The singles "Sex on Fire", "Use Somebody", and "Notion" all peaked at number one on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, "While Ivan preached at churches and tent revivals throughout Oklahoma and the Deep South, his boys attended services and were occasionally enlisted to "bang on some drums".

Except for a five-year period when they settled in Jackson, Tennessee, the Followills' childhoods were spent driving through the southern United States in a purple 1988 Oldsmobile, camping for a week or two wherever Ivan was scheduled to preach.

[2] When the boys' father resigned from preaching and their parents divorced in 1997, Nathan and Caleb relocated to outside Nashville and originally embraced country music.

[4] By 2002, Nathan and Caleb had received interest from a number of music labels and eventually signed with RCA Records, which initially insisted on putting a band together for the two of them.

Later in the interview Caleb admitted to the brothers "kidnapping" their cousin Matthew from his hometown in Mississippi for him to join the band.

The release of Holy Roller Novocaine gave Kings of Leon a significant amount of exposure, receiving a 4/5 star rating from Rolling Stone magazine.

The Followills' debut album, Youth and Young Manhood, was released in the UK in July 2003 and in the United States that August.

[7] According to Rolling Stone magazine, the band's retro-chic look and blend of Southern boogie and gritty garage rock inspired comparisons to both Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Strokes.

The band's second album, Aha Shake Heartbreak, was released in the UK in October 2004 and in the United States in February 2005.

[8] The band garnered accolades from several of their rock peers, including Elvis Costello, and also toured with U2, Bob Dylan and Pearl Jam during 2005 and 2006.

[19][20] Kings of Leon also performed on March 14, 2009, at Sound Relief, a benefit concert, for the Victorian Bushfire Crisis.

[23] Only by the Night was certified Platinum in the United States by the RIAA for selling one million copies in less than a year after its release.

The footage was filmed in London's O2 Arena on June 30, 2009, when the band performed a 22-song set in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 18,000 people.

"[26] The show featured songs from the four first of the band's albums, and Nathan continued by saying, "We just put the cameras in the back of our minds and acted like they weren't even there.

[31] On July 27, 2011, during a concert in Dallas, Texas, singer Caleb Followill appeared to be heavily intoxicated and slurred incomprehensibly between songs, often rambling about nothing.

[32] On August 1, 2011, the band announced through their website that the remainder of their US tour would be canceled with no reschedules due to dates they already had scheduled.

On August 23, 2012, when asked if it was the end of Kings of Leon with Smoke & Jackal announced, Jared said "Not even close.

[36] Kings of Leon bassist Jared Followill confirmed that the band had finished recording their sixth LP, which was reported by NME to be released in September.

"[41] In August, the band announced that the album title would be Walls (acronym for We Are Like Love Songs), and that it would be released October 14, 2016.

Later that year, marking the 15th anniversary of Aha Shake Heartbreak, the song "Where Nobody Knows", another B-side, was made available digitally for the first time.

[citation needed] On March 31, 2020, the band released a live acoustic recording of its first new song in more than three years, "Going Nowhere"—later renamed "Supermarket" and be included on their eighth studio album When You See Yourself—through YouTube and various social media platforms.

[47] The band became the first to sell a newly-released album in the form of a non-fungible token, a type of cryptocurrency that contains unique assets such as music and art.

[53] The European premiere was hosted at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 25[54] and was followed by an interview session with the band.

The members of Kings of Leon dislike Glee and refused to let them use their music, and as fans of Sunny, asked to make a guest appearance.

[citation needed] In 2016 the Northern Ireland national football team made a historic run into the finals of the UEFA European Championships – branded as EURO 16 and held in France.

Lana Del Rey mentions the band in the song "White Dress" from her 2021 album Chemtrails over the Country Club.

The cover of the Mechanical Bull album appears in the 2021 video game Life Is Strange: True Colors and the characters listen to the song "Don't Matter".

The band was selected to play as part of the festivities of the 2021 NFL draft at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.