The Killers' 'Mr Brightside' sets record as longest-running UK chart hit without reaching number one

You’ve heard it on the radio, you’ve heard it at karaoke bars and you’ve probably been to a wedding or a family function where everyone took to the dance floor to belt out Brandon Flower’s lyrics. 

The Killers’ ‘Mr Brightside’ has been a perennial feature in UK culture as much as it has been on the UK singles charts, and despite never reaching the number-one spot, the track from the band’s first album has now earned the record for the longest-running single on the UK chart.

The song has achieved a remarkable feat by spending 408 weeks (seven years) in the UK top 100, surpassing the previous record held by Oasis with their hit song ‘Wonderwall,’ with the closest competitor being "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi, which has spent 234 weeks in the top 100.

“It’s funny. I don’t feel so much of it anymore. It just exists in the world,” lead singer Brandon Flowers revealed to the UK Charts company in an interview about the feat. “It’s amazing that I had something to do with it, but I almost feel a little bit removed from it because it’s so big.”

Flowers also recalled the moment he realised that the song had a significant impact on UK music fans: “We’d been coming to the UK and had some great experiences, but we’d been away for a little while. We came back [to play Glastonbury in 2004], and when we played that song something had obviously happened. A change had happened.

How many streams has ‘Mr Brightside’ amassed since it was released in the UK?

The song has been streamed a total of 530.3 million times. To be precise, 100 paid streams or 600 free streams are considered equivalent to one “sale”. Over the past 20 years since its initial release, the song has sold 1.1 million copies. 

Even after all these years, it shows no signs of losing its popularity. Last year was the song's biggest year of streams yet, with 79.97 million plays.

In 2024, the popularity of the song ‘Mr Brightside’ is on the rise, with average combined weekly sales and streams increasing by 23% year-on-year.

The song's highest performing week in the UK was in July 2019, when it achieved 17,700 chart units after being played during the band's headline set at Glastonbury., but in terms of pure sales, 2012 was the biggest year for ‘Mr Brightside,’ with 125,200 downloads.

Have The Killers ever had a number-one single in the United Kingdom?

Yes, they have, thankfully - their song ‘Human’ from the album “Day & Age” reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2008. This marked their first and only single to hit the top spot in the UK