Three singles from the album have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 (all three reached the Alternative Songs Top Five), three singles have charted on the ARIA Top 50 and four singles have charted on the UK Top 40. It is the seventh best-selling rock song in digital history with sales of more than 5 million copies in the United States. Rolling Stone called it "the biggest rock hit of the year". It set the all-time record for the longest reign at the top of the Billboard Rock Songs chart, with 23 weeks and counting. Second single " Radioactive" reached #1 on the Billboard Alternative songs chart, Billboard Rock songs chart, Swedish Singles chart, and #3 Billboard Hot 100.
Single " It's Time" became the band's first single reaching #15 Billboard Hot 100 and holds the 2012 record for most weeks on the top 10 alternative charts with 32 consecutive weeks. It is certified gold in AUS, AUT, NZ, PHI, SWE, SWI, and NOR. It reached #2 on the Billboard 200 and United Kingdom Albums charts and is certified platinum in the USA, CAN, POR, and UK. Their debut album Night Visions brought the band mainstream success and made the highest debut for a new rock band in six years (since 2006). They were beginning the process of recording songs for their first album when Flaminio left the band, finalizing their lineup. They recorded another EP, Continued Silence, and released it in 2012. In November 2011 they signed with Interscope Records and began working with GRAMMY award winning producer Alex da Kid. They then recruited drummer Daniel Platzman, also a friend of Wayne's from Berklee College of Music, and keyboardist Theresa Flaminio. In late 2011, Andrew and Brittany Tolman left the band to settle down as a family. They released their third EP, It's Time, in 2011. Local accolades including "Best CD of 2011" (Las Vegas SEVEN Magazine), "Best Local Indie Band 2010" (Las Vegas Weekly), "Las Vegas' Newest Must See Live Act" (Las Vegas CityLife), Vegas Music Summit Headliner 2010, and more sent the band on a positive trajectory. Imagine Dragons were called to fill in and performed to a crowd of more than 26,000 people. After relocating to Las Vegas, they caught their first big break when Train's frontman fell sick just prior to the Bite of Las Vegas Festival 2010. With Reynolds singing lead, Imagine Dragons won BYU’s "Battle of the Bands" and other local competitions.
They later released their second EP, Hell and Silence, in June 2010. They relocated to Las Vegas and then released their first EP, Imagine Dragons, in September 2009. Lemke left the band soon after, and bassist Ben McKee was probably recruited sometime after the show, as he attended the talent show. They performed at a talent show in 2009 a few months before their first EP was released. Sometime between late 2008 and early 2009, Florence and Beck left the band, leading to keyboardist Brittany Tolman and guitarist Wayne Sermon were recruited. Reynolds and his management consider this a completely different band, although only two of the original members left before their first official EP, Imagine Dragons, was recorded. They recorded a few demos, some of which made it onto an unofficial EP. In Utah, Reynolds met and recruited the first Imagine Dragons members: guitarist Andrew Beck, keyboardist and violinist Aurora Florence, bassist Dave Lemke, and drummer Andrew Tolman.
Reynolds was reluctant to become a professional musician, partly because of what future band member Wayne Sermon told him: "Don't do music because you want to do music-do music because you can't do anything else." After beginning school at Brigham Young University, Reynolds felt like no other career choice fit, so he finally decided to fully commit to a career in the music industry. When Reynolds was 19 years old he volunteered full-time as a Mormon missionary in Nebraska for two years. Both are natives of Nevada, and Dan is a 4th generation Nevadan. Reynolds, seventh of nine children, was born on Jin Las Vegas to Ronald and Christene Reynolds.