Commercial Breakthrough: The band's debut album, Hybrid Theory was released in 2000 and was representative of the last five years of the band's work. The album sold over 4.8 million copies in its first year and was the highest-selling album of 2001. Hybrid Theory was also nominated for three Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Best Rock Album and Best Hard Rock Performance (for 'Crawling').
They won the latter category. Around this time, Linkin Park performed at a number of high profile events, such as 'Ozzfest, the Family Values tour and their own 'Projekt Revolution', which featured such luminaries as Cypress Hill and Snoop Dogg. Dave Farrell re-joined the band and they began working on a follow-up album. Reanimation was a remix album that featured tracks from Hybrid Theory and featured Black Thought and Aaron Lewis, among others.
The album went to number two in the Billboard 200. Linkin Park began to write new material whilst completing their extensive promotional tour schedule.
They spent some of their free time recording in the studio they had in their tour bus. The resulting album, Meteora was released in 2003 and went to number one in the US album charts. More than 800,000 copies were sold in its first week. The band undertook another Projekt Revolution, this time with Mudvayne, Blindside and Xzibit. The band was invited by Metallica to play on the Summer Sanitarium Tour, along with Limp Bizkit and the Deftones.
A DVD entitled Live In Texas showcased some of their live performances from the tour. Following Meteora's commercial success, the band took a brief hiatus. Shinoda worked with Depeche Mode and formed Fort Minor as a side project. Bennington also worked with DJ Lethal and Dead By Sunrise. Another remix album surfaced, this time produced by Jay-Z and was entitled Collision Course. Producer Rick Rubin was chosen to work on their next studio album; the release of which was delayed until 2007.
Minutes to Midnight was 14 months in the making and sold over 600,000 copies in its first week on sale. It also went to number one on the Billboard 200 album charts. The band headlined the Download festival in England as well as undertaking their fourth Projekt Revolution tour and embarking on a UK arena tour that culminated in two nights at the O2 Arena in London. Biography by Contactmusic.com. Members of have shared an emotional tribute to their bandmate on the first anniversary since the lead singer’s death. The remaining members of the hugely popular band, Mike Shinoda, Joe Hahn, Dave Farrell, Rob Bourdon, and Brad Delson, took to to make a heart-felt tribute to Bennington on Friday (July 20th), the day which marked exactly a year since his suicide. “To our brother Chester,” they wrote.
“It has been a year since your passing — a surreal rotation of grief, heartbreak, refusal, and recognition. And yet it [still] feels like you are close by, surrounding us with your memory and your light. Your one-of-a-kind spirit has authored an indelible imprint on our hearts — our jokes, our joy, and our tenderness.” Continue reading.