Everyone loves The Killers’ iconic song ‘Mr Brightside’ don’t they?
The song, which was released 20 years ago this month, has been named the UK’s official biggest single of all time yet to reach Number 1 by the Official Charts. It’s hard to believe that the song, which has been played to death since its release, never managed to reach the chart summit.
‘Mr Brightside’ originally peaked at Number 10 and it has gone on to become the longest-running Top 100 hit in Official Chart history. To mark the occasion, Official Charts presented The Killers’ frontman 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.
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 the third biggest song of all time in the UK when sales and streams are combined.
To date ‘Mr Brightside’ has spent 408 weeks in the Official Singles Chart Top 100. It is still being streamed 1.8 million times per week by the British public. 2023 was the track’s biggest year of streams with 79.97m plays. So far in 2024, the track is accelerating further still with average combined weekly sales and streams up 23% year-on-year.
Reacting to the news, The Killers exclusively told Official Charts: “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 1; not yet at least!
“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, Official Charts commented: “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 with one of our brand-new Top 10 Awards in tribute to its legacy and impact. Twenty 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.”
