Sonic Highways
Updated: 11/6/2025, 2:07:20 AM Wikipedia source
Sonic Highways is the eighth studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on November 10, 2014, through Roswell and RCA Records. Similar to their previous album, Wasting Light (2011), it was produced by the band with Butch Vig. In writing the album's eight songs, singer and guitarist Dave Grohl traveled to eight cities across the United States to conduct interviews with musicians, recording engineers, record producers, and other individuals discussing each city's musical history, which he used as inspiration for the songs' lyrics. The band and Vig then traveled to a different recording location in each city to record the songs. Each track features contributions from one or more musicians with ties to that city's musical history. The process was filmed for a companion television series, Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, which was broadcast on HBO in the months surrounding the album's release.
Infobox
Tables
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 6.4/10 |
| Metacritic | 68/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The A.V. Club | B− |
| The Daily Telegraph | |
| Entertainment Weekly | B |
| The Guardian | |
| NME | 7/10 |
| Pitchfork | 5.6/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Uncut | 8/10 |
| Chart (2014) | Peakposition |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) | 1 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) | 3 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 1 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) | 4 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) | 3 |
| Danish Albums (Hitlisten) | 4 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) | 2 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) | 5 |
| French Albums (SNEP) | 18 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 2 |
| Greek Albums (IFPI) | 39 |
| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) | 35 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA) | 5 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI) | 7 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) | 12 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) | 2 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) | 3 |
| Polish Albums (ZPAV) | 10 |
| Portuguese Albums (AFP) | 8 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) | 2 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) | 9 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) | 5 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) | 2 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 2 |
| US Billboard 200 | 2 |
| US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) | 1 |
| US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard) | 1 |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) | 1 |
| Chart (2014) | Position |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) | 16 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) | 61 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 20 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) | 110 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) | 47 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 72 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI) | 72 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) | 18 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) | 65 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 26 |
| US Billboard 200 | 99 |
| US Alternative Albums (Billboard) | 13 |
| US Hard Rock Albums (Billboard) | 5 |
| US Rock Albums (Billboard) | 20 |
| Chart (2015) | Position |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) | 76 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 32 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) | 156 |
| US Billboard 200 | 126 |
| US Hard Rock Albums (Billboard) | 3 |
| US Rock Albums (Billboard) | 13 |
| US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) | 9 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| Australia (ARIA) | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Austria (IFPI Austria) | Gold | 7,500* |
| Canada (Music Canada) | Platinum | 80,000^ |
| Germany (BVMI) | Gold | 100,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI) | Gold | 25,000* |
| Netherlands (NVPI) | Gold | 20,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ) | Platinum | 15,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Platinum | 316,770 |
| Sales figures based on certification alone.^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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