Released in July 1992, "Countdown to Extinction" entered the "Billboard" 200 chart at number two and was certified double platinum in the United States. The album's overseas success helped the band to develop a larger following outside the US. It received a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 1993 Grammy Awards, and its title track won a Genesis Award from the Humane Society in 1993 for raising awareness for animal rights issues. Ellefson later said that he and Friedman were disappointed that Megadeth did not win the Grammy: "It was such a bizarre moment, because it was as if the amount of work it had taken to ramp up to that hopeful night was literally gone in a second."