Friday 21st September 2012 by Michael Baggs | Photos by WENN.com

Tags: Linkin Park

Linkin Park have joined Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Rihanna as being one of the few bands and artists to have passed 1 billion views on YouTube.

The achievement puts them ahead of Red Hot Chili Peppers' 327 million and Green Day's 245 million by quite some distance.

Justin Bieber is the most watched YouTube artist, having chalked up 2.8 billion views while Rihanna and Lady Gaga are in second and third places respectively.

2012 has been a year of big numbers for Linkin Park, as their 2000 album Hybrid Theory became only the 20th in history to sell over 10 million copies. In that landmark, they joined the likes of Shania Twain, Bob Marley and Backstreet Boys, all of whom have hit the 10m mark with their releases.

Hybrid Theory never reached number 1 on the US album charts but went on the become the biggest selling LP of 2001 with almost 5 million sales.

Metallica's self-titled 1991 album remains the biggest selling album since digital sales counting began with 15.8 million copies sold.

Below: Linkin Park live at Warsaw Festival