Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory Passes 2 Billion Views

     In October 2018, Linkin Park's "In the End" hit a billion views on YouTube, becoming their second music video to do so just months after "Numb" hit the milestone and just in time for Hybrid Theory's 18th anniversary. A tremendous milestone, but not the end: it now has 1.33 billion views. Nor is it the only popular video from the iconic album alone. As of February 2022, the music video for "Papercut" has 215 million views, the music video for "One Step Closer" nearly 140 million, that for "Points of Authority" nearly 35 million, and that for Crawling nearly 345 million. Combined with the audio for other songs that did not have music videos created, not only did the album as a whole surpass two billion views, it surpassed 2.2 billion views. Considering the album has gotten over half a billion views in the past year alone, it should surpass three billion views relatively soon.

     22 years later, this album is still doing well. It is one of numerous Linkin Park albums, including Meteora, Minutes to Midnight, and Living Things, to pass a billion views, while One More Light and A Thousand Suns are not far from achieving this incredible number. All these views have gotten Linkin Park to nearly 19 million subscribers, and that is just on one online platform that doesn't factor in the 100 million album sales or countless millions of radio spins.

     It's been nearly five years since Chester Bennington tragically took his own life, and in that time Linkin Park as a band, as a brand, and as a vision has managed to survive and thrive. That is not thanks to fate, or luck, or fortune; it is the result of among the world's most dedicated music fanbases continuing to show undying love and support for a group of artists who have created something greater than themselves, something that inspires but never expires, something that is capable of building a nation.