Pompeii (song)

The song has a tempo of 127.5 beats per minute and is written in the key of A major with a chord progression of D-A-F♯m-E. According to Dan Smith, the song is written as a conversation between two victims of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, stating in an interview, "I was reading a book that had some picture of the people who got caught up in the volcanic eruption. And it's just such a kind of dark powerful image, and it got me thinking about how boring it must have been emotionally after the event. To be sort of stuck in that same position for hundreds and hundreds of years. So, the song is sort of an imaginary conversation between these two people who are stuck next to each other in their sort of tragic death pose." ==Music video==

The official music video was filmed in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California. It was directed by Jesse John Jenkins and produced by Tova Dann. The video was first released onto YouTube on 20 January 2013 at a total length of three minutes and fifty-two seconds. The video follows Bastille frontman Dan Smith, as he wanders about an empty-looking Los Angeles, before realizing the few people around all have unnatural vacant black eyes. He steals a car and drives into the desert to escape them, but the car breaks down and he soon realizes he has been infected as well. He climbs a mountain and looks out at the view, before turning around to reveal his own eyes have turned black as well. The story is an allegory for the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD in Pompeii. ==Track listing==

;Digital download • "Pompeii" – 3:34 • "Poet" – 2:44 • "Pompeii" – 4:22 • "Pompeii" – 4:23 • "Pompeii" – 3:37 • "Pompeii" – 4:52 ;7" vinyl single • "Pompeii" – 3:34 • "Poet" – 2:44 ;CD single • "Pompeii" – 3:34 • "Pompeii" – 3:36 ;BRITs performance digital download • "Pompeii/Waiting All Night" – 5:47 ==Reception==

Critical reception For Pitchfork, Amy Phillips named "Pompeii" among her favourite songs of 2013, praising its composition: "...backing vocals that ring out both ominous and joyful, the kind of chorus that feels like the sun breaking through a thunderstorm." In contrast, NME had a more mixed review, with Lucy Jones observing "juddering keyboard parts ripped directly from New Order's 'Temptation'" while acknowledging the song was "not horrible". Commercial performance The song reached number one in Scotland and Ireland, and peaked at number two in Italy and the UK. Previously, the single also held the record (now belonging to Clean Bandit's "Rather Be") for the longest time at number one on the Official Streaming Chart, remaining at the peak for seven weeks, and was the second most streamed track of 2013 in the UK. "Pompeii" spent the anniversary of its debut at number 30, having re-entered the top 40 the previous week following a live performance (a mash-up with Rudimental's "Waiting All Night") at the 2014 BRIT Awards. It spent a record 92 consecutive weeks in the top 100 (since matched by "Happy" by Pharrell Williams). With over 26 million streams by June 2014, "Pompeii" became the most streamed song of all time in the UK at that time and has sold 895,000 copies there. The B-side track "Poet" has also managed to chart in the UK at #121. The song reached number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in October 2013 and began climbing the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It peaked at number 5 in the Hot 100 in March 2014 and reached a million in sales in the US. By March 2014, the song had reached top 5 in the Hot 100 in its 29th week, and has sold over two million digital copies. By the end of its US run, Pompeii had managed to chart for a total of 53 weeks in the top 100 as well as sell 3 million digital sales mark by June 2014. As of December 2014, the song has sold 3.4 million copies in the US. In September 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Alternative Songs (which by then had been renamed Alternative Airplay), Billboard published a list of the top 100 most successful songs in the chart's history; "Pompeii" was ranked at number 48. Grammy Award nomination A dance remix of the track by Audien was nominated for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classic at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. It lost to Tiësto's remix of John Legend's "All of Me". ==Credits and personnel==

Credits adapted from Bad Blood. • Backing vocals – Ralph Pelleymounter, Jon Willoughby, Ian Dudfield, Josh Platman, Alex Martinez • Bass – William Farquarson • Drums – Chris "Woody" Wood • Mastering – Bob Ludwig • Mixing – Mark 'Spike' Stent, Matty Green • Recording – Mark Crew • Producer, programming, keyboards – Mark Crew, Kyle Simmons • Writer, vocals, piano – Dan Smith • Label – Virgin Records ==In popular culture==

Media • The arcade machine featured in the cover art is Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. • The song is featured in the trailers for the 2014 DreamWorks animated film Mr. Peabody & Sherman • The Kat Krazy Remix edit is used in the 2013 video game Need for Speed Rivals. • It is featured in the British soap opera Hollyoaks and the TV series Reign in the third episode of the first season, "Kissed". • The song is featured in the official soundtrack of the First Touch game First Touch Soccer 15 as No. 1 and the Konami game Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 as No. 3. • The cast of Glee performs "Pompeii" as the closing number of the season 5 finale. • In 2014, the song was part of the soundtrack for Malhação: Sonhos, the twenty-second season of the Brazilian soap opera Young Hearts, which aired on TV Globo. • The song was used for an advert by EE in January 2020 as part of their 5G promotion. • The lyrics are referenced in an in-game achievement for the video game Civilization VI, as part of the Gathering Storm DLC. The achievement requires the player to lose a city's population from Vesuvius' eruption while playing as the Romans. • In August 2020, the song's chorus became an Internet meme involving a before and after shot of countries, states or provinces viewed on a map, usually disappearing or changing after the line "But if you close your eyes" is sung, as well as a major meme in the NASCAR and Formula One community over similar events that look almost exactly the same, such as finishes or crashes. • The song has been featured in Samba de Amigo: Party Central. • In 2024, the song appears in Fortnite in Fortnite Festival as a jam track. • In season 5 episode 2 of Superstore (TV series), area manager Jeff explains to Amy that when he was giving a Cloud9 company director a lift in his car he chose to play the song. ==Cover versions==

Belgian singer Heleen Uytterhoeven recorded a cover version in Latin, the language spoken in Pompeii, the namesake of the song. Bustle magazine noted that the YouTube video contained commenters arguing in Latin over the accuracy of her translation. In 2023, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the song, Bastille collaborated with German composer Hans Zimmer to produce Pompeii MMXXIII, an orchestral re-arrangement of the original song. ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications==