Around 2003, while a handful of record labels were reporting losses and increasingly suffered under the “trend“ of illegal song downloading, NUCLEAR BLAST surprisingly multiplied its turnover threefold over that of previous years.

Chart entries, such as in 2003's Elements Pt.1 from STRATOVARIUS at no. 27 in Germany and at no. 2 in Finland and gold awards such as HAMMERFALL’s Crimson Thunder and MANOWAR’s Warriors Of The World United are in the meantime no longer unusual, even though they naturally remain something very special. “I still get a thrill every time an album gets into the charts or gets a gold award. You can never count on it,“ says Markus Staiger, nodding his head. Then, when it happens once again, it gives you an unbelievable feeling and shows just how wide and constant the basis of extreme music is.“

In 2004, the USA office also manages to open a new, big portal for extreme music. DIMMU BORGIR gets the chance to play at the legendary Ozzfest tour, as the first black Metal band to ever play the festival, in support of the legendary album, Death Cult Armageddon, drawing many thousands of people from all over the country. “That was an enormous, important step,“ described Gerardo Martinez, label manager of NB USA. “It didn’t only bring DIMMU BORGIR to the forefront in America, but in the end it also brought the whole firm.”

The NUCLEAR BLAST mail order also continued to enjoy an upswing. Within just a few years the number of customers had doubled and the catalogue increased in thickness. The number of pages increased at the same rate as the products offered together with the interviews and reviews.

It is also thanks to NUCLEAR BLAST that Heavy Metal in its most aggressive form is no longer an ‘exotic’ commodity traded through the underground, but has become a strongly-selling genre, one that can be felt even in the world of commercial television. Following MANOWAR’s appearance on shows with Stefan Raab and Oliver Pocher, the newly signed EDGUY managed it into the world-wide TV landscape in 2004 through the “Pro 7 Chartshow.“ The single King of Fools climbs the hit lists in many different countries, basking in success almost simultaneously with another significant new signing for the NB family: NIGHTWISH.

The anniversary year of 2007 also promises to provide a further positive glimpse of the future: DIMMU BORGIR achieves a sensational entry into the US billboard charts at # 43 with the album, In Sorte Diaboli. EXODUS also lands at position # 112 in the US billboard charts for The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A.

July / August of 2007 also marked NILE’s opportunity to join Ozzfest USA’s second stage in support of Ithyphallic!

SONATA ARCTICA receives gold in Finland for their album, Reckoning Night. The winner of the NUCLEAR BLAST band contest SONIC SYNDICATE carves rapid success for itself (appearing in, amongst others, With Full Force and Wacken Festivals, entry into the German charts at nr 63, the resonance from the press was euphoric). With their win in the Jägermeister Rock Liga, CLAWFINGER celebrates their “comeback” to the field of achievement. With GOTTHARD, one group even manages to get into commercial radio during the program “SWR1 Kopfhörer.“ Hopes ride high for newly signed acts such as EPICA, RIDE THE SKY and CHIMAIRA.

Last but not least, the Finnish superstars NIGHTWISH make their debut with Anette Olzon, a new singer, in the form of a charity single “Eva”, the proceedings from which will go to the “Arche“, a charitable institution for the benefit of (financially) deprived children and they manage once again to make it to nr 1 in various European charts.

In November 2007 the single “Lost in Space” is heralded as the first highlight of 2008, the long awaited third album from AVANTASIA [the mega-successful Metal Opera project from EDGUY's frontman Tobias Sammet] is an enormous success! The single charts as one of the very few Metal singles to do so at the sensationally high position of nr 9 on the German singles charts!

A fulminating, successful, extremely positive and surprising end of the year for Nuclear Blast.