Who are Metallica and why are they in Fortnite?

Famous singers like Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande have featured in Fortnite, and now there's a bunch of new songs to enjoy in Season 4.

The songs are by a famous band called Metallica who rose to fame in the 1980s.

The heavy metal band is the latest to headline a virtual concert in the game but they're not just performing, you can go head to head with them on the Battle Stage too.

Never heard of Metallica? Read on to find out more about them!

Who are Metallica?

Metallica is an American heavy metal band that grew to fame in the 1980s.

Among their most popular hits are Enter Sandman, Master of Puppets and Sad But True.

The band is made up of lead singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo.

They are credited with creating a genre of music called speed metal, which is traditional heavy metal music but played at the fastest possible speed.

What is heavy metal music?

Heavy metal is a genre of music that developed from rock music in the 1960s and 1970s.

You know you're listening to heavy metal if it has a lot of strong, distorted electric guitar sounds, intense rhythms and amazing guitar solos.

While some songs can be fast and aggressive, others can be slow and heavy with lots of power chords.

You may have heard of other famous heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Motorhead and Def Leppard.

Why do older artists keep becoming popular again?

It's hard to predict which songs will do well on apps like TikTok

Whether it's on games or on apps like TikTok, we keep seeing artists who had hits years ago popping back up again.

BBC music correspondent Mark Savage told Newsround: "The people who make games like Fortnite and Roblox might be the same age as your parents.

"Sometimes, they put their favourite childhood songs into the game world - and they become famous all over again," he said.

And some of these songs resurface on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

"On TikTok, there is no way of knowing when a song was written. If it's catchy, it starts trending. It doesn't matter if it's old or new," Mark explained.

"Even big pop stars can’t control it. Taylor Swift’s Cruel Summer went viral on TikTok last year and became a massive hit.

"But the song was four years old - and Taylor really wanted fans to be listening to her new album, Midnights, instead!"