Leave This Town is the second album of the American rock band Daughtry and was released on July 14, 2009. It is the first album that they recorded as a band, as their self-titled debut album

Daughtry (album)

Daughtry is the debut album of the American rock band Daughtry, the band formed and fronted by American Idol Season 5 finalist Chris Daughtry...

 was recorded before the band was formed and only featured lead singer Chris Daughtry

Chris Daughtry

Christopher Adam "Chris" Daughtry is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Daughtry and as the fourth-place finalist on the fifth season of American Idol, from which he was eliminated on May 10, 2006...

 as an official member.

Background

Chris Daughtry announced on his Twitter that there would be 14 songs on the record, but 5 bonus tracks in different stores. Nearly 70 songs were written for Leave This Town, before the selection was narrowed down to 19. Daughtry co-wrote the songs on the album with Richard Marx

Richard Marx

Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...

, Chad Kroeger

Chad Kroeger

Chad Robert Kroeger is aCanadian songwriter, singer, and guitarist best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Canadian rock band Nickelback...

 from Nickelback

Nickelback

Nickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta. Since 1995 the band has included guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist and back-up vocalist Ryan Peake and bassist Mike Kroeger.. The band's current drummer and percussionist is Daniel Adair who has been with the band since 2005....

, Ryan Tedder

Ryan Tedder

Ryan Benjamin Tedder is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the pop rock band, OneRepublic, though he has an independent career as songwriter and producer for various artists such as Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, Far East Movement, Jordin Sparks, Leona...

 from OneRepublic

OneRepublic

OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins, the band achieved massive success on MySpace, becoming the most prominent unsigned act on the website then...

, Jason Wade

Jason Wade

Jason Michael Wade is the lead vocalist, main songwriter, and guitarist of the American alternative rock band Lifehouse.-Biography:...

 from Lifehouse

Lifehouse (band)

Lifehouse is an American rock band from Los Angeles. The band came to mainstream prominence in 2001 with the hit single "Hanging by a Moment" from their debut studio album, No Name Face. The single won a Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year, beating out Janet Jackson and Alicia...

, Adam Gontier

Adam Gontier

Adam Wade Gontier is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter of the rock band Three Days Grace...

 from Three Days Grace

Three Days Grace

Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band, formed in Norwood, Ontario, Canada in 1992, originally under the name Groundswell. After a breakup in late 1997, the band regrouped in the same year under its current name and with a line-up consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer...

, Eric Dill

Eric Dill

Eric Dill is an independent artist, and the original lead singer of The Click Five...

 from The Click Five

The Click Five

The Click Five is an American power pop band from Boston, Massachusetts. The original members, most of them students at Berklee College of Music, started on January 1, 2003 and played in various local venues. They then quickly got the attention of talent scout Wayne Sharp...

, and Mitch Allan

Mitch Allan

Mitch Allan, is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of punk rock band SR-71, and the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of power pop project Satellite.-Biography:...

 from SR-71

SR-71 (band)

SR-71 is an American rock band that was formed in Baltimore, Maryland. They are best known for their 2000 single "Right Now", their 2002 single "Tomorrow", and as the authors of Bowling for Soup's 2004 hit "1985" . The name of the band came from SR-71 Blackbird, a supersonic surveillance aircraft...

 and Tommy Henriksen

Tommy Henriksen

Tommy Henriksen is an American singer-songwriter from Port Jefferson, New York.Henriksen first moved to Los Angeles to start his music career in 1991. He did tech work for Alice Cooper before beginning performance work with Keith Forsey on a full-length solo album...

. On May 29, 2009, Daughtry released the album art cover. The songs written with Marx, Tedder, Gontier and Wade didn't make the album.

Three songs from the CD, "No Surprise

No Surprise (Daughtry song)

"No Surprise" is the first single from Daughtry's second album Leave This Town. The band first performed the song live on American Idol on Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Chris Daughtry wrote this song with Chad Kroeger from Nickelback, along with Eric Dill and Rune Westberg.-Release:The band began...

," "Every Time You Turn Around," and "You Don't Belong", will be used to promote racing on ESPN. "You Don't Belong" debuted at number 95.

The title of the album comes from lyrics from the track "September

September (Daughtry song)

"September" is the third and final single from Daughtry's second album Leave This Town. This song was co-written by Chris Daughtry and Josh Steely. The mid-tempo ballad is inspired by Chris's childhood memories growing up with his brother in a small town in North Carolina."Every time I hear that...

".

Reception

Critical reception

Initial critical response to Leave This Town was mixed. 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 59, based on 10 reviews.

Commercial performance

It sold 269,000 copies in its first week in the U.S., peaking at #1. It peaked at #2 in Canada, 6 places ahead of its predecessor. The album has sold 1,225,000 copies as of January 7, 2011.

In media

"Ghost of Me" is featured on a CSI: Miami

CSI: Miami

CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....

commercial.

"No Surprise" was performed live by the band on the top 4 results show of the eighth season

American Idol (season 8)

The eighth season of American Idol premiered on January 13, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson continued to judge the show's contestants, along with Ryan Seacrest as host. The season introduced Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the Idol...

 of American Idol

American Idol

American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

on May 5, 2009.

"Tennessee Line" was performed live with Vince Gill

Vince Gill

Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

 during the 2009 CMA awards on November 11, 2009. It was also used as a music backdrop to the trailer for the TV series "Young Justice".

"Learn My Lesson" has been featured in a commercial of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist

, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after the European Industrial Revolution...

in Animax-Asia

Animax

is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...

.

"Every Time You Turn Around" was featured in the video game MLB 2K10

"Supernatural" is featured in the preview of the 2010 MLB Division Series, both NL & AL on TBS.

Singles

• "No Surprise
  No Surprise (Daughtry song)
  "No Surprise" is the first single from Daughtry's second album Leave This Town. The band first performed the song live on American Idol on Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Chris Daughtry wrote this song with Chad Kroeger from Nickelback, along with Eric Dill and Rune Westberg.-Release:The band began...
  
  " served as the lead single for the album. It was streamed on their official website, on the evening of May 6, 2009. The song was made available on iTunes
  ITunes
  iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
  
   May 5, 2009. It debuted at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 the chart week of May 23, 2009. It is the band's highest debut to date on the chart, fueled by strong first week digital sales of 103,000. It has sold 1,201,000 copies in the United States
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
   by January 19, 2011.
• The second single, "Life After You
  Life After You (Daughtry song)
  "Life After You" is a song by the band Daughtry, released as the second single from their album Leave This Town. Chris Daughtry wrote the song with Nickelback vocalist Chad Kroeger...
  
  ", was released around October 2009. It has sold 890,000 digital downloads in the United States.
• The third single is "September
  September (Daughtry song)
  "September" is the third and final single from Daughtry's second album Leave This Town. This song was co-written by Chris Daughtry and Josh Steely. The mid-tempo ballad is inspired by Chris's childhood memories growing up with his brother in a small town in North Carolina."Every time I hear that...
  
  ". It was performed on the American Idol Season 9 Top 4 Results Show. It has sold 419,000 digital downloads in the United States.

Track listing

Unused tracks

1. "From Where You're Standing" (performed live)


2. "Standing Still" (performed live)


3. "When You Come Around" (performed live)


4. "You're In My Hands" (performed live)


5. "Back to Me" (performed live)

He also does a Cover of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" Acoustic

Band members

• Chris Daughtry
  Chris Daughtry
  Christopher Adam "Chris" Daughtry is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Daughtry and as the fourth-place finalist on the fifth season of American Idol, from which he was eliminated on May 10, 2006...
  
   - lead vocals, rhythm guitars
• Josh Steely - lead guitars, backing vocals
• Brian Craddock - rhythm guitars, backing vocals
• Josh Paul
  Josh Paul (musician)
  Josh "J.P." Paul is an American musician and the bassist for Daughtry. He had previously played with Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Everlast, Kelly Osbourne, The Veronicas and DJ Samantha Ronson.-Early life:...
  
   - bass guitars, backing vocals
• Joey Barnes - drums, percussion, backing vocals, keyboards

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian ARIA 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...	21
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...	2
New Zealand Albums Chart	8
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 ....	31
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...	53
US 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

Year-end charts

Chart (2010)	Position
US 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...	59