Flyleaf is the debutstudio album by American rock band Flyleaf. It was released on October 4, 2005 through Octone Records. A re-packaged CD/DVD special edition was released on October 30, 2007, which included additional acoustic tracks and music videos. The album was re-released on January 14, 2008 through Polydor Records in the United Kingdom, which included three additional acoustic tracks. While the band's then frontwoman Lacey Sturm prominently sings, her unclean vocals are frequent throughout the album. Lyrically, the album deals with topics such as Christianity, love and death. Flyleaf received mixed reviews from music critics. It debuted at No. 88 on the Billboard 200, selling more than 13,000 copies within its first week. Due to the band's growing exposure to fame in 2007, it eventually reached its peak of No. 57 on the week of September 17, 2007, and spent more than 133 weeks on the chart. It also topped the BillboardChristian Albums chart, and has since become the ninth best-selling Christian album of the 2000s. It has sold more than 1 million copies to date, and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Background
The album was released October 4, 2005. October 30, 2007 the band re-released this album repackaged as a CD/DVD Special Edition version. The Special Edition re-release has the same tracks as the original release, with the addition of acoustic versions of "Cassie", "Fully Alive", "I'm So Sick", "All Around Me", and "Red Sam". The DVD has exclusive interviews with Flyleaf and music videos of "All Around Me", "I'm So Sick" and "Fully Alive". The re-release also came packaged with a free ringtone of "All Around Me" and a "locker" poster. The album was re-released January 14, 2008 in the UK on Polydor Records but with only three additional acoustic tracks. When A&M Records teamed with Octone Records, the album was re-printed to show the new joint-venture label arrangement. This re-printed version had "Fully Alive" at a length of 2:34, replacing the original 2:48 version, and a different back cover artwork. The single "Cassie" was written in honor of Cassie Bernall, who was killed in the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.
Promotion
The album was hugely publicized on the website Purevolume. "I'm So Sick" appears in the game Rock Band and in the film, Live Free or Die Hard, and "Perfect" appears in the PC/Mac video game Guitar Praise. According to Rolling Stone, the band was among the 2008 breakout bands, along with Paramore.
Singles
Their first single released was "I'm So Sick".
Their second single, "Fully Alive", hit radio stations on June 6, 2006.
Their third and highest charting single is "All Around Me", reaching No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Their fourth and fifth singles, "Perfect", and "Sorrow", were then released.
Their sixth and final seventh singles were "Cassie", and "There for You", in which the latter of the two did not garner much attention.
Commercial performance
Flyleaf sold over 13,000 copies of the Special Edition CD/DVD in the first week. They jumped 59 spots on the Billboard Top 200 chart up to No. 62. In the second week of sales for the Special Edition CD/DVD, Flyleaf sold over 10,100 copies. To date, it has sold over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. certifying it as platinum. According to Billboard, the album was the ninth best-selling Christian album between the years 2000 and 2009.
