The band spent eighteen months total writing their follow-up to 'Hybrid Theory' and finally released it as 'Meteora' in March 2003. Producer Don Gilmore was back behind the switchboards, trying to duplicate the success of 'Hybrid Theory'. That's exactly what happened. 'Meteora' opened up its first week of release with an astonishing 830,000 copies sold in the US. The album debuted at number one in sixteen countries worldwide, including the US, giving the band that elusive top album once and for all.

Guided by the extreme popularity of the debut single "Somewhere I Belong", they held on to the top spot on the Billboard Top 100 for a second week, selling 810,000 copies of 'Meteora'. The album had gone platinum within a matter of about ten days, an amazing average of 100,000 albums sold a day! 'Meteora' was a sure-fire smash hit right from the get-go, and ended up sending three singles, "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", and "Numb" to number one on the Billboard Modern Rock charts in 2003, a feat that had never been accomplished in the charts' history. The album would eventually spawn two more number one singles, "Lying From You" and "Breaking The Habit", bringing the total to five. Linkin Park had taken over American radio and showed no signs of letting up.