Mr. Brightside Turns 20: The Killers' Mega Hit Is STILL A Top 40 Single

Twenty years ago today The Killers came out of their cage with their debut single, ‘Mr Brightside’. And honestly, we’ve never been the same since.

Since then, frontman Brandon Flowers’ angsty song of paranoia and jealousy has spent a whopping five years in the UK charts and nearly 2 billion plays combined across streaming platforms.

Closer to home, ‘Mr Brightside’ is currently certified 17x Platinum in Australia (substantially higher than anywhere else) and can still be found in the Top 40 ARIA Singles Chart – peaking at #23 in January 2022, and is the longest-running track on Spotify’s Top Songs Australia at 352 weeks straight.

While the record-busting track holds a special place in Aussie hearts, minds, weddings, festivals, karaoke bars and 2017 AFL Grand Finals, it didn’t start out that way. Originally released on September 29, 2003, ‘Mr Brightside’… kinda flopped.

But the band’s second single ‘Somebody Told Me’ didn’t.

So they decided to try again, re-releasing ‘Mr Brightside’ in 2004 ahead of debuting their first album, Hot Fuss.

To say it worked was an understatement.