Counting Stars

"Counting Stars"
Single by OneRepublic
from the album Native
Released June 14, 2013
Format
Recorded August 2012[1]
Genre Folk pop
Length 4:17
Label
Songwriter(s) Ryan Tedder
Producer(s)
OneRepublic singles chronology
"If I Lose Myself"
(2013)		 "Counting Stars"
(2013)		 "Something I Need"
(2013)

"If I Lose Myself"
(2013)		 "Counting Stars"
(2013)		 "Something I Need"
(2013)
Audio sample
  • file
  • help
Music video
"Counting Stars" on YouTube

"Counting Stars" is a song by American pop rock band OneRepublic from their third studio album, Native (2013). The song was written by lead singer Ryan Tedder, and produced by Tedder and Noel Zancanella. Musically, it is a folk pop song with a disco beat. It was released as the album's third single on June 14, 2013.

The song has been one of the band's most successful singles, reaching number one in many countries including Canada and the United Kingdom, number two in the United States, and top ten in 20 countries. It has sold over 1 million copies in the United Kingdom.

The song's accompanying music video, directed by James Lees, features the band performing in the ground floor of a building beneath an ongoing church congregation on the upper floor.[2] As of September 2018, the video has received over 2.4 billion views on YouTube and is the 13th most watched video of all time on the site.[3]

Background and composition

Ryan Tedder stated that "'Counting Stars' came about [in August 2012] as an idea. It was probably the most versions of any song[...]to get it right". He also called it "one of [his] two favorite songs on the [Native] album".[1] Tedder started writing "Counting Stars" while waiting for Beyoncé to turn up to a studio session, about a month after starting to write "Love Runs Out".[4] In an interview with the Official Charts Company, Tedder said, "I had the idea for Counting Stars originally in the summer of 2012 when I was in the Hamptons. I was working in the largest house I've ever stepped foot in, which was being rented by Jay-Z and Beyoncé. I was in the middle of working on my most recent album with OneRepublic, Native, and during that time I was determined not to work with any other artists. I broke the promise because I also did sessions that year with Beyoncé. When Jay-Z and Beyoncé invite you to stay with them in the Hamptons, you don't say no!"[5] He continued: "I was out there for about five days and on the second day I woke up early and I started combing through the internet, searching for stuff that would inspire me for Beyoncé. I ended up coming across this weird song that had this indigenous folk sound to it that just struck me like lightning. I didn't like the verses or lyrics, but I loved the feel and movement of it. That ended up inspiring Counting Stars. I debated playing it for Beyoncé and putting it forward for her album, but it didn't feel like a song Beyoncé would record. I immediately came up with the chorus idea, went home and for the next three months finished the Native album."[5]

"Counting Stars" is a folk pop song with a disco beat.[6][7] Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post said that the song is "an extremely effective (and infectious) song — with Tedder's polished pop hijacking a folk song, and a little R&B attitude in there as well."[8] The band explained that the song is about "laying in bed awake at night when you're stressed out of your mind, thinking 'How are we gonna make ends meet? How are we gonna pay the bills?' You know, all those things you wanna do with your life - how are we gonna make them work? How's this actually gonna happen or come to pass? So, instead of counting sheep, we're counting stars."[1]

According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, the song has a tempo of 104 beats per minute before increasing to 122 beats per minute. The song is written in the key of C♯ minor, and follows a chord progression of C♯m-E-B-A.[9]

Music video

The music video was filmed on May 10, 2013, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and premiered on May 31, 2013. The video features the band performing the song in a gloomy ground floor of a building surrounded by hanging light bulbs, interspersed with scenes of several people in a religious revival service on the upper floor. At the end of the video, the ceiling is demolished, causing one of the people in the service to fall through the floor, coming through the ceiling of the room the band is performing in. The video also shows clips of an alligator crawling through the ground floor.[10]

The video became the first music video by a band in history to reach 1 billion views, doing so on November 2, 2015.[11] It has received over 2.4 billion YouTube views, and, as of September 2018, is the 13th most viewed video on the site, as well as the second most viewed music video among group artists.[3] It also has over 8.3 million likes, placing it in the top 20 most liked videos on the same site.

Commercial performance

"Counting Stars" debuted at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 6, 2013.[12] The song peaked at number two on January 18, 2014, and stayed there for two weeks behind "Timber" by Pitbull, featuring Ke$ha.[13][14] The song spent 25 consecutive weeks in the top ten, and finished fifth for the most total weeks on the Hot 100 after spending 68 weeks on the chart.[15] It is tied with "Apologize" as OneRepublic's highest peaking single in the United States, and is their third US top-ten hit. The song has sold over 5.3 million copies in the US as of December 2014.[16]

In Canada, the song set the record for the longest climb to number one on the Canadian Hot 100, reaching number one on its 34th week on the chart on February 8, 2014. The song has topped the charts in Canada, Finland, Israel, Poland, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom,[17] and charted within the top ten in 20 countries, including attaining top five placements in Australia, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand. In the United Kingdom, "Counting Stars" spent 34 consecutive weeks inside the top 40.[18] On October 11, 2014, the Official Charts Company confirmed that "Counting Stars" had sold 1 million copies in the UK.[5]

Track listing

  1. "Counting Stars" – 4:17
  2. "Counting Stars" (Lovelife remix) – 3:55

Credits and personnel

Recording[20]
Personnel[20]

Covers and parodies

Bellator MMA used the song to promote their eleventh season on Spike.[27]

"Counting Stars" was used in the end credits and in some of the TV spots for the 2014 sci-fi film Earth to Echo.

The song was also featured in the international trailer for Xavier Dolan's 2014 film, Mommy.

The song was used in "74 Epiphanies", episode 11 of Rookie Blue's 6th season.

The song appeared in 2015 video game Guitar Hero Live.

"Counting Stars" was used in the game MLB Perfect Inning 16 for mobile devices by Gamevil.

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[86] 7× Platinum 490,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[87] Platinum 30,000*
Belgium (BEA)[88] Gold 15,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[89] Diamond 800,000^
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[90] Gold 15,000^
Germany (BVMI)[91] 3× Gold 450,000^
Italy (FIMI)[92] 4× Platinum 120,000*
Mexico (AMPROFON)[93] 2× Platinum 120,000*
New Zealand (RMNZ)[94] 2× Platinum 30,000*
Sweden (GLF)[95] 5× Platinum 200,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[96] Platinum 30,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[97] 2× Platinum 1,070,000[98]
United States (RIAA)[99] Diamond 5,300,000[16]
Streaming
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[100] 3× Platinum 5,400,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[101] 2× Platinum 20,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
double-daggersales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Release history

