Iron Maiden are an English (England) heavy metal (heavy metal music) band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975. The band are directed by founder, bassist and songwriter Steve Harris (Steve Harris (musician)). Since their inception, the group has released a collective total of thirty albums: fourteen studio albums; seven live albums; four EPs (Extended play); and five compilations (compilation album).

Pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Iron Maidens original sound achieved success during the early 1980s and, after several lineup changes, the band went on to release a series of platinum and gold albums. These include the US platinum-selling landmarks The Number of the Beast (The Number of the Beast (album)) in 1982, Piece of Mind in 1983, Powerslave in 1984, the acclaimed live album Live After Death in 1985, Somewhere in Time (Somewhere in Time (album)) in 1986, and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son in 1988. Their second most recent studio effort, A Matter of Life and Death (A Matter of Life and Death (album)), was released in 2006 and peaked at number nine on the Billboard (Billboard (magazine)) 200 (Billboard 200) and at number 4 in the UK and is also one of the few rock albums to be certified platinum in India. Their newest album, The Final Frontier, will be released on August 16, 2010.

As one of the most successful heavy metal bands in history, Iron Maiden have sold over 75 million records under EMI and a total of over 100 million records worldwide with almost no radio or television support. The band won the Ivor Novello Award (Ivor Novello Awards) for international achievement in 2002, and were also inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk (Guitar Center#Hollywoods RockWalk) in Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California during their United States tour (Eddie Rips Up the World Tour) in 2005. As of October 2009, the band has played just over 2000 live shows during their career. For the past 30 years, the band has been supported by their famous mascot, "Eddie the Head", who has appeared on almost all of their album and single covers, as well their live shows.