The ultimate indie-pop crowd-pleaser. The climax to any night out and wedding party. Ed Sheeran even heralds it the UK’s ‘national anthem.’
20 years ago this month, The Killers’ Mr Brightside came out of its cage, and it’s officially been doing just fine ever since. Official Charts today can confirm Mr Brightside to be the UK’s official biggest single of all time yet to reach Number 1.
In the 20 years since Mr Brightside made its debut on the UK Official Singles Chart, it’s made an indelible mark on British pop culture and turned Las Vegas band The Killers into honorary Brits. A synth-laden anthem about infidelity, Mr Brightside originally peaked at a somewhat modest Number 10, but has instead played the long game, going on to become the longest-running Top 100 hit in Official Chart history.
To mark 20 years since Mr Brightside entered the chart and the anniversary of the band’s debut album Hot Fuss which turns 20 this summer– Official Charts presented The Killers’ Brandon Flowers with a brand-new Official Top 10 Award to crown the record’s iconic status as the biggest Top 10 hit of all time.
The Killers are set to celebrate the moment with fans too as they return to the UK and Ireland this summer with the Rebel Diamonds Tour, performing 16 arena shows including four nights at Manchester’s Co-Op Live and six nights at The O2 in London.
It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this?
New Official Charts Company data unveiled today proves Mr Brightside to be the ‘holy grail’ Top 10 hit.
Based on latest combined UK sales and streams of 5.57 million (including 1.066m sales and 530,340,000 streams), the song is now confirmed by Official Charts to have overtaken Oasis’s Wonderwall to become the UK’s most successful song of all time yet to reach Number 1. In fact, Mr Brightside is now the third biggest song of all time in the UK when sales and streams are combined, surpassing WHAM!’s festive classic Last Christmas.
Originally released in 2003 with a 500 CD single run via UK indie record label Lizard King, Mr Brightside picked up steam following the release of 2004’s Number 3 single Somebody Told Me (and the release of an updated mix) – catapulting it into the Official Singles Chart at Number 10 in May 2004, still its highest position to date, before dropping out only a few weeks later.
Mr Brightside’s heartbreak-fuelled lyrics were written by Brandon Flowers aged just 20, and combined with Dave Keuning’s instantly-recognisable guitar riff the eventual record-breaker was born, debuting in 2002 at their first-ever show.
Fast forward to 2024, and the song has become an undeniable Official Chart classic, continuing to find new audiences in the streaming age. With 408 weeks – just under eight years – and counting in the Official Singles Chart Top 100, it’s the ultimate slow burner holding the title of the most weeks on chart of any song in UK Official Chart history.
20 years after its first chart appearance, the enduring Mr Brightside is still being streamed 1.8 million times per week by the British public. It’s already the third biggest song of all time in the UK based on combined sales and streams, with only Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? (2), and Shape of You by Ed Sheeran (1) ahead of Mr Brightside on the all-time leaderboard.
There’s no sign of it slowing, either. 2023 was the track’s biggest year of streams, with 79.97m plays, and in 2024 the track is accelerating further still with average combined weekly sales and streams of Mr Brightside up 23% year-on-year.
The song’s biggest week to date in the UK was in July 2019, when it clocked up 17,700 chart units following the band’s headline Glastonbury set, while 2012 was Mr Brightside’s biggest year of pure sales, when it was bought and downloaded 125,200 times.