Regions Dates Format(s) Label(s)
Austria[19] June 14, 2013 CD single
Germany[19]
Switzerland[19]
United States Radio (Top 40)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 OneRepublic - Counting Stars (Track By Track) on YouTube
  2. ↑ "Counting Stars | OneRepublic | Music Video". MTV. Viacom Media Networks. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
  3. 1 2 MyTop100Videos (April 30, 2017). "Most Viewed Videos of All Time (Over 375 million views)". YouTube. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  4. ↑ Ryan Tedder's #Hangout. 4Music. August 19, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Fletcher, Harry (October 12, 2014). "OneRepublic's Counting Stars surpasses one million UK sales". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  6. ↑ David Lindquist (July 29, 2014). "Summer Playlist: August and September concerts". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  7. ↑ Mark Beaumont. "OneRepublic review – 'Relentlessly catchy'". the Guardian. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  8. ↑ Baca, Ricardo (March 29, 2013). "OneRepublic goes "Native" making music for the masses". The Denver Post.
  9. ↑ OneRepublic "Counting Stars" Sheet Music. musicnotes.com
  10. ↑ "OneRepublic on Twitter". Twitter. May 10, 2013.
  11. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20151102201817/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT_nvWreIhg. Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ↑ "Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart - Week of July 6, 2013". Billboard. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart - Week of January 18, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart - Week of January 25, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart - Week of October 18, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  16. 1 2 "The Big 9 in 2014: Interscope". HITS Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. December 10, 2014. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  17. ↑ "OneRepublic reclaim UK singles top spot with Counting Stars". officialcharts.com.
  18. ↑ "2014-04-12 Top 40 Official Singles Chart UK Archive". Official Charts. April 12, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "ONEREPUBLIC | Counting Stars (2-Track): OneRepublic – Diskografie". Universal Music Group. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
  20. 1 2 Native (CD booklet). OneRepublic. United States: Mosley Music Group, Interscope Records. 2013.
  21. ↑ "Michelle Chamuel and OneRepublic Sing 'Counting Stars' on The Voice 2013 Finale". wetpaint.com. June 18, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  22. ↑ RJ Frometa. "Destiny Nashville Launches Label with 'The Cover Up' feat. Secondhand Serenade, Amy Stroup, Elenowen & more". Ventsmagazine.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  23. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=047ik7kkEm0
  24. ↑ "The Vamps and R5 perform OneRepublic's 'Counting Stars' in London - Watch". Sugarscape. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  25. ↑ ""Training Hard" A Pokémon Parody of Counting Stars - NateWantsToBattle". Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Alex Goot and Chrissy Costanza - One More Night". YouTube. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Bellator MMA Returns to Spike TV Friday, September 5th". Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  29. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – OneRepublic – Counting Stars" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  30. 1 2 "Ultratop.be – OneRepublic – Counting Stars" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  31. 1 2 "Ultratop.be – OneRepublic – Counting Stars" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  32. 1 2 "Hot 100 Billboard Brasil - weekly". Billboard Brasil. April 2014. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  33. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
  34. ↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201349 into search.
  35. ↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201420 into search. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  36. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". Tracklisten.
  37. ↑ "OneRepublic: Counting Stars" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  38. ↑ "Lescharts.com – OneRepublic – Counting Stars" (in French). Les classement single.
  39. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". GfK Entertainment Charts.
  40. ↑ "Greece Digital Songs – June 7, 2014". Prometheus Global Media. June 7, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2014. (subscription required)
  41. ↑ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Rádiós Top 40 játszási lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
  42. ↑ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
  43. ↑ "Chart Track: Week 32, 2013". Irish Singles Chart.
  44. ↑ "One Republic – Counting Stars Media Forest". Israeli Airplay Chart. Media Forest.
  45. ↑ "Top Digital Download - Classifica settimanale WK 6 (dal 03-02-2014 al 09-02-2014)" (in Italian). FIMI.
  46. ↑ "Luxembourg Digital Songs - July 27, 2013". Billboard. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  47. ↑ "Mexico Ingles Airplay". Billboard. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  48. ↑ "Top 20 Ingles: Del 10 Al 16 de Febrero del 2014" (in Spanish). Monitor Latino. RadioNotas. February 17, 2014. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  49. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – OneRepublic" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  50. ↑ "Charts.nz – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". Top 40 Singles.
  51. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". VG-lista.
  52. ↑ "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  53. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  54. ↑ "SNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201341 into search.
  55. ↑ "SNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201429 into search. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  56. ↑ "SloTop50: Slovenian official singles weekly chart" (in Slovenian). SloTop50. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  57. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – OneRepublic – Counting Stars" Canciones Top 50.
  58. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". Singles Top 100.
  59. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". Swiss Singles Chart.
  60. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  61. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  62. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard.
  63. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  64. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  65. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard.
  66. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Latin Airplay)". Billboard.
  67. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Latin Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  68. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  69. ↑ "OneRepublic Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard. Retrieved March 27, 2014.
  70. ↑ "Pop Rock General". Record Report (in Spanish). R.R. Digital C.A. September 28, 2013. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  71. ↑ "2013 Year End Singles Chart". ARIA. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  72. ↑ "Best of 2013: Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  73. ↑ "Top 100 Singles Jahrescharts 2013" (in German). VIVA. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  74. ↑ "MAHASZ Rádiós TOP 100 - radios 2013" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
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  81. ↑ "FIMI - Classifiche Annuali 2014 "TOP OF THE MUSIC" FIMI-GfK: un anno di musica italiana" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  82. ↑ "SloTop50 | Slovenian official year-end singles charts" (in Slovenian). Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  83. ↑ Copsey, Rob (December 31, 2014). "The Official Top 100 Biggest Songs of 2014 revealed". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  84. ↑ "Hot 100 Songs – Year End 2014". Billboard.com. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
  85. ↑ "Adult Alternative Songs: Year End 2014". Billboard. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  86. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2016 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  87. ↑ "Austrian single certifications – One Republic – Counting Stars" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved June 28, 2018. Enter One Republic in the field Interpret. Enter Counting Stars in the field Titel. Select single in the field Format. Click Suchen. 
  88. ↑ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – singles 2014". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  89. ↑ "Canadian single certifications – Onerepublic – Counting Stars". Music Canada. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
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  91. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (One Republic; 'Counting Stars')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  92. ↑ "Italian single certifications – OneRepublic – Counting Stars" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  93. ↑ "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved April 29, 2014. Type One Republic in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Counting Stars in the box under TÍTULO
  94. ↑ "New Zealand single certifications – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". Recorded Music NZ.
  95. ↑ "OneRepublic - Counting Stars" (in Swedish). Grammofon Leverantörernas Förening. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  96. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (OneRepublic; 'Counting Stars')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
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  98. ↑ Myers, Justin (October 24, 2015). "Quiz: Who sold more?". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  99. ↑ "American single certifications – OneRepublic – Counting Stars". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 24, 2018. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
  100. ↑ "Certificeringer - OneRepublic - Counting Stars". IFPI Denmark. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
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