Linkin Park joined YouTube in late November 2006 and since then, have grown an online following of over 20.1 million subscribers. With over 700 videos and audio clips, their posts have earned over 12.8 billion views.
Here, then, are the band's most-watched videos according to YouTube.
10. Somewhere I Belong
The first video on this list was directed by the band's very own Joe Hahn and is the first single taken from Meteora. The video opens with a shot of a sparsely decorated bedroom, save for a display of Japanese symbols, Japanese toys and guitars (country of manufacture unknown). During the video, a waterfall and fire provide a backdrop to their powerful performance. At the video's climax, a long-legged creature which appeared in a painting at the beginning, strides purposefully across the set. Who knows what it means, but Somewhere I Belong has racked up 268 million views.
9. Breaking the Habit
This animated video was created by Studio Gonzo under the watchful eye of Kazuto Nakazawa. The story's narrative begins with a body on the roof of a parked car, cordoned off by police. The video begins to unravel the mystery by reversing the catastrophic events. The band – animated – perform on a rooftop, while the identity of the body is gradually revealed. Directed by Hahn, Breaking The Habit has been watched 293 million times to date.
8. Burn it Down
Another Linkin Park video to feature fire, this Living Things single promo was directed by Hahn. In this impressive CGI-heavy 2012 clip, the band are surrounded by cables and occasionally illuminated by bright electronic glitches, and eventually find themselves on fire. Probably a technical issue, all told. This video has been streamed 358 million times and was up for two gongs at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards ('Best Rock Video' and 'Best Visual Effects').
7. Crawling
Directed by Greg and Colin Strause (Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem), Crawling marks bassist Dave Farrell's first video with the band. This video sees the band performing surrounded by huge crystals and features actress Katelyn Rosaasen, who also appeared in The Offspring's promo for Want You Bad. No pop punk fun here, though, just personal struggle. Crawling has been viewed 380 million times.
6. Faint
The video for this Meteora single was directed by Mark Romanek, who directed the promos for Johnny Cash's Hurt, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Can't Stop and Nine Inch Nails' Closer. This quick-paced clip features the band performing in front of a crowd bathed in bright stage lamps and is cut with other performance footage shot in front of an old building covered in LP-themed symbols. To date, the video has enjoyed 387 million views.
5. New Divide
This video for this track, recorded especially for 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – The Album, was directed by Drew Stauffer and Jerry O'Flaherty. Shot with a Transformers theme in mind, Chester Bennington was unclear as to the actual narrative thread which informs the promo. In 2009, he tweeted, "Honestly, I don't know what's going on in the video. We're in a tomb rocking out and there's a huge dead Transformer." Which is a neat summarisation, if anything, for a video which has earned 553 million views thus far.
4. Castle of Glass
Currently at 555 million views is this track from the Living Things album, which you may have heard on the Medal of Honor: Warfighter game. Another promo directed by Drew Stauffer and Jerry O'Flaherty, the video sees the band performing in a storm while a story follows a military family who are forced to come to terms with a family bereavement. There's also a Churchill quote at the end, for added gravitas: "All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honour, duty, mercy, hope."
3. What I've Done
Directed by Joe Hahn, the video for this Minutes to Midnight single has achieved over 595 million views as of April 2023. If you're after a promo that encapsulates all that is wrong with the world, this has it all; environmental disasters, racism, poverty and drug abuse are just some of the areas highlighted in this three-and-a-half-minute humanity showcase reel.
2. In The End
Take from the band's debut album Hybrid Theory, the video for In The End is the second Linkin Park promo to surpass one billion views. Directed by Nathan Cox and Joe Hahn, this clip was filmed in Los Angeles and uses the California desert as a backdrop; the band perform on an ornate CGI tower and sees Mike Shinoda plagued by sprawling thorns which creep from the cracks in the arid floor. Shinoda has said the 1997 film Princess Mononoke informed the look of the video and lists it as one of his three favourite anime movies (the other two being Akira and Ghost In The Shell). The video – which currently stands at 1.5 billion views on YouTube – won 'Best Rock Video' at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards.
1. Numb
The promo for Numb, taken from the band's second album Meteora, was the first Linkin Park video to reach a staggering one billion views in 2018. The clip, directed by Joe Hahn, was shot on location at Prague's Charles Bridge with interior shots at Gymnázium Jana Keplera. While the band perform inside the St. Vitus Cathedral (and later an identical room in Los Angeles, due to Chester Bennington suffering from stomach and back pains during the initial shoot), the video's narrative follows a young artistic female student who is ridiculed and ostracised by her classmates. To date, the video has 1.9 billion views.
