The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me” has joined the Spotify Billions Club. The second single from the band’s multi-platinum 2004 debut, Hot Fuss, has been filling dancefloors for over twenty years.
“This is the story of trying to meet someone in a club,” frontman Brandon Flowers said of the song, which features an androgynous chorus: “Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend/Who looked like a girlfriend.”
Forming in 2001, the Las Vegas quartet gigged relentlessly in the US and first gaining an international foothold when an early version of future hit “Mr. Brightside” premiered on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show in August 2003. The band signed with Island and began working on their debut album with producer Jeff Saltzman during that same year. An encounter with The Strokes’ Is This It made Flowers rethink the band’s approach: “When we put it on in the car, that record just sounded so perfect. I got so depressed after that, we threw away everything, and the only song that made the cut and remained was ‘Mr. Brightside.’”
Both “Mr. Brightside” and “Somebody Told Me” had already cracked Top 10s on both sides of the Atlantic when Hot Fuss was released on June 7, 2004. The album went to No.7 in the US and No.1 in the UK and soon gathered a series of Grammy and BRIT Award nominations. The Killers’ next album was 2006’s Sam’s Town.
In 2023, “Mr Brightside,” was named the most-streamed song on Spotify in the UK. Last year, Guinness World Records recognized’ “Mr. Brightside” for its extraordinary chart success in the United Kingdom, becoming the longest stay by a group. Also in 2024, The Killers celebrated the 20th anniversary of Hot Fuss with a special Las Vegas residency, performing the record front to back for the first time ever.
Buy The Killers song “Somebody Told Me” on vinyl now.
