Imagine Dragons Hits the Billion Club

Feb 7, 2019 | 5:00 AM

Imagine Dragons has joined the One Billion Club again: the Las Vegas band’s video for its hit song “Radioactive” has now surpassed one billion views on YouTube. The track, which appeared on the band’s 2012 debut album Night Visions, was initially released in October of that year but surged to popularity in 2013.

“Radioactive” became the second Imagine Dragons clip to hit one billion views, after the video for “Thunder” surpassed the milestone back in December 2018.

At its peak, “Radioactive” reached Number Three on Billboard‘s Hot 100 song chart, becoming the band’s first Top 10 single and the third best selling song in the U.S. in 2013. It also currently holds the record for most weeks spent on the Billboard Hot 100 at 87 weeks.

Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds told us a while back that producer Alex Da Kid was an important part of making “Radioactive” work: [“We knew that we wanted a powerful production for that song, and Alex has a really good, experienced resume with really, really big electronic drum sounds. And we wanted that song to be two worlds coming together: the acoustic, raw rock band vibe and that energy, and to bring that together with kind of almost an urban, hip-hop, electronic beat, and Alex really helped us.”] SOUNDCUE (:24 OC: . . . really helped us.)

Imagine Dragons continues to tour behind its fourth studio album, Origins, which debuted at Number Two on the Billboard 200 album chart last November.

Story source: NME

FAST FACTS:

  • “Radioactive” reached Number One in the U.S. and Sweden, while making the Top 20 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K.
  • It is Imagine Dragons’ most successful single to date and has been certified Diamond in the USA, making it one of the best selling singles of all time.
  • “Radioactive” received two Grammy Awards nominations for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance, winning the latter.

CHECK IT OUT: Watch the video for “Radioactive”: