| "What I've Done" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byLinkin Park | ||||
| from the albumMinutes to MidnightandTransformers: The Album | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | April 2, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | 2007 | |||
| Studio | The Mansion (Los Angeles,California) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Linkin Park | |||
| Producer(s) | ||||
| Linkin Park singles chronology | ||||
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| Transformers singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "What I've Done" onYouTube | ||||
"What I've Done" is a song by Americanrock bandLinkin Park. It was released as the firstsingle from their third studio album,Minutes to Midnight (2007), and is the sixth track. The song was released as a radio single on April 1, 2007, as adigital download on April 2, and as aCD single on April 30. The live version of "What I've Done" fromRoad to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes was nominated forBest Hard Rock Performance at the52nd Grammy Awards, but did not win.[4] It serves as the end credits track of the 2007science fiction blockbuster filmTransformers, also appearing onits soundtrack.[5] Being certified six times platinum by theRIAA, it is the band's most commercially successful single in terms of pure sales, and reached number 7 on theBillboard Hot 100. In January 2025, the song became the fourth by the band to surpass one billion streams onSpotify.[6]
In January 2011, it was released in a Linkin ParkDLC pack forRock Band 3. The song is also aB-side to the UK single of "Iridescent", the theme forTransformers: Dark of the Moon.
Chester Bennington described the track in a March 2007 interview withMTV:
Joe [Hahn] came up to Mike and I and asked us to take the whole idea ofMinutes to Midnight and apply that to how the band has changed. So, in a way, it's us saying goodbye to how we used to be...The lyrics in the first verse are 'In this farewell, there's no blood, there's no alibi,' and right away, you'll notice that the band sounds different: The drums are much more raw, the guitars are more raw and the vocals aren't tripled. It's just us out there .... and that's howRick Rubin wanted it.[7]
The single and video appeared in theiTunes Store shortly after midnight EST on April 2, 2007. It became available the day after on iTunes in the UK and Australia. On April 2, the song was featured streaming on the front page of their official website, with the video being added to the site shortly thereafter.
The song is composed in the key ofG minor.[8] It starts out with a short 3-secondguitar part and then apianomotif, before adding ahip hop-inspired drum computer line, and then introducing a raw-sounding guitar riff. When the song is played live at Linkin Park's concerts,Mike Shinoda plays the piano intro and the guitar after that. This song differs from most of Linkin Park's songs from previous albums in that it features almost no lead vocals from vocalist Shinoda, with the exception of a brief "na na na" refrain at the end. "What I've Done" was the last song written forMinutes to Midnight.[9] The song also has adownbeat exactly once every second, consistent throughout its entirety.
Shinoda created a remix of the song, which is called "What I've Done (Distorted Remix)", which is included as a B-side to "Bleed It Out". The remix was then included in the international tour edition ofMinutes to Midnight, as well as a track in the Linkin Park Underground-exclusive CDUnderground X: Demos.[10]
The music video for "What I've Done" was filmed in theCalifornia desert and was directed by Linkin ParkturntablistJoe Hahn.[11] The video begins with grass sinking down into the dirt, causing it to turn wet. It features footage of the band performing in an area outside of the city, interspersed with footage showing many political movements and humanitarian issues includingpollution,racism,Nazism, theKu Klux Klan,abortion,terrorism,Holocaust,deforestation,poverty,drug addiction,obesity,war,destruction, risinggasoline prices, and crimes committed by humanity. The video ends with the same clip from the beginning but played in reverse, where it has the grass re-growing. Some cutscenes, such as the traffic scene and thenapalm exploding, were also featured in theRise Against music video for "Ready to Fall". The video premiered on April 2, 2007, onMTV andFuse. It premiered onMTV Asia,MTV Germany,TMF Netherlands and Canada'sMuchMusic on April 3, 2007.
