Critical response

Fallen has received generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Johnny Loftus of Allmusic scored the album three and a half stars out of five, and named it an AMG Album Pick, saying, "The album does include flashes of the single's PG-rated nu-metal ("Everybody's Fool," "Going Under"). But it's the symphonic goth rock of groups like Type O Negative that influences most of Fallen." Loftus picked "Bring Me to Life

Bring Me to Life

"Bring Me to Life" is a song by American rock band Evanescence. It was written by Amy Lee, Ben Moody and David Hodges and produced by Dave Fortman. It also features guest vocals from Paul McCoy of the band 12 Stones. Wind-up released "Bring Me to Life" in 2003 as the lead single from Evanescence's...

", "My Immortal

My Immortal

"My Immortal" is a song by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on December 8, 2003 as the third single from their debut studio album Fallen. The song was entirely written by former guitarist Ben Moody, with the exception of the bridge, which was later added by Amy Lee, and it was...

", and "Tourniquet" as the AMG Track Picks. Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

also gave a generally positive review, scoring the album a B-, saying, "The genre now too old to be called nü-metal isn't exactly overflowing with spine-tinglingly great vocalists --let alone female ones. Amy Lee, lead singer of gloomy Arkansas rockers Evanescence, is an exception." Kirk Miller of Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

gave a more mixed review, scoring the album three out of five stars, saying, "When vocalist Amy Lee croons about lying 'in my field of paper flowers' or 'pouring crimson regret,' she gives Fallen a creepy spiritual tinge that the new-metal boys lack." Adrien Begrand of PopMatters

PopMatters

PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...

 was negative about the album saying that it's "basically as unoriginal and dumb as everything else in its genre, it has a small handful of transcendent moments, but a complete lack of musical adventurousness has the band mucking around either in stultifying nu-metal riffage, pretentious high school journal caterwauling, or even worse, both." However he praised Lee's "soaring, enchanting, [and] angelic" voice saying that "Evanescence would be nothing" without her. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

s Christa Titus called Fallen a "highly polished, hook-filled affair."

Commercial performance

Fallen was a commercial success, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide since its release in 2003. On the 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...

 the album debuted at number 7 with more than 141,000 copies sold in its first week. In the United States, it has sold more than 7.6 million copies. Fallen was the eighth best selling album of 2004 and the nineteenth best selling album of the 2000s. , it has spent 106 weeks weeks on the 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...

, with 58 weeks in the top 20. It peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200 on June 14, 2003, and re-entered the chart at number 192 on March 13, 2010. It spent over 223 weeks on the Top Pop Catalog

Top Pop Catalog Albums

Top Pop Catalog Albums is a fifty-position weekly albums chart produced by Billboard magazine which ranks the best selling catalog titles, regardless of genre. Billboard defines a catalog title as one that is more than eighteen months old and that has fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200...

 chart after falling out of the Billboard 200. The Recording Industry Association of America

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...

 (RIAA) certified it platinum

RIAA certification

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

 in April 2003, and by June 2008 it had reached seven times platinum.

On the 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...

, Fallen debuted at number 18 selling 15,589 copies. It reached number one with 38,570 copies seven weeks later, after "Bring Me to Life

Bring Me to Life

"Bring Me to Life" is a song by American rock band Evanescence. It was written by Amy Lee, Ben Moody and David Hodges and produced by Dave Fortman. It also features guest vocals from Paul McCoy of the band 12 Stones. Wind-up released "Bring Me to Life" in 2003 as the lead single from Evanescence's...

" topped the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. However it sold more than 56,193 copies in December 2003 which became its highest week of sales although it was at number 28 the same week. It later spent 33 weeks within the top 20, and 60 weeks within the top 75. The album re-entered the UK charts at number 35 following the week of the release of the band's second studio album, The Open Door

The Open Door

The Open Door is the second studio album by the American rock band Evanescence. It was first released in Poland on September 25, 2006, through Wind-up Records and subsequently in more than 20 other countries worldwide...

. , the album has sold more than 1,367,900 copies in the United Kingdom. It was also an international success, topping the charts in more than ten countries whilst charting within the top ten of more than twenty countries worldwide. After spending over three months in the top 10 on the 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...

, the album peaked at number one on August 13, 2003 selling 8,900 copies according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan

Nielsen SoundScan

Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...

.

Christian controversy

Evanescence was originally promoted in Christian stores. Later, the band made it clear they did not want to be considered part of the Christian rock

Christian rock

Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...

 genre, like fellow Wind-up Records artists Creed

Creed (band)

Creed is an American rock band formed in 1995 in Tallahassee, Florida. Becoming popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the band has released three consecutive multi-platinum albums, one of which has been certified diamond, and has sold over 28 million records in the United States, with an...

