Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic power metal musical group, formed in 1996 in the town of Kitee, in eastern Finland. Nightwish is considered one of the bands responsible for the development and rise in popularity of symphonic metal at the end of the 1990s[1], and the creation of the symphonic metal genre.

Although the band has been prominent in their home country since the release of their first single, "The Carpenter" (1997) and debut album Angels Fall First, they did not achieve worldwide fame until the release of the albums Oceanborn and Wishmaster, which were released in 1998 and 2000 respectively. Their 2004 album, Once, led to Nightwish video clips being shown on MTV in the United States and inclusion of their music in U.S. movie soundtracks. Their biggest U.S. hit single, "Wish I Had an Angel" (2004), made it onto two U.S. film soundtracks as a means to promote their North American tour. The band produced three more singles and two music videos for the album, as well as "Sleeping Sun", from the 2005 "best of" compilation album, Highest Hopes, prior to vocalist Tarja Turunen's dismissal.

The extensive search for Turunen's replacement, during the course of which anyone could have been considered by submitting a demo, ended in mid 2007. The former Alyson Avenue frontwoman Anette Olzon was revealed to be the new singer on May 24. The band recently released a new album, Dark Passion Play, which features the charity single "Eva", the single "Amaranth", and the single "Bye Bye Beautiful" on September 28, 2007.

Current members

Anette Olzon - Vocals
Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboards
Emppu Vuorinen - Guitar
Marco Hietala - Bass, Vocals
Jukka Nevalainen - Drums

Former members

Tarja Turunen - Vocals (1996–2005)
Sami Vänskä - Bass (1998–2001)

Studio albums

Angels Fall First 1997

Oceanborn 1998

Wishmaster 2000

Century Child 2002

Once 2004

Dark Passion Play 2007

 Demos and EPs

Demo 1996 Demo - A demo including Nightwish, Etiäinen and The Forever Moments. Officially released only in Internet.

Over the Hills and Far Away 2001

Singles

"The Carpenter" 1997

"Sacrament of Wilderness" 1998

"Passion and the Opera"

"Walking in the Air"

"Sleeping Sun (Four Ballads of the Eclipse)" 1999

"The Kinslayer" 2000

"Deep Silent Complete" 2000

"Ever Dream" 2002

"Bless the Child" 2002

"Nemo" 2004

"Wish I Had an Angel" 2004

"Kuolema tekee taiteilijan"

"The Siren" 2005

"Sleeping Sun" 2005

"Eva" 2007 
 

"Amaranth" 2007

"Bye Bye Beautiful" 

Live albums

From Wishes to Eternity 2001

End of an Era June 1, 2006

Compilations

Wishmastour 2000

Tales from the Elvenpath 2004

Bestwishes 2005

Highest Hopes 2005