Around the Sun is the thirteenth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on October 5, 2004[5][6] on Warner Bros. Records.

It was commercially successful but received mixed reception and is often considered the weakest in the band's catalogue.

The song evolved from an instrumental demo titled "Harlan County with Whistling," recorded during the sessions for the band's 1994's album Monster and released with its 25th anniversary edition in 2019.

Although Rieflin was never officially inducted into the band as a member, he would serve as a regular auxiliary musician for R.E.M.

It was the band's first studio album to fail to chart a song on the Hot 100 since Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985.

[23] In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Around the Sun which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.

A remix of the song "Final Straw" appeared earlier in 2004 on the compilation album Future Soundtrack for America.