"It's Been Awhile" is a song by American rock band Staind, released on March 27, 2001, as the lead single from their third studio album, Break the Cycle (2001).

It spent a second-best 20 weeks at number one on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart[6] (behind "Loser" by 3 Doors Down) and a then-record 16 weeks at number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Aaron Lewis originally wrote this song around 1996 along with "Outside" slightly prior to the release of Dysfunction and performed it with a short-lived acoustic side project called J-CAT, before abruptly shelving it until 2000 during the recording sessions of Break the Cycle.

[7][8] Eric Aiese of Billboard reviewed the song favorably, saying that the group handles the ballad well and packs "a lot of punch into the cut."

The video switches between him writing a letter to his wife and the band performing in a room full of candles.