Total Eclipse of the Heart

For the episode of "The Vampire Diaries", see Total Eclipse of the Heart (The Vampire Diaries).

"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
Picture sleeve of UK and some European releases
Single by Bonnie Tyler
from the album Faster Than the Speed of Night
B-side
Released11 February 1983 (UK)[1]
12 June 1983 (US)[2]
Recorded1982[3]
StudioPower Station, New York City[3]
Genre
Length
  • 6:58 (album version)
  • 4:30 (single version)
Label
Songwriter(s)Jim Steinman
Producer(s)Jim Steinman
Bonnie Tyler singles chronology
"Sayonara Tokyo"
(1981) 		"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
(1983) 		"Take Me Back"
(1983)
Music video
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" on YouTube

"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is the lead single by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler from her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983) written and produced by Jim Steinman and recorded in 1982, released as a single by CBS/Columbia in 1983.

The song, a duet with Rory Dodd, became Tyler's biggest career hit, topping the UK Singles Chart, and becoming the fifth-best-selling single in 1983 in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the single spent four weeks at the top of the charts, keeping another Steinman penned song "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" by Air Supply from reaching the top spot (a song Tyler would later cover in 1995),[6] and it was Billboard's number-six song of the year for 1983. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Worldwide, the single has sales in excess of six million copies[7] and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over one million copies after its release, updated to platinum in 2001 when the certification threshold changed.[8] In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's third favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference BEL was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference RIAA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Flans, Robyn (16 September 2019). "Classic Tracks: "Total Eclipse of the Heart"". Mix. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  4. ^ Arena, James (2017). "Nicki French: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (1995)". Stars of '90s Dance Pop: 29 Hitmakers Discuss Their Careers. McFarland & Company. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4766-6756-0.
  5. ^ Billboard Staff (19 October 2023). "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  6. ^ Spencer, Samuel (21 April 2021). "Jim Steinman Dead: 10 Great Songs to Remember Him By". Newsweek. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Tyler releases new Total Eclipse". BBC News. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  8. ^ Grein, Paul (14 May 1989). "New Golden Rule: 500,000 Sales Mark for All Singles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  9. ^ Westbrook, Caroline (25 July 2015). "The Nation's Favourite 80s Number One: 12 more classic 80s chart-toppers which didn't make the cut". Metro. Retrieved 23 May 2017.