Chasing Cars

For the act of vehicle pursuit, see Car chase.

"Chasing Cars"
Single by Snow Patrol
from the album Eyes Open
B-side
  • "It Doesn't Matter Where, Just Drive"
  • "Play Me Like Your Own Hand"
Released6 June 2006
Genre
Length
  • 4:27 (album version)
  • 4:08 (radio edit)
  • 3:41 (video version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jacknife Lee
Snow Patrol singles chronology
"You're All I Have"
(2006) 		"Chasing Cars"
(2006) 		"Hands Open"
(2006)
Music video
"Chasing Cars" on YouTube
Audio sample

"Chasing Cars" is a song by Northern Irish–Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol, released as the second single of their fourth album, Eyes Open (2006). It was released on 6 June 2006 in the US and 24 July 2006 in the UK.[2] The song gained significant popularity in the US after being featured in the second season finale of the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, which aired on 15 May 2006.[3]

"Chasing Cars" was one of the songs that revealed the impact of legal downloads on single sales in the UK, selling consistently for years after its release. The song is Snow Patrol's biggest-selling single to date, ending 2006 as that year's 14th best-selling single in the UK.[4] It was the last song performed live on the BBC's Top of the Pops that year.[5] Released in the post-Britpop period, the song peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart, and number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[6][7]

At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007, "Chasing Cars" was nominated for Best Rock Song, and at the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for Best British Single.[8][9] As of 2019, the song has spent 111 weeks in the official UK top 75, 166 in the top 100[10] and had sold over one million copies in the UK by October 2013.[11] It has also sold 3,900,000 copies in the US by January 2015, making it one of the top best-selling rock songs in the digital era.[12] In 2009, UK music licensing body PPL announced that "Chasing Cars" was the most widely played song of the decade in the UK.[6] Ten years later, it was revealed as the most-played song of the 21st century on UK radio.[5]

  1. ^ Cummings-Grady, Mackenzie (11 August 2020). "The Most Annoying Love Songs of the Early 2000s". Popdust. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Snow Patrol : Single : Chasing Cars". Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. ^ Philipp, Sven (24 June 2006), "Chasing Cars". Billboard. 118 (25):61
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference UK2006year was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "And the most-played song on UK radio is... Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol". BBC News. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars is most played of decade". BBC News. BBC. 30 December 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  7. ^ "Reviews". Billboard. 27 January 2007. p. 56.
  8. ^ "Snow Patrol". Brits.co.uk. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  9. ^ "49th Annual Grammy Awards – 2007". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  10. ^ "Chasing cars | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts.
  11. ^ "Avicii's Wake Me Up becomes one of the UK's biggest selling singles of all-time". Official Charts Company. 6 October 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference sales_us was invoked but never defined (see the help page).