When the first track from a band's debut album gets added to major rock stations four weeks before its official release, it must be something very special. That was the case with "One Step Closer" from Linkin Park's 2001 album, Hybrid Theory. Built on an aggressive hard rock foundation, flavored with hip-hop vocal stylings and electronic flourishes, as melodic as it is confrontational, with a strong lyrical message, Hybrid Theory was a breakout smash for Linkin Park in every way.

Although the Don Gilmore (Pearl Jam, Eve 6, Lit) produced 12-song set debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and topped out at No. 2, it was the No. 1 selling album of 2001 with 4.8 million units sold in the U.S thanks to the four hit singles "One Step Closer," "Crawling," "Papercut" and "In the End." In 2012 the album joined the 10 million-sellers club in the U.S., the 20th album to do so since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. 

"Arriving as the nu metal craze was at its height, the band perfectly blended Mike Shinoda‘s rapping with Bennington’s primal screams and their debut disc ‘Hybrid Theory’ became a huge hit. First came the powerful ‘One Step Closer,’ followed by the Grammy-winning single ‘Crawling,’ the beat-driven ‘Papercut’ and the mid-tempo ‘In the End.’ Plus the album generated such non-single favorites as ‘Runaway,’ ‘Points of Authority’ and ‘A Place in the Head." - Chad Childers, Loudwire / No. 10 on the 25 Best Debut Hard Rock Albums