Their fourth album, Zelluloid, was released in 2004, and the band followed this up with another successful tour, which led to the necessity of a live album. That collection, Gastspiel, hit shops at the start of 2005. A DVD release soon followed, and by 2006 Unheilig were back in the shops with not one but two releases -- a studio record, Moderne Zeiten, and a live offering, Goldene Zeiten. In 2008, Unheilig released their eighth album, Puppenspiel. Festival appearances and tours followed, and Puppenspiel got a re-release as a "Touring Edition" with bonus tracks.
In 2010, the band scored its first number one in its home country when Große Freiheit topped the German charts. Released in February of that year, it claimed the top spot for 23 non-consecutive weeks, a record for a German artist at the time. (Große Freiheit was also made available as a "Fanbox Edition" box set, which included a flag and a book written by Der Graf detailing the making of the album.) A live album followed before Unheilig released Lichter der Stadt in early 2012, which proved to be another hit in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Lichter der Stadt was also reissued in a special collector's edition, helping to boost the album's sales to quadruple platinum status in Germany, and a live album from the supporting tour (simply called Lichter der Stadt: Live) appeared before the end of 2012.
In 2013, Der Graf published a biography of the group, Als Musik Meine Sprache Wurde, which also appeared in a seven-disc audio edition read by Unheilig's frontman. One year later, the band curated a compilation, Alles Hat Seine Zeit: Best of Unheilig 1999-2014, then released Gipfelstürmer by the end of 2014. It promptly became their third consecutive studio album to reach number one in Germany. ~ Chris True, Rovi