Only by the Night is the fourth studio album by American rock band Kings of Leon, released in September 2008 through RCA Records.

The album was recorded by producers Jacquire King and Angelo Petraglia in April 2008 at Nashville's Blackbird Studio.

[6] Worldwide sales of the album exceed 6.2 million copies, according to a press release by the band.

Recording began in February 2008 in Nashville's Blackbird Studios with assistant engineer, Lowell Reynolds.

According to producer Jacquire King, the live performances of the main parts of each song were recorded onto 16-track analog tape and later transferred to a Pro Tools system for overdubbing and mixing.

"Crawl" was released via the band's website as a free download for a short time, although it was not the first proper single.

Another fan favorite was the album's opening track "Closer," which features a three note riff by bass player Jared Followill that utilises a Boss ME50 multi-effects pedal to add a distinctive octave sweep reminiscent of the DigiTech Whammy.

[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63/100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Record sales showed it chasing Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends for the fastest selling album of the year in Ireland and the UK.

[6] "Sex on Fire" was awarded with the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals on February 8.

[28] In February 2009, it was announced that Only by the Night is currently the biggest selling digital album of all-time in the UK, surpassing Amy Winehouse's Back to Black.