Numb (Linkin Park song)

Music video

Directed by band member Joe Hahn, the "Numb" music video was filmed in June 2003 in Prague in the Czech Republic and features scenes in Johannes Kepler Grammar School (Gymnázium Jana Keplera), and the famed Charles Bridge. The band's performance section was filmed afterwards in the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, due to vocalist Chester Bennington suffering from severe abdominal and back pains at the time. The final video was released alongside the single in early September 2003.

The video's plot follows a day in the life of an outcast teenage girl, portrayed by Briana Evigan, interspersed with scenes of Linkin Park performing the song in a cathedral. The girl, an aspiring artist, is shunned and ridiculed by her mother, teachers, and peers. She is shown with self-inflicted cut marks on her arms that spell out "NUMB". At the song's climax, she throws paint at a canvas in anger, then runs into the cathedral that Linkin Park were performing the song in as if she heard them, only to find that they have disappeared.

In November 2018, "Numb" became Linkin Park's first music video to reach over one billion views on their YouTube channel as well as the first song released in the 2000s to do so. In March 2023, the video was remastered in 4K resolution. In June 2023, "Numb" became the first song by the band to surpass two billion views, and currently holds the title of the most viewed rock video on YouTube.

Commercial performance

The track became one of Linkin Park's most critically acclaimed songs, as well as one of their most commercially successful. It peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on February 24, 2004, spending 3 weeks on top of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and 12 weeks on top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Numb" was the 33rd best-performing single on the Billboard Hot 100 during 2004 and was listed at number 15 in the alternative songs decade-end chart. As of June 2014, the song had sold 2,036,000 copies in the US.

The song was also successful in Oceania, peaking at number 10 in Australia and number 13 in New Zealand. "Numb" is Linkin Park's longest-running single in France, spending 23 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 19; it was also successful in Greece, topping the singles chart. However, it only ranked for one week in Italy and on the Belgian Singles Chart.

The song re-entered the charts in July 2017 after the death of Chester Bennington, together with "In the End" and the band's new song "Heavy".

In late 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Modern Rock Tracks (since renamed Alternative Airplay), Billboard ranked "Numb" as the 59th-biggest hit in the chart's history.

Track listing

In other media and covers

• The song was mistakenly played in the friendly football match between Malta and Slovakia on September 5th, 2014, during which it temporarily replaced the Maltese national anthem.
• In 2017, an online meme mashing up "Numb" with the Seinfeld theme song was released.
• Finnish heavy metal soprano Tarja Turunen covered and recorded the song during a special performance for Wacken Open Air at the Wacken Church in 2016. The song was later released as the first single for her live album Rocking Heels: Live at Metal Church in 2023.
• In 2024, the song was added to the online video game Fortnite, through the Fortnite Festival game mode and as a purchasable jam track.

Personnel

• Chester Bennington – lead vocals
• Mike Shinoda – piano, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Brad Delson – guitar
• Dave "Phoenix" Farrell – bass
• Joe Hahn – turntables, samplers
• Rob Bourdon – drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

References

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