"Apologize" is a song written by
Ryan Tedder, which first appeared on
Timbaland's second
studio albumShock Value (2007). It was then released as the third single from that album (fourth in Australia), along with the original recording by
OneRepublic. It accordingly also served as the debut single for OneRepublic's debut album Dreaming Out Loud (2007), produced by
Greg Wells. Timbaland's version omits the guitar solo after the second verse in the original, and includes an extra line of percussion, new backing vocals, and added sound samples, in addition to sound mixing and a few other minor changes. The song was the biggest radio airplay hit in the history of the
Mainstream Top 40 chart in the United States, with 10,394 plays in one week, until its record was broken by
Leona Lewis's "
Bleeding Love", which was also co-written by Tedder.[3] The song was a major hit internationally, reaching number one in 16 countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, Turkey, and the Netherlands, as well as staying at number one for eight consecutive weeks on the
Billboard Pop 100 chart. The song peaked at number two on the
Billboard Hot 100, staying in the top-10 for 25 weeks, and spent 13 weeks at number one in Canada.[4]
"Apologize" earned the band a
Grammy Award nomination for
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and was ranked number 50 on the list of the Billboard Hot 100's All-Time Top Songs list from the chart's first 50 years. It spent 25 consecutive weeks in the top 10, the longest stay there for any song since "
Smooth" by
Santana featuring
Rob Thomas, which spent 30 weeks in 1999.[5] It was also ranked number 10 on
Billboard's Hot 100 Songs of the Decade.[6]
Music video
An official video associated with the remix was filmed on September 19, 2007, and released in early October.[7] The video premiered on
VH1's Top 20 Countdown on October 27, 2007. The video was directed by
Robert Hales and was shot in a recording studio showing OneRepublic performing the song. The video also includes scenes from a
New Year's Eve countdown party, starring actor Brian A. Pollack.[8] In a third version of the video, also directed by Robert Hales and associated with the remix, Timbaland is portrayed remixing the song himself.[9] A European version of the video features clips of the film Keinohrhasen, starring
Til Schweiger. A Japanese version of the video was also made available for a short time. It features the same footage as the original but has more scenes from different camera angles. It also features footage of people falling and floating in the air in slow motion. The music video currently has 595 million views.[10]
Chart performance
"Apologize" was OneRepublic's breakout hit. In the United States, "Apologize" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for four non-consecutive weeks. It spent 11 weeks at number three and 25 weeks inside the top 10 and peaked at number three for 10 weeks on the
Hot 100 Airplay. It also topped the Billboard Pop 100 and became the third single from Shock Value to have topped the chart. It also became the album's first number-one single on the BillboardAdult Top 40. It is also the second consecutive single from Shock Value to reach number one on the US
Mainstream Top 40 radio. It became only the tenth song to sell over 5 million by May 2011 in the US.[11] As of February 2014, it had sold 5,819,000 copies.[12] In late 2009, the song was ranked in tenth place on the Billboard Hot 100 Decade-End chart, making it the highest-ranking song and the only top-10 ranking song on there to not top the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In the UK, "Apologize" climbed to number 32 on the strength of digital downloads alone, and peaked at number three. The song spent 28 consecutive weeks in the top 40 and 13 weeks in the top 10. The song ended 2007 as the year's sixteenth biggest selling single in Britain.[13] In Australia, the single debuted at number 10 on the
ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number one. It stayed at the top for eight consecutive weeks, and was certified 4× Platinum by
ARIA.[14][15][16] The song reached number one on both the
Canadian Hot 100 and
New Zealand RIANZ Chart. It is the most downloaded single of all time in Australia and New Zealand. On Billboard's official
European Hot 100 Singles chart, the song debuted at number 16, making it the highest debut chart position of any new act in the history of the chart. It later entered the top 10. The song went gold in Russia with 100,000 copies sold.[17]
Dutch symphonic metal band
Within Temptation covered the song as part of their weekly radio promos for their 15-year anniversary show, Elements. The song is also featured on their cover album The Q-Music Sessions.
Swedish alternative metal band
All Ends covered the song on their album All Ends.
On February 2, 2010, Soomo Publishing uploaded a parody version of this song, titled "Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration" to
YouTube, which has more than 12.5 million views as of July 13, 2022.[20]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^"Archived copy". 2m-online.ru. Archived from
the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2022.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 200808 into search. Retrieved September 13, 2012.