991 until now) and Metallica's 1991 self-titled monster is still the top seller with sakes of 15,735,000, which is expected to skyrocket as the band performs the album in its entirety at select shows this year.

The current Top 10 albums of all time for the SoundScan era are:

1. Metallica – Metallica (15,735,000)

2. SHANIA TWAIN – Come On Over (15,513,000)

3. ALANIS MORISSETTE – Jagged Little Pill (14,714,000)

4. BACKSTREET BOYS– Millennium (12,168,000)

5. THE BEATLES – 1 – (11,985,000)

6. Soundtrack – The Bodyguard (11,829,000)

7. SANTANA – Supernatural (11,772,000)

8. CREED – Human Clay (11,574,000)

9. N SYNC – No Strings Attached (11,122,000)

10. CELINE DION – Falling Into You (10,790,000)

The biggest selling artists of the SoundScan era are:

1. GARTH BROOKS (68,561,000)

2. The Beatles (63,299,000)

3. MARIAH CAREY (53,612,000)

4. Metallica (53,170,000)

5. Celine Dion (51,492,000)

6. GEORGE STRAIT (43,310,000)

7. EMINEM (41,166,000)

8. TIM MCGRAW (40,169,000)

9. ALAN JACKSON (38,860,000)

10. PINK FLOYD (37,228,000)