North is the fourth studio album by American rock band Matchbox Twenty. It was released on August 28, 2012 in Australia and September 4, 2012 through Atlantic Records worldwide. It is the first album from the band to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 95,000 copies in its first week. It is also the first album of all new material that the band has released since More Than You Think You Are in 2002, although they recorded six new songs for their 2007 compilation album Exile on Mainstream. It's also their first full-length studio album since rhythm guitarist Adam Gaynor's departure from the band in 2005.

On September 4, 2010, while on VH1's Top 20 Music Video Countdown, Thomas stated that Matchbox Twenty was planning to start working on their next studio album in mid-September of that year. Due to the band members living in different locations, their first recording sessions took place in New York City, Los Angeles, and Nashville where Rob Thomas, Paul Doucette, and Kyle Cook were living, respectively. As a result of the different recording environments, the group amassed a large amount of material of various styles which could have become multiple albums.

During a three-month period when the group was living and recording in Nashville, record producer Matt Serletic visited the studio where the band was recording and it was decided to have Serletic produce the final album. The band started with about 60 songs before spending three months in Nashville, which had dropped to around 20 songs when the band started recording at Serletic's Emblem Studios in Calabasas, California.

The final album was cut down to 12 songs and was primarily recorded at Emblem Studios with additional recording at Electric Lady Studios, Studio Eleven:17, Sweatshop Studios, and Dark Horse Recording Studio.

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