. In April, 2003 Wind-up Records chairman, Alan Meltzer, sent a letter to Christian radio and retail outlets to explain that despite the "spiritual underpinning that ignited interest and excitement in the Christian religious community," Evanescence are "a secular band, and as such view their music as entertainment." Therefore, he wrote, Wind-Up "strongly feels that they no longer belong in Christian markets." Almost immediately upon receipt of the letter, many Christian radio stations pulled Fallen songs from their playlists. Terry Hemmings, CEO of Christian music distributor Provident, expressed puzzlement at the band's about-face, saying "They clearly understood the album would be sold in these [Christian music] channels." In 2006, Amy Lee told Billboard that she had opposed being identified as a "Christian band" from the beginning. She further added, "Can we please skip the Christian thing? I'm so over it. It's the lamest thing. I fought that from the beginning; I never wanted to be associated with it. It was a Ben thing. It's over. It's a new day."

Track listing

Peak positions

Chart (2003–2005)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA 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... )	1
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40 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... )	1
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995...  Flanders)	3
Belgium (Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization...  Wallonia))	4
Canada (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	1
Denmark (Tracklisten Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... )	1
Europe (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	1
Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland ry, or Musiikkituottajat for short, is the umbrella organization of recording producers active in Finland, with 23 record labels as its members.-Activity:... )	1
France (SNEP 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... )	2
Germany (Media Control Charts 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... )	2
Greece (IFPI Greece IFPI Greece International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of... )	1
Italy (FIMI)	3
Japan (Oricon Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... )	7
Mexico (AMPROFON)	1
Netherlands (MegaCharts 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... )	2
New Zealand (RIANZ)	2
Norway (VG-lista VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... )	3
Portugal (AFP Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa The Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa is currently the only recording industry association in Portugal. Created in 1989, it succeeded GPPFV and UNEVA .... )	1
Russia (Russian Music Charts Russian Music Charts The Russian Music Charts are Russian music industry standard popularity rankings compiled weekly by 2M and Tophit . Albums and tracks rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through retail data captured electronically each week from Russian music retailers... )	1
Spain (PROMUSICAE PROMUSICAE Spanish Music Producers is a trade group representing the Spanish recording industry... )	69
Sweden (IFPI IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland...  Sweden)	3
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade 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... )	2
UK Albums (The Official Charts Company)	1
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...	3
US Hard Rock Albums (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	18

Certifications

Year-end charts

Chart (2003)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	15
Australian Heavy Rock and Metal Albums	2
Austrian Albums Chart	17
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	38
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)	17
Danish Albums Chart	25
Dutch Albums Chart	23
Finnish Albums Chart	2
French Albums Chart	10
Hungarian Albums Chart	81
New Zealand Albums Chart New Zealand Top 50 Albums of 2003 -Chart:-External links:*...	6
Swedish Albums Chart	5
Swiss Albums Chart	3
UK Albums Chart	16
US Billboard 200 Billboard Year-End Billboard Year-End charts are a cumulative measure of a single or album's performance in the United States, based upon the Billboard magazine charts during any given chart year. Billboard's "chart year" runs from the first week of December to the final week in November...	8
Chart (2004)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	7
Austrian Albums Chart	15
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	12
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)	16
Danish Albums Chart	52
Dutch Albums Chart	10
Finnish Albums Chart	16
French Albums Chart	20
Hungarian Albums Chart	28
New Zealand Albums Chart New Zealand Top 50 Albums of 2004 -Chart:-External links:*...	14
Swedish Albums Chart	39
Swiss Albums Chart	15
UK Albums Chart	59
US Billboard 200	6
Worldwide Charts	43
Chart (2006)	Position
UK Albums Chart	191

Decade-end charts

Chart (2000–09)	Position
Austrian Albums Chart	28
Dutch Albums Chart	67
U.S. Billboard 200	19

Chart procession and succession

Personnel

Credits are taken from Allmusic, and Fallens liner notes.

• Beverly Allen – choir, chorus
• Geri Allen – choir, chorus
• Zac Baird – programming
• Jay Baumgardner – mixing
• Sergio Chavez – assistant engineer
• Jason Cupp – assistant engineer, engineer
• Mark Curry – engineer, mixing
• Francis Dicosmo – bass
• Dave Fortman – mixing, producer
• Josh Freese – drums
• Al Fujisaki – assistant engineer
• Rocky Gray – composer
• David Hodges – composer, keyboards, piano, programming, string arrangements
• Melanie Jackson – choir, chorus
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Chris Johnson – programming
• John LeCompt – composer
• Amy Lee – arranger, composer, vocals

• Diana Meltzer – A&R
• Ben Moody – composer, engineer, producer
• Victor Murgatroyd – production supervisor
• Dean Nelson – assistant engineer
• Joanne Paratore – choir, chorus
• Jeremy Parker – engineer
• Leslie Paton – choir, chorus
• Graeme Revell – string arrangements
• John Rodd – engineer
• Edwards Sherman – art direction
• Tom Steel – stage crew
• Dwight Stone – choir, chorus
• Sam Story – assistant engineer
• Richard Stubbs – choir, chorus
• Bill Talbott – engineer
• Damon Tedesco – stage crew
• Talaya Trigueros – choir, chorus
• Susan Youngblood – choir, chorus

External links

• Fallen at Discogs
  Discogs
  Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...