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"Fireflies" is the debut single from American electronica project Owl City's album Ocean Eyes. Frontman Adam Young wrote how he enjoyed the fireflies in his hometown of Owatonna, Minnesota, and the rest of the track about seeing fireflies while he was awake with insomnia, with Matt Thiessen also producing and providing guest vocals. The song is built around a "bleepy" synthline and includes lyrics about insomnia, fireflies and summer.

"Fireflies"
Single by Owl City
from the album Ocean Eyes
B-side"Hot Air Balloon"
ReleasedJuly 14, 2009 (2009-07-14)
GenreSynth-pop[1]
Length3:48
LabelUniversal Republic
Songwriter(s)Adam Young
Producer(s)
Owl City singles chronology
"Fireflies"
(2009)		 "Vanilla Twilight"
(2010)
Music video
"Fireflies" on YouTube

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks. Outside of the United States, the song also topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. "Fireflies" was Owl City's only top 40 hit on Billboard Hot 100 until three years later when "Good Time", a duet with Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen, peaked at No. 8 on the chart.[3] It has been covered by Christina Grimmie, Cheryl Cole and others.

"Fireflies" is featured in the video game Disney Sing It: Party Hits, and was used in the promotional video for EyePet.[4] It is available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and Rock Band 3.[5][6]


Composition


Adam Young wrote "Fireflies" after being inspired by a camping trip he took up to a "totally rustic and kind of remote lake in northern Minnesota"; he tried to emulate the experience of seeing a meteor shower that gave him "a cool idea of shooting stars being fireflies."[7]


Chart performance


"Fireflies", when featured as iTunes' free "Single of the Week,"[8] garnered 650,000 downloads, influencing Universal Republic to move Ocean Eyes' release date from September 1, 2009, to July 28.[9] The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in early-September at No. 97.

The song reached No. 1 in its tenth week, becoming Owl City's first No. 1 single.[10][11] The song stayed at No. 1 for two non-consecutive weeks, in the top ten for fifteen weeks and on the Hot 100 for 31 weeks.[12] "Fireflies" contributed to sales of the album Ocean Eyes, and was credited as being responsible for its entry to the top ten on the U.S. Billboard 200.[13] On the Billboard Hot 100 2009 year-end chart, it was ranked sixtieth.[14] On the Billboard Hot 100 2010 year-end chart, it was ranked thirtieth.[15] The RIAA certified "Fireflies" 3× Platinum in June 2010.

The song attained success worldwide. In the United Kingdom, the song entered at No. 50 on the UK Singles Chart due to early download sales from a fake version that was leaked onto iTunes. The song would go on to make a 48-place jump to number two the following week, beaten only to the top by "Replay" by Iyaz. The following week, it rose to number one and topped the chart for three consecutive weeks. On January 2, 2011, it was revealed that "Fireflies" was the 20th most downloaded song of all time in the UK.[16] As of September 2017, the song has sold over 844,000 copies in the UK.[17]

In Australia, the song entered at No. 38 and on the week of January 10, 2010, it topped the chart.[18][19] In Japan, the song peaked at No. 3 and was ranked sixteenth on the 2010 year-end chart, the highest ranking for an international song for 2010.[citation needed] It reached No. 1 in Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (for 10 weeks) and the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Poland, Finland, Germany,[20] New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland. The song was ranked 89th on VH1's 'Top 100 songs of the new millennium'.[citation needed]


Music video


The music video for "Fireflies" was directed by Steve Hoover.[21] It features Adam Young playing the song on a Lowrey spinet organ in a toy-filled bedroom, where most of the toys (including an astronaut; a Tyrannosaurus rex; a Speak & Spell; toy cars, including one based on the UK children's TV character, Brum; and a blimp) come to life. Most of the toys are older model toys, with most of them from the 1970s and 1980s (the exceptions being a Robosapien and a Roboraptor). There are also vintage household devices such as a black-and-white television and a record player. As Young plays the organ, he activates a "magic" button on his organ, and the aforementioned toys come to life. As the song progresses towards the end, toys return to normal one by one until he turns off the magic button. The video ends with turning off his organ as the camera fades to black.

The video premiered on Myspace but was leaked onto Dailymotion sometime before, and YouTube soon after. As of May 26, 2022, the video has received over 450 million views.[22]


Legacy


American electronic producer James Ferraro, commonly credited with pioneering the electronic genre vaporwave, called "Fireflies" the best song of the 21st century, interpreting it on Twitter as having themes of mass surveillance and "circadian rhythm disorder from ever present [sic] devices".[23]


Internet meme


In May 2017, the song was repurposed as an Internet meme, usually involving the song being played at an extremely loud volume or being remixed to fit a certain theme.[24][25] Another variant of the meme involved writing a pun for the line "You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies".[26] The song received further notability in June when Owl City was asked to interpret the lyric "I get a thousand hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs."[24][27]


Track listing


European CD single

  1. "Fireflies" – 3:48
  2. "Hot Air Balloon" – 3:35

Charts



Certifications


Certifications for sales for "Fireflies"
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[92] 7× Platinum 490,000^
Belgium (BEA)[93] Gold 15,000*
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[94] Platinum 30,000^
Germany (BVMI)[95] Platinum 300,000
Italy (FIMI)[96] Gold 10,000*
New Zealand (RMNZ)[97] Platinum 15,000*
Sweden (GLF)[98] 2× Platinum 40,000
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[99] Gold 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[100] 2× Platinum 1,200,000[17]
United States (RIAA)[101] 7× Platinum 7,000,000

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.


Release history


Release dates for "Fireflies"
Region Date Label Format
  • United States
  • Canada[102]
 July 14, 2009 Universal Republic Digital download
Australia[103] November 9, 2009 CD single
United Kingdom[104][105] January 8, 2010 Digital download
February 22, 2010 CD single
Ireland[106] January 14, 2010 Digital download
Poland January 16, 2010 CD single
Germany January 22, 2010 CD single

See also



References


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На других языках

[de] Fireflies

Fireflies (dt. Glühwürmchen) ist ein Popsong des Musikprojekts Owl City, der als die erste Single des zweiten Albums Ocean Eyes veröffentlicht wurde. Der Song debütierte auf Platz 97 in den Billboard Hot 100, wurde später ein Hit und erreichte Platz eins in den Billboard Hot 100. Das Album erreichte Platz 8 in den Billboard 200.
- [en] Fireflies (Owl City song)

[es] Fireflies

«Fireflies» es el primer sencillo del álbum Ocean Eyes, del artista estadounidense Owl City. El vocalista de Relient K, Matt Thiessen, aparece como vocalista invitado en esta canción. «Fireflies» tuvo un gran éxito, llegando a lo más alto de las listas de Australia, Bélgica, Dinamarca, Irlanda, Suecia, Noruega, Reino Unido, Estados Unidos y Holanda. En 2018, "Fireflies" obtuvo la calificación de 7 veces Platino en Estados Unidos.

[ru] Fireflies

«Fireflies» (светлячки) — дебютный сингл Owl City (электропоп-проект Адама Янга) с альбома Ocean Eyes[en]. В записи сингла принял участие вокалист группы Relient K Мэтт Тиссен. Сингл завоевал мировой успех, возглавив чарты США, Австралии, Бельгии, Дании, Ирландии, Швеции, Норвегии, Великобритании и Нидерландов.


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