Although Nightwish has been prominent in their home country since the release of their first single, "The Carpenter" (1997) and debut album Angels Fall First, they did not achieve worldwide fame until the release of the albums Oceanborn, Wishmaster and Century Child, which were released in 1998, 2000 and 2002 respectively. Their 2004 album, Once, which has sold more than 1 million copies, led to the broadcast of Nightwish video clips on MTV in the United States and inclusion of their music in US movie soundtracks. Their biggest US hit single, "Wish I Had an Angel" (2004), made it onto three US film soundtracks as a means to promote their North American tour. The band produced three more singles and two music videos for the album, as well as "Sleeping Sun", from the 2005 "best of" compilation album, Highest Hopes, prior to vocalist Tarja Turunen's dismissal.
In May 2007, former Alyson Avenue frontwoman, Anette Olzon, was revealed as Tarja Turunen's replacement, and in the autumn, the band released a new album, Dark Passion Play, which has sold almost 2 million copies, with their big single, "Amaranth", being released one month before. The supporting tour started on October 6, 2007 and ended on September 19, 2009. A new E.P./live album, Made in Hong Kong (And in Various Other Places), was released in March 2009 as a MCD/DVD, and a seventh studio album, titled Imaginaerum, was released on November 30, 2011 in Finland, and December 2, 2011 in the rest of Europe.
Nightwish is the third-best-selling band and the third-best-selling musical entity in Finland with sales of over 900,000 certified copies. The group is also the most successful Finnish band abroad with more than 8 million records sold worldwide, and having collected over 60 gold and platinum awards.
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