Linkin Park

The band's breakthrough came with their 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory, released through Warner Bros. Records. In its first week the album sold 50,000 copies in the United States and was certified gold after only five weeks, then stayed on the Billboard 200 for 105 consecutive weeks, becoming the best-selling album of 2001. Hybrid Theory debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and would eventually become the best-selling debut album of the 2000s, moving more than 27 million copies worldwide and going Diamond in the United States. Singles like "One Step Closer," "Crawling," "Papercut," and "In the End" became staples of early-2000s rock radio and MTV. The band earned early recognition from the Recording Academy, and at the 44th Grammy Awards they earned their first three nominations, including Best New Artist, Best Rock Album for Hybrid Theory, and Best Hard Rock Performance for "Crawling," taking home their first Grammy that same year for Best Hard Rock Performance. Their 2003 follow-up, Meteora, extended that success, topping the Billboard 200's album charts in 2003 and being followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world. Linkin Park's career continued to expand through bold collaborations and stylistic evolution. In 2004 they teamed with Jay-Z for the mash-up EP Collision Course, whose track "Numb/Encore" won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2006 Grammy Awards, an unexpected crossover success that originated from a 2004 MTV special. At the 48th Grammy Awards, Linkin Park performed "Numb/Encore" and the Beatles' "Yesterday" with Jay-Z and Paul McCartney, marking the group's Grammy stage debut. The band's sound shifted with 2007's Minutes to Midnight, produced with Rick Rubin, and continued evolving through A Thousand Suns (2010) and later releases that incorporated electronic and pop elements. Beyond music, the band founded Music for Relief in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, an organization that has since raised millions in relief funding through benefit concerts, online auctions, and events with other artists and celebrities for natural disasters around the world. Since its formation, the band sold more than 100 million albums and was awarded by the Recording Academy on two occasions. Tragedy struck the band in 2017 when Bennington was found dead in his Los Angeles-area home on July 20, 2017 after hanging himself, prompting the band to go on an extended hiatus. In the wake of Bennington's passing, Linkin Park went on indefinite hiatus, and for nearly nine years, the band's future remained an open question. The group eventually returned in dramatic fashion, and announced their reunion on September 5, 2024, with Emily Armstrong as co-vocalist, releasing the album From Zero on November 15, 2024. The reunited lineup saw the return of Shinoda, guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, and turntablist Joe Hahn, with Dead Sara frontwoman Emily Armstrong and producer Colin Brittain stepping in for Bennington and original drummer Rob Bourdon. Today, decades after their debut, Linkin Park's influence still resonates widely, and their catalog continues to command remarkable staying power. As of early 2026, Hybrid Theory sits at No. 91 while reaching 400 weeks on the Billboard 200, a landmark the group has never before achieved in more than two decades together, a testament to the enduring reach of the band's early sound and its place in the canon of 2000s rock.

For photographer Wayne Dennon, Linkin Park was one of the acts he returned to again and again with his camera, capturing the band across three separate shows between 2003 and 2007, a stretch that took him through three different cities in two states as the group rode the wave from Meteora into the Minutes to Midnight era. That run of shows left behind 112 photographs now