Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album)

Minutes to Midnight
Studio album by
Linkin Park
ReleasedMay 14, 2007 (2007-05-14)
RecordedJanuary 2006 – March 2007
Studio
Genre
Length43:23
Label
Producer
Linkin Park chronology
Collision Course
(2004) 		Minutes to Midnight
(2007) 		Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes
(2008)
Singles from Minutes to Midnight
  1. "What I've Done"
    Released: April 2, 2007
  2. "Bleed It Out"
    Released: August 17, 2007
  3. "Shadow of the Day"
    Released: October 16, 2007
  4. "Given Up"
    Released: March 3, 2008
  5. "Leave Out All the Rest"
    Released: July 14, 2008

Minutes to Midnight is the third studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on May 14, 2007, through Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin; it is Linkin Park's first studio album produced without Don Gilmore, who had produced the band's two previous albums. Minutes to Midnight is the band's follow-up album to Meteora (2003), and features a shift in the group's musical direction. For the band, the album marked a beginning of deviation from their signature nu metal sound. Minutes to Midnight takes its title from the Doomsday Clock symbol.[1] It is also the band's first full-length album to carry a Parental Advisory label.

Linkin Park started working on their third studio album in 2003, taking a break to tour in support of Meteora in 2004. In this time period, the band formed numerous side projects; Mike Shinoda formed his hip hop side project Fort Minor, while Chester Bennington formed Dead by Sunrise, both of which caused the album to be shelved temporarily. The band returned to work on the record afterward, taking on a different musical direction from the 2003 sessions while working with producer Rick Rubin. The album's completion was delayed several times for unknown reasons. Eventually, "What I've Done" was chosen as the album's lead single in April 2007, with the album seeing release in North America on May 15, 2007.

The album debuted at number one in the US Billboard 200[2][3] and in 15 other countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada.[4] In the United States, the album had the biggest first week sales of 2007 at the time, with 623,000[5] albums sold, going on to be certified five times platinum in the US. It has sold more than four million copies in the US. It was ranked number 154 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums of the Decade.[6] Despite its commercial success, Minutes to Midnight received mixed reviews from critics.[7] Rolling Stone magazine, however, named it the twenty-fifth best album of 2007.[8]

  1. ^ Rodriguez, Dana (May 25, 2007). "Linkin Park Makes 'Minutes to Midnight' Count". BMI.com. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Billboard 200 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Williams, John (May 23, 2007). "Linkin Park screams up charts". Jam!. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ "Rihanna, Linkin Park Take Control Of U.K. Charts". Billboard. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  5. ^ Leeds, Jeff (May 24, 2007). "Arts, Briefly". The New York Times. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  6. ^ "Billboard - Music Charts, Music News, Artist Photo Gallery & Free Video". Billboard.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meta was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Christgau, Robert; Fricke, David; Hoard, Christian; Sheffield, Rob. "The Top 50 Albums of 2007". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 20, 2007. Retrieved November 16, 2015.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)