Linkin Park’s A Thousand Suns debuted at No. 1 in 2010, marking a bold stylistic shift and proving the band’s willingness to take creative risks. NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 14: Chester Bennington of Linkin Park performs songs from their new album, A Thousand Suns onstage at the unveiling of the new Best Buy Theater on September 14, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Roger Kisby/WireImage)
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Linkin Park is in the middle of its From Zero World Tour, the band’s first global trek in a long time. The venture began in September 2024, and the Grammy-winning rock outfit has dates scheduled into the summer of 2026.
This current From Zero era, which marks a much-desired comeback for the nu-metal gods, will be one of the longest in the group’s history. Even as Linkin Park travels the world and plays smashes from its latest album — including tracks like “The Emptiness Machine,” “Heavy Is the Crown,” and “Up From the Bottom” — one of its most divisive celebrates 15 years since it became another No. 1 for the band.
A Thousand Suns Becomes a No. 1 Album
Back in 2010, Linkin Park scored a new No. 1 album in America with A Thousand Suns. The full-length, which was released in September 2010, debuted atop the Billboard 200 on the chart dated October 2, 2010, earning Linkin Park its third leader on the list of the biggest albums in the country. The set debuted with almost a quarter of a million copies, and while it once again underlined the hard rock act’s popularity, the project was not welcomed as warmly as some previous efforts.
A Sonic Shift for Linkin Park
A Thousand Suns marked a stylistic shift for Linkin Park, one which not everyone loved, and which didn’t turn out to be the blockbuster the rockers had become used to releasing. The group’s earliest full-lengths, Hybrid Theory and Meteora, melded electronic music, hard rock, screamo, and rap into something wholly original. That sound turned Linkin Park into household names and global superstars.
But after a few projects, the musicians felt it was time to experiment and try something new. A Thousand Suns is a concept album all about humanity’s issues with technology, nuclear weapons, and war. This ambition differed from Linkin Park’s previous writing, as much of what the band focused on was internal turmoil and personal struggles, so A Thousand Suns looked beyond the self and examined the world and humanity.
“The Catalyst” Became the Album’s Biggest Hit
Just one single from A Thousand Suns, lead cut “The Catalyst,” became a top 40 win on the Hot 100. That track peaked at No. 27 and would prove to be easily the biggest hit from the full-length.
Linkin Park’s Many Hit Songs on the Hot 100
By that point, Linkin Park wasn’t one of the biggest names in rock, and the group was known for producing crossover hits. A year before the outfit began pushing A Thousand Suns, it reached the top 10 on the Hot 100 for what would turn out to be the last time with “New Divide,” which was written and recorded for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The track peaked at No. 6.
Linkin Park’s previous two albums, Meteora and Minutes to Midnight, spawned several hugely commercially successful tunes, and both managed to send several tracks into the top 40 on the Hot 100. The smashes that made it into the highest reaches of the chart from those albums include some of the group’s most famous, like “Somewhere I Belong,” “Numb,” “Breaking the Habit,” “What I’ve Done,” and “Shadow of the Day.”
How High Did “In the End” Climb on the Hot 100?
Before A Thousand Suns, only Linkin Park’s debut album Hybrid Theory failed to score more than a single top 40 win on the Hot 100. But with its initial full-length, Linkin Park was still introducing itself to the public, and the only major success from that project, “In the End,” still ranks as the band’s biggest ever. That tune peaked at No. 2 and is still regarded as one of the most successful hard rock releases ever.
How Did Linkin Park’s A Thousand Suns Singles Chart?
The promotional period for A Thousand Suns was relatively short. “Waiting for the End” and “Iridescent” made it to the Hot 100, stalling at Nos. 42 and 81, respectively, while “Burning in the Skies” never landed on the tally. In the years since, only “Waiting for the End” has been certified platinum, while “The Catalyst” and “Iridescent” have been named gold successes by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
Typically, Linkin Park’s singles moved greater numbers of units, so A Thousand Suns underperformed when it came to selling songs. The band’s previous album Minutes to Midnight started with “What I’ve Done,” a six-times-platinum smash that cracked the top 10 on the Hot 100 just a few years prior.
A Thousand Suns Reflects Linkin Park’s Risk-Taking
By the time Linkin Park got around to A Thousand Suns, the band was beloved enough and huge enough that anything it released would become an initial commercial success. At that point, the group had enough pull to debut an album at No. 1, but not necessarily to keep it there.
A Thousand Suns was sandwiched in between new champions from Sara Bareilles and Zac Brown Band, who helped kick off a run of country full-lengths that continued throughout much of 2010.
A decade into the band’s tenure, A Thousand Suns showed that Linkin Park was not afraid to take risks, try new sounds, and explore new themes — even if it meant slipping slightly when it came to commercial viability.