Album · 15 years old this year
The King of Limbs
The King of Limbs is Radiohead's eighth studio album, released on 18 February 2011. After the more direct approach of In Rainbows, the band went looking for less conventional song structures and recording methods. Working with producer Nigel Godrich, they built the record by sampling and looping their own playing. Thom Yorke called it "an expression of wildness and mutation", and the artwork by Yorke and Stanley Donwood draws on nature and spirits from fairy tales.
It divided listeners with its unusual production and shorter running time, yet Rolling Stone, The Wire, NME and PopMatters all named it among the year's best, and it earned five Grammy nominations. The video for "Lotus Flower", built around Yorke's dancing, turned into an internet meme. Live, the band added a second drummer, Clive Deamer, to handle the tangled rhythms.
The King of Limbs: tracklist, credits and charts
8 tracks · 37:34Tracklist
- 1BloomGreenwood, Greenwood, O’Brien, Selway, Yorke5:15
- 2Morning Mr MagpieGreenwood, Greenwood, O’Brien, Selway, Yorke4:41
- 3Little by LittleGreenwood, Greenwood, O’Brien, Selway, Yorke4:27
- 4FeralGreenwood, Greenwood, O’Brien, Selway, Yorke3:13
- 5Lotus FlowerGreenwood, Greenwood, O’Brien, Selway, Yorke5:01
- 6CodexGreenwood, Greenwood, O’Brien, Selway, Yorke4:47
- 7Give Up the GhostGreenwood, Greenwood, O’Brien, Selway, Yorke4:50
- 8SeparatorGreenwood, Greenwood, O’Brien, Selway, Yorke5:20
- Produced by
- Nigel Godrich
- Recorded at
- Home of Drew Barrymore (Los Angeles, California), Radiohead studio (Oxfordshire)
- Recorded
- May 2009 – January 2011
- Mixed by
- Nigel Godrich
- Engineered by
- Nigel Godrich
- Labels
- [no label], Self-released, TBD, XL
- Length
- 37:34
Line-up
- Yazz Ahmed · flugelhorn · guest
- Noel Langley · flugelhorn · guest
- Thom Yorke · lead vocals, vocals
- The London Telefilmonic Orchestra · strings · guest
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 · 2011 | 3 |
| UK Albums Chart · 2011 | 7 |
| US Alternative · 2011 | 1 |
| US Independent Albums · 2011 | 1 |
| US Top Rock Albums · 2011 | 1 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 2011 | 2 |
| Dutch Albums · 2011 | 2 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 2011 | 3 |
| Norwegian Albums · 2011 | 4 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) · 2011 | 5 |
All 26 charts
| New Zealand Albums · 2011 | 5 |
| Belgian Albums (Flanders) · 2011 | 7 |
| Irish Albums · 2011 | 7 |
| Scottish Albums · 2011 | 7 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2011 | 8 |
| French Albums · 2011 | 8 |
| Italian Albums · 2011 | 8 |
| Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico) · 2011 | 8 |
| Swiss Albums · 2011 | 8 |
| Swedish Albums · 2011 | 9 |
| Danish Albums · 2011 | 10 |
| Spanish Albums · 2011 | 10 |
| Austrian Albums · 2011 | 11 |
| Finnish Albums · 2011 | 13 |
| German Albums · 2011 | 13 |
| Greek Albums (IFPI) · 2011 | 13 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| Canada · 2011 | Gold |
| United Kingdom · 2011 | Gold |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
81.5
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
7.9k
ListenBrainz listeners
120k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
38k
Deezer fans (all editions)
More from Radiohead
Full discography →
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1992
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1992
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1993
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1994
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1994
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1994
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1995
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1997
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1998
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1998
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2000
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2001
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2001
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2003
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2004
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2007
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2007
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2008
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2008
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2009
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2011
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2016
KID A MNESIA
2021
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + wikidata; also seen: 2011-03-28 (musicbrainz)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 28 March 2011 | ignored lone early release dated 2011-02-18 |
| Wikipedia infobox | 18 February 2011 | |
| Wikidata | 18 February 2011 | |
| Deezer | 18 February 2011 | |
| Apple Music | 18 February 2011 | |
| US release | 29 March 2011 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 28 March 2011 | earliest UK or European date |
10 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 February 2011 | XW | [no label] | original | |
| 28 March 2011 | GB | Ticker Tape Ltd | 827565057672 | other |
| 28 March 2011 | GB | Ticker Tape Ltd | 827565057665 | other |
| 28 March 2011 | XE | Hostess Entertainment Unlimited | 827565057665 | other |
| 29 March 2011 | US | Ticker Tape Ltd | 827565057665 | other |
| 29 March 2011 | US | XL Recordings | 634904078720 | other |
| 9 May 2011 | GB | Ticker Tape Ltd | 827565057658 | other |
| 2016 | XE | XL Recordings | 634904078713 | other |
| 6 May 2016 | XW | XL Recordings | 634904078768 | other |
| 12 August 2023 | XW | XL Recordings | 634904078737 | other |
Cover art sources
itunes · native: native 3000x3000
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| itunes ✓ | 3000×3000 | native: native 3000x3000 |
| deezer | 1800×1800 | native |
| coverartarchive | 1653×1477 | rejected |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |