Break the Cycle is the third studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 of the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 alternative metal

Alternative metal

Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...

 band Staind

Staind

Staind is an American rock band that was formed in 1995 in Springfield, Massachusetts. For 16 years, the band consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist Johnny April, and drummer Jon Wysocki...

, released through Elektra Entertainment and Flip Records

Flip Records (1994)

Flip Records is a Californian record label, started by Jordan Schur in 1994. Flip had distribution deals with other labels including Epic, Elektra and A&M until Schur was named president of Geffen and issued through Geffen/Interscope...

 in 2001

2001 in music

See also:* 2001 in music Record labels established in 2001-Events:*January 1**Comeback of Guns N' Roses in House of Blues**Hum disbands.*January 17 – Bass player Jason Newsted leaves Metallica after 14 years with the band....

. It is Staind's most successful album to date, and was the album that broke them into the mainstream. It was a huge international success for the band, as it spent 3 weeks at number 1 position in the U.S. album charts and many weeks in the top 10 album charts of The Billboard 200, the UK and New Zealand. It sold 4 million copies in 2001.

A total of 5 singles were released from this album, "It's Been Awhile", "Fade", "Outside", "For You" and "Epiphany", all of which did reasonably well. There were videos made for each of these songs (some of which can be found on Staind's MTV Unplugged DVD). The first four singles had varying degrees of success in the UK, "It's Been Awhile" charting the highest of the four released in both countries. The album also includes a track called "Waste" dedicated to two teenage fans who committed suicide. While a heavy metal album, the album begins to show the bands future post-grunge style which is very evident in the album's hit "It's Been Awhile".

There is also a bonus track on the album. In the U.S., the bonus track is an acoustic version of "It's Been Awhile". However on the Australian and European editions, the bonus track is a live acoustic version of "Outside", performed with Fred Durst in Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....

 on the Family Values Tour 1999

Family Values Tour 1999

Family Values Tour 1999 was a music tour headlined by Limp Bizkit. This was the second Family Values Tour. Artists who played at Family Values Tour 1999 were Limp Bizkit, Primus, Staind, Method Man & Redman, Ja Rule, Korn, The Crystal Method, Mobb Deep and Filter.During the tour Mobb Deep left and...

.

Sales

Break the Cycle was a best-selling album. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot Charts with first week sales of 716,003 copies. It remained at top the follow week with 329,299 copies. In the third week it was #1 again with 244,698 copies. In the forth dropped at #2 with 221,179 copies. It sell over 1,000,000 copies in the first 3 weeks. At June 2006 it sold 5,467,000 in the Usa alone. Break the Cycle also topped the Uk charts, where it was certified platinum, in New Zealand and in Canada, where it had the multi-platinum status. The world sales are around 8 million copies.

Reception

Initial critical response ranged from mixed to average. At Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, which assigns a normalized

Standard score

In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...

 rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average

Weighted mean

The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...

 score of 55, based on 9 reviews.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis

Aaron Lewis, , is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and founding member of the rock group Staind, with whom he has released seven studio albums. He has since ventured into country music with his debut solo album, Town Line...

, all music by Staind, except where noted.

Personnel

• Aaron Lewis - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar
• Mike Mushok - lead guitar
• Johnny April - bass, backup vocals
• Jon Wysocki - drums
• Mike Kezner - sitar, backup vocals

Album

Chart (2001)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	18
Austrian Albums Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...	6
Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...	1
French Album Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...	48
German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	5
Netherlands Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...	36
New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...	1
Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	9
Swiss Music Charts Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...	18
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	1
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	1

Certifications

Country	Certification	Sales
Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...	Platinum	35,000+
Canada Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...	2x Platinum	200,000+
United Kingdom British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...	Platinum	300,000+
United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...	5x Platinum	5,000,000+