Nightwish discography

src: en.metalship.org

The discography of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish consists of eight studio albums, one extended play, four live albums, seven compilations, thirteen music videos and twenty one singles. The band was formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen; Nightwish's current line-up has six members although Turunen has been replaced by Anette Olzon, and the original bassist, Sami Vänskä, has been replaced by Marco Hietala, who also took over the male vocalist part. Olzon left the band in 2012 and was replaced by Floor Jansen.

Although Nightwish has been popular in Finland since 1997 when they released their 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. The 2004 album, Once, had sold more than one million copies by the end of 2005 and allowed the band to host the Once Upon a Tour, concluded in Finland on October 21, 2005, when they played their last concert with Turunen on vocals and also when the End of an Era DVD was recorded. In May 2007, former Alyson Avenue frontwoman Anette Olzon was revealed as Turunen's replacement, and the album Dark Passion Play was released on September 26 after the singles "Eva" in May and "Amaranth" in August.

The next Nightwish single, "Storytime", was released on November 9, 2011, and the seventh studio album, Imaginaerum, was released on November 30 of the same year. It accompanied a movie of the same name, directed by Stobe Harju, who previously directed Nightwish's "The Islander" music video. The band started the Imaginaerum World Tour in the United States city of Los Angeles on January 21, 2012, at the Gibson Amphitheatre.

As of 2012, Nightwish has sold over 9 million records worldwide, including about 900,000 in Finland, over 1 million in Germany and over 500,000 in the U.S.