The Killers’ ‘Mr Brightside’ overtakes Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ to smash huge UK singles record 

The iconic Killers song ‘Mr Brightside’ has officially broken a huge singles record in the UK.

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As announced today (May 9) by Official Charts, the now-legendary 2004 track has taken over from Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ to become the UK’s official biggest single of all time yet to reach Number One.

Released as part of their debut album ‘Hot Fuss’, which was shared 20 years ago this month, the song didn’t go on to top the charts, but did end up becoming an unmissable part of British culture.

Initially it dropped in 2003 as the follow-up to the band’s Number Three charting single ‘Somebody Told Me’, and the synth-laden anthem peaked at a somewhat modest Number 10 slot on the charts. However, two decades on, has gone on to become the longest-running Top 100 hit in Official Chart history.

According to new figures from the Official Charts Company, it has been shown that with UK sales and streams of 5.57million – including 1.066million sales and 530,340,000 streams – the song is now the UK’s most successful song of all time yet to reach Number One.

It has also been shown to be the third biggest song of all time in the UK when sales and streams are combined.

When it was first shared, it only spent a few weeks in the charts before dropping out, but fast forward to 2024 and the song has now spent 408 weeks (just under eight years) and counting in the Official Singles Chart Top 100 – holding the title of the most weeks on chart of any song in UK Official Chart history.

On average, it is being streamed in the UK around 1.8million times per week, and there’s no sign of it slowing, either. For example, 2023 marked the track’s biggest year of streams to date (79.97m plays), and for 2024, it is accelerating further still with average combined weekly sales and streams of ‘Mr Brightside’ up 23 per cent year-on-year.

Before then, the biggest week for ‘Mr Brightside’ was in July 2019, it clocked up 17,700 chart units after The Killers’ headline Glastonbury set. As for pure sales, 2012 marked the peak, when it was bought and downloaded 125,200 times.

“Thank you so much to all our fans for making ‘Mr. Brightside’ the third biggest song of all time in the UK, and the biggest ever not to have reached Number One; not yet at least,” the band told Official Charts, reacting to the news.

“This Top 10 Award means a lot to us, ‘Mr. Brightside’ has been completely embraced by the British public and we can’t wait to celebrate with you all on the road. Thank you for supporting us. See you soon!”

Martin Talbot, Chief Executive of the Official Charts added: “The success of ‘Mr Brightside’ is a triumph of extraordinary longevity, it is a song which has lived with so many of us throughout the recent decades of our lives – and, for some, an entire lifetime.

“Ed Sheeran is absolutely right to describe it as the UK’s alternative national anthem. And for this reason, among many others, it is a huge honour for us to have been able to present Brandon Flowers [frontman] with one of our brand-new Top 10 Awards in tribute to its legacy and impact. 20 years on from its first Official Singles Chart appearance, it is now the Top 10 hit that all other Top 10s can only aspire to be.”

Later this year, The Killers will be embarking on a series of festival appearances, including a slot at Mad Cool in Madrid, as well as a number of UK headline tour dates. The latter will come as part of the ‘Rebel Diamonds’ tour, and will see Flowers and co performing at 16 arenas, including four nights at Manchester’s Co-Op Live and six nights at The O2 in London.

Later this year, they will return to their Las Vegas hometown to celebrate their debut album with an eight-night residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The shows will see them performing ‘Hot Fuss’ in its entirety for the first time. Visit here for tickets to US shows and here for remaining UK tour tickets.

Back in December, Flowers spoke to NME about the future of The Killers and confirmed a new solo album.

Speaking about the history of the group, Flowers said: “We were always little different from the other Vegas bands back then because I noticed that there was this competition and rivalry between local bands. I wasn’t thinking about them – I was thinking about The White Stripes, The Strokes, and Oasis. I didn’t allow myself to get to U2 just yet, but I asked myself, ‘What is it that these bands are doing and why are they not still in their hometown?’ That’s what set us apart quite early on.

He continued: “We were different, and we were ambitious. Ambition can be seen as an ugly thing to some people but it has served us well. We were able to persevere and it’s kind of unbelievable.”

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