The video clip was featured and won on MTV'sBattle of the Videos against videos byEvanescence ("Sweet Sacrifice") andLil' Mama ("Lip Gloss").[12] The video also marks the first appearance of a Linkin Park video in the #1 spot on MTV'sTRL, hitting #1 six times so far. AOL currently has a live performance of "What I've Done" on their website.[13]MTV's James Montgomery called "What I've Done" the "biggest, baddest and best Linkin Park video of all time," praising the visuals as well as the numerous political figures and events occurring within the video. He summarized the video's message: "Hahn was smart — or brave — enough to inject a message here: the destructive power of man versus the unyielding beauty of nature, and where it all will undoubtedly end ()."[14]
As mentioned in episode 89 ofMTV Cribs, Chester's jacket was lent to him byYellowcard frontmanRyan Key.[15]
A second video, made exclusively for Australia, features a considerably different scenario from the first; instead of clips of human sin, the video tells the story of a woman (played byEmma Mullings) working at a government-run pharmaceutical company learning of a plan to develop a deadly new virus for "social control", and – with the help of several people dressed in black hooded sweatshirts with Linkin Park's logo on them – smuggles out several blood samples of a human test subject of the virus to expose the conspiracy. The video can be seen on YouTube and Linkin Park's Australian website.[16][17][18][19]
The song made big debuts on the US charts during the chart week of April 21, 2007. The song debuted in the top 10 of the US Hot 100 on April 10, 2007, at #7. It is the band's second highest debut to date on the chart (this title was previously held by "Somewhere I Belong" which opened at #47), earning "Hot Shot" debut of the week, and subsequently becoming the third highest position for a Linkin Park single to date on the Hot 100. The song was their highest debut until they released "New Divide" in May 2009. At the time of its debut it was only the eleventh song since 2000 to debut at #7 or higher on the Hot 100, and only the third song to do so by an artist not fromAmerican Idol. The song was partly fueled by digital sales, debuting at #4 on the digital chart. The song was certified 6× Platinum by theRIAA on May 12, 2022.[20] It reached 3 million downloads by early 2011, making it their most successful digital song in the US.[21] As of January 2015, the song has sold 3,700,000 copies in the US.[22]
In addition the song became only the third song ever to open at #1 on the Modern Rock chart, also becoming the band's seventh number one on the chart. It held the #1 spot on Alternative Songs for 15 consecutive weeks, at the time tying it withMarcy Playground's "Sex and Candy," and was the number one song for the year on this chart. The song also reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart, where it stayed for 8 consecutive weeks. In the iTunes music store, the song had reached number two. It was kept out of the top spot by "Give It to Me" byTimbaland. The music video is the first to reach the number 1 spot on TRL for Linkin Park video history. It has also become a moderate hit on theAdult Top 40, andPop 100 Airplay charts, peaking at number 21 and 17 respectively on those charts.
The song hit #6 in the UK once the physical format was released, making it Linkin Park's highest-charting UK single for over 17 years, until "The Emptiness Machine" reached #4 in September 2024.
In September 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Modern Rock Tracks (by which time it had been renamed to Alternative Airplay),[23]Billboard ranked "What I've Done" at number 64 on its list of the 100 most successful songs in the chart's history.[24]
"What I've Done" was featured in the 2007science fiction filmTransformers, where it appears in the final scene and theclosing credits. The song is also present onTransformers: The Album, which features the moviesoundtrack.[5] The song was also featured in the 2008 video gameGuitar Hero World Tour.[25]
Since August 2022, "What I've Done" has been used ininternet memes where the opening riff is dubbed over scenes from recent films, referencingMichael Bay's collaboration with Linkin Park in theTransformers film.[26]
All tracks are written by Linkin Park.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "What I've Done" | 3:29 |
| 2. | "Faint" (Live) | 2:46 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "What I've Done" | 3:28 |
| 2. | "Faint" (Live) | 2:46 |
| 3. | "From the Inside" (Live) | 3:31 |
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[77] | Platinum | 90,000‡ |
| Germany (BVMI)[78] | 2× Platinum | 600,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[79] | Platinum | 50,000‡ |
| Japan (RIAJ)[80] Full-length ringtone | Gold | 100,000* |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[81] | 2× Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[82] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| Sweden (GLF)[83] | Gold | 10,000^ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[84] | Platinum | 30,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[85] | 2× Platinum | 1,200,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[86] | 6× Platinum | 6,000,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Country | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | April 2, 2007 | Digital download | Warner Bros. |
| Hybrid Theory |
|
|---|---|
| Reanimation | |
| Meteora |
|
| Collision Course | |
| Minutes to Midnight | |
| A Thousand Suns | |
| Living Things | |
| Recharged | |
| The Hunting Party | |
| One More Light | |
| Papercuts | |
| From Zero | |
| Featured songs | |
| Other songs | |
| Films |
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| Music |
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| Video games | |||||
| Related | |||||
