"On Top of the World" is a song by the American
rock band
Imagine Dragons first appearing on their major-label debut
extended playContinued Silence (2012). The song also appears on their first full-length album Night Visions (2012). "On Top of the World" was released digitally as a single on March 18, 2013.
"On Top of the World" primarily features Magne
guitar and
piano instrumentation, with vocals performed by lead singer
Dan Reynolds.[1] Originally published in the key of
C major,[2][1] the song itself expresses a celebration of accomplishment for the band after striving for years to become successful.[3] The song incorporates the chord progression of C-F-C-Dm in the verses, and F-C-G-Dm in the chorus and bridge, with the pre-chorus using Am and G to create a different break in the song.[4] The song "On Top of the World" is found to be a positive, upbeat track, unlike other songs found on Night Visions, including "
Bleeding Out" and "
Hear Me".[citation needed]
In media
Imagine Dragons performed the song live on the Australian version of The X Factor in 2013.[5]
On November 9, 2014, Australian
Furry YouTuber and singer, thatdancingdog, released a cover of the song featuring other guests from the Furry Down Under![a] convention in
Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia.[10]
In November 2017,
Ford used this song in their
Black Friday year-end event sales commercial.[13]
Music video
As a part of the
Palladia documentary Imagine Dragons: The Making of Night Visions, which originally aired on 7 November 2012, the band filmed a video of themselves performing "On Top of the World" and subsequently uploaded it to
YouTube.
On 13 November 2013 the band released an official music video for the song.[14] The video satirizes a
popular conspiracy theory that the 1969
Apollo 11 moon landings were faked, the footage having been directed by
Stanley Kubrick, and that Kubrick then made references to the fakery in various of his subsequent films. In the video, a rock band similar to
the Beatles (played by the members of Imagine Dragons) pretend to be astronauts for the faked Moon landing. The taping goes awry as fans of the band stream into the sound stage and turn the event into a rock concert, much to the chagrin of Kubrick and President
Richard Nixon, who is also on hand; though no one else watching, either in the studio or at home, seems concerned about the revelation of fakery, instead enjoying the music.[14] The video also briefly references another popular conspiracy theory from around the same time, that Beatles member
Paul McCartneydied in 1966 and was replaced by a
look-alike.[14]
The song peaked at 79 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 and 10 on the
Hot Rock Songs charts. It has also charted in the top ten in Australia (No. 10), Austria (No. 6), Netherlands (No. 10), New Zealand (No. 10), Poland (No. 7), and Portugal (No. 1). Despite having not yet been released to mainstream radio, it has received airplay on contemporary hit stations, such as 97.1 ZHT in Salt Lake City.
The song reached a million copies sold in the U.S. in April 2014. It is the fourth million seller from the Night Visions album.[18]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.
^Daniel, Reynolds; Benjamin, McKee; Daniel, Sermon; Alexander, Grant; Dragons, Imagine (7 January 2013).
"On Top of the World". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201449 into search. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201439 into search.
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201428 into search. Retrieved 10 October 2014.