| A Thousand Suns | ||||
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| Released | September 13, 2010 | |||
| Recorded | November 2008 – August 2010 | |||
| Studio | NRG Recording Studios (North Hollywood, California) | |||
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| Length | 47:48 | |||
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| Singles from A Thousand Suns | ||||
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A Thousand Suns is the fourth studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on September 13, 2010,[1] by Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin, who had also worked together to produce the band's previous studio album Minutes to Midnight (2007). Recording sessions for A Thousand Suns took place at NRG Recording Studios in Hollywood, California from 2009 until early 2010.
A Thousand Suns is a conceptual album dealing with human fears such as nuclear warfare. The band has said the album is a drastic departure from their previous work; they experimented on different and new sounds. Chester Bennington told MTV the album references numerous social issues and blends human ideas with technology. The title is a reference to the Bhagavad Gita, a line from which was popularized in 1945 by J. Robert Oppenheimer, who described the atomic bomb as being "as bright as a thousand suns". It also appears in a line from the first single of the album, "The Catalyst". A Thousand Suns is Linkin Park's longest studio album to date, clocking in at 47 minutes and 48 seconds.
"Waiting for the End" was sent to radio and released to digital music retailers on August 2, 2010. "Waiting for the End" peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs and Rock Songs charts. Three more singles were released to promote the album: "Waiting for the End", "Burning in the Skies" and "Iridescent". "The Catalyst" and "Waiting for the End" were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Linkin Park promoted the album through the A Thousand Suns World Tour from October 2010 to September 2011.
The album was generally received positively by critics, some of whom found it to be a natural progression for the band, but polarized fans. The record debuted at number one on over ten charts, and was certified platinum by the RIAA in August 2017.