Living Things is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Linkin Park. It was released under Warner Bros. Records and Machine Shop Recordings on June 20, 2012, in Japan, and throughout the rest of the world during the following week. Production was handled by vocalist Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin, who both co-produced the band's previous two studio albums Minutes to Midnight (2007) and A Thousand Suns (2010).
The band states that Living Things combines elements from their previous four studio albums to create a new sound. They stated they finally felt they were in "familiar territory" and "comfortable in [their] own skin" after years of experimentation that resulted in their two previous studio albums, Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns.[3][4][5] Living Things was chosen as the album's title because of the numerous personal topics on the album.[6]
The lead single for the album, "Burn It Down", was sent to radio and released to digital music retailers on April 16, 2012. Living Things debuted at number one on Billboard 200with sales of 223,000 copies in the United States in its opening week.
