bloc party's second album, "a weekend in the city", was produced by jacknife lee. it was published by wichita in the uk and vice records in the us and was released in february 2007. however, it was leaked in november 2006. it was released on the uk itunes store before in shops, and reached second place in the official uk chart. the album did just as well in australia and belgium. it entered at number 12 in the "billboard" 200, with 48,000 copies sold. the first single, "the prayer", was released on 29 january. it became the single which did the best in the uk top 40 for the band, reaching fourth place. before the release of the album, bbc radio 1 dj zane lowe played a live recording of the band at the maida vale studio, featuring both old and new songs, on his radio show on 30 january 2007. on 1 february 2007, "a weekend in the city" was made able free to listen to on the band's official myspace page.