Billboard 200 since 1996's No Code, while also topping the charts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Reviews for Backspacer were largely positive, praising the sound and composition, and the album became Pearl Jam's first chart topper in the U.S. Physical copies of the record were sold through Target in North America, and promotion included a deal with Verizon, a world tour, and moderately successful singles " The Fixer" and "Got Some"/" Just Breathe". The band released the album through its own label Monkeywrench Records with worldwide distribution by Universal Music Group via a licensing agreement with Island Records. The album-the shortest of the band's career-features lyrics with a more optimistic look than the politically infused predecessors Riot Act and Pearl Jam, something frontman Eddie Vedder attributed to the election of Barack Obama. Material was recorded at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, and O'Brien's own Southern Tracks Recording in Atlanta, Georgia.
It was recorded from February through April 2009 with producer Brendan O'Brien, who had worked on every Pearl Jam album except their 1991 debut Ten and 2006's self-titled record-although this was his first production credit since 1998's Yield. The band members started writing instrumental and demo tracks in 2007, and got together the following year to work on an album. Backspacer is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released on September 20, 2009.