Sleep Through the Static

Sleep Through the Static
Studio album by
Jack Johnson
ReleasedFebruary 5, 2008
RecordedLate Spring & Summer 2007[1]
GenreFolk rock, soft rock
Length51:27
LabelBrushfire, Universal
ProducerJ.P. Plunier, Jack Johnson, Simon Wyatt, Ashleigh Davis
Jack Johnson chronology
Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George
(2006) 		Sleep Through the Static
(2008) 		En Concert
(2009)
Singles from Sleep Through the Static
  1. "If I Had Eyes"
    Released: December 11, 2007
  2. "Sleep Through the Static"
    Released: December 2007
  3. "Same Girl"
    Released: February 2008 (Brazil-exclusive)
  4. "Hope"
    Released: May 2008
  5. "Go On"
    Released: November 2008 (Radio-exclusive single)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Billboard(positive)[3]
Blender[4]
The Boston Globe(mixed)[5]
Entertainment Weekly(B+)[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
The Guardian[8]
The Observer[9]
Slant Magazine[10]
Yahoo! Music UK[11]

Sleep Through the Static is the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, released in the United States on February 5, 2008. The album was announced on Johnson's website as renovation began for the release of the album. It was recorded at the Los Angeles Solar Powered Plastic Plant, which makes it Johnson's first album made outside of Hawaii. It was produced by JP Plunier.

The album was played live for the first time at the BBC in December for a select number of fans. Despite having been reviewed mostly unenthusiastically by professional music critics, worldwide sales of the album were on par with Johnson's previous albums.

The first single, "If I Had Eyes", was released via Johnson's MySpace page on December 11, 2007. The second single from the album was "Hope" and was released on September, peaking at number No. 30 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks.

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling about 375,000 copies in its first week, including 139,000 digital downloads. This was a record high for weekly digital album sales.[12] It also debuted at number one on the Worldwide chart with sales of 577,000. It held the record at iTunes for most digital downloads in a single day, until Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends set a new record.

Sleep Through the Static remained at number one on the Billboard 200 in its second week of release, by which time it had sold over 180,000 copies,[13] as well as its third week, in which it sold 105,000 copies.[14] It fell from the number one spot in its fourth week, in which it placed third with about 92,000 copies sold.[15] The album was made #45 in Q's 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008.[16]

  1. ^ "Secrets of the Mix Engineers: Robert Carranza".
  2. ^ Allmusic review
  3. ^ Billboard review
  4. ^ "Blender review". Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  5. ^ The Boston Globe review
  6. ^ Entertainment Weekly review
  7. ^ Rolling Stone review
  8. ^ "CD: Jack Johnson, Sleep Through the Static". The Guardian. 2008-02-01. Archived from the original on 2023-05-06.
  9. ^ "Observer Music Monthly Reviews 26-40". The Guardian. 2008-01-20. Archived from the original on 2023-05-04.
  10. ^ Slant Magazine review
  11. ^ Yahoo! Music UK review
  12. ^ Katie Hasty, "Digital Sales Propel Johnson To Second No. 1", Billboard.com, February 13, 2008.
  13. ^ Katie Hasty, "Johnson Remains No. 1; Winehouse, Hancock Soar", Billboard.com, February 20, 2008.
  14. ^ Katie Hasty, "Johnson's 'Static' Prevails Again On Album Chart", Billboard.com, February 27, 2008.
  15. ^ Katie Hasty, "Janet Dethrones Jack To Top Billboard 200", Billboard.com, March 5, 2008.
  16. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2008". Q: 82. January 2009.