Twenty One Pilots‘ ’Heathens’ Video Hits 2 Billion Views on YouTube
Twenty One Pilots‘ videography has hit yet another milestone. The group’s video for “Heathens” has now reached two billion views on YouTube, marking its second visual to reach the two billion mark after its smash hit “Stressed Out.”
Originally released as the lead single from the Suicide Squad soundtrack in June 2016, the video features members Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph in Belle Reve, a prison in the DC Comics universe. As Joseph makes his way though the jail, he meets up with Dun at the jail’s center and plays “Heathens” for a group of inmates. Footage of the movie’s cast members (Jared Leto as the Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Will Smith as Deadshot) are interspersed throughout the dark visual.
Following its release, “Heathens” was a success for the rock duo. The track spent a total of 39 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 2. The song marked the band’s second to chart in the No. 2 spot on the all-genre tally, right after its other smash “Stressed Out.”
“Heathens” additionally earned three nominations at the 59th annual Grammy Awards for best rock song, best rock performance and best song written for visual media. While at the Electric Castle Music Festival in Romania in July 2022, Twenty One Pilots performed the song as a mash up with the Stranger Things theme song. “This performance could save me from vecna any day of the week,” the hit Netflix show’s official Twitter account declared.
Revisit the music video for “Heathens” above.
Starr Bowenbank
Billboard