"The Young and the Hopeless" debuted at number seven on the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 copies. By August 2003, the album had sold over 2 million copies, and by October 2004, 3 million. At that time, the album was still charting on the "Billboard" 200, 2 years after its release. The album's singles lifted the band from modern rock to top 40 radio stations, with all three major singles crossing over to the format. Each had major success in MTV's "Total Request Live". As of 2011, it had sold over 3.5 million copies in the US. The album reached number 18 and 104 on the "Billboard" 200 year-end charts in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The album charted at number 6 in New Zealand, number 7 in Sweden, number 9 in Australia, number 15 in the UK, number 20 in Austria, number 24 in Japan, number 46 in Switzerland, number 52 in France, and number 57 in the Netherlands.