Linkin Park Surpasses 20 Million YouTube Subscribers as "Lost" Tops Multiple Charts

     February 2023 has undoubtedly been the month of Linkin Park. It began with a retro-themed countdown on their website, which was followed by the announcement of a brand new official Linkin Park discord as well as the announcement of the release of "Lost," a song that was finished but did not make the final cut for their album Meteora. As was widely expected, "Lost" would wind up being the lead single for a 20th anniversary release of their sophomore album, much as they did with their debut Hybrid Theory in 2020.

     One occurrence that was positively surprising was that "Lost" would not be merely a popular song, but would become a phenomenon in its own right overnight. "Lost" quickly took spot number three in  popularity for Linkin Park songs on Spotify, became the number one debut on all of Spotify for its week, and garnered more than 20 million streams in just over a week. On iTunes, it became the number one song in the United States. On the radio, it has been played millions of times, climbing to number seven on the alternative rock charts and becoming the first rock song to debut at number one on the alternative airplay charts in almost 15 years. On YouTube, it made it to the number two spot on trending for music, garnering nearly as many views on the platform as it did streams on Spotify.

     It was on YouTube that Linkin Park would reach another major milestone: today, on February 20th, 2023, Linkin Park surpassed 20 million subscribers on YouTube, making them one of the most subscribed artists on the platform. 

     There's still more to come this spring: ahead of Meteora's 20th anniversary, "Numb" is approaching two billion views on YouTube, making it one of the most popular videos on YouTube, let alone music videos. One of a flurry of interviews Mike Shinoda did was with radio legend Howard Stern, where the former unveiled two of the unreleased songs that will appear on the box set on April 7th: "More the Victim" and "Fighting Myself." One thing is certain: February is just the beginning of what will undoubtedly be the year of Linkin Park.