How to Save a Life
"How to Save a Life" is a song by American alternative rock band the Fray, released in March 2006 as the second single from their debut studio album of the same name.[1] The song is one of the band's most popular airplay songs and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, becoming the band's highest charting song. It became the joint seventh longest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, tying with Santana's "Smooth" (1999), at 58 consecutive weeks. The song has been certified 5× Platinum by the RIAA,[2] and has sold 4.7 million downloads as of January 2015, the fourth best-selling rock song in digital history.[3]
For other uses, see How to Save a Life (disambiguation)."How to Save a Life"
"How to Save a Life" is the band's biggest hit single, topping the Adult Top 40 chart for 15 consecutive weeks and topping the Canadian Airplay Chart. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2007, but lost to "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Lyrically, the song is a lamentation from the perspective of a person unable to help a troubled friend.
Composition[edit]
Written in the key of B-flat major, it has a moderately fast tempo of 120 beats per minute. The Fray's vocals range from the note of B♭3 and F5.[6]
Commercial performance[edit]
The song is the band's first to achieve significant popularity outside of the United States. "How to Save a Life" was a top five hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Due to an early leak by BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom, where it was the band's debut single, the song was released in the territory five weeks earlier than planned. It debuted at number 29 on the UK Singles Chart on January 21, 2007, via downloads alone. Instead of its planned release date which was to be March 26, 2007, the single was physically released in the United Kingdom on February 28 and gradually rose up the chart, reaching number five on February 25, staying there for four weeks. It eventually peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart on April 8 and became Britain's eleventh biggest-selling song of 2007.[7] On March 29, "How to Save a Life" peaked at number 1 in Ireland, becoming their first and only number one single in the country to date. The song only stayed at the top spot for a week but sales still proved strong after it fell from number 1.
The song was ranked No. 24 on Billboard's Best Adult Pop Songs of the Decade,[8] and No. 47 on Billboard's Top 100 Digital Tracks of the Decade.[9] It was also ranked No. 58 on Billboard's Hot 100 Songs of the Decade[10] and No. 56 on Rhapsody's list of the Top 100 Tracks of the Decade.[11] The song was the 25th most downloaded song of all time on iTunes as of February 2010.[12] The song has sold over 4.7 million copies in the US as of January 2015.[13]
The Fray
Production
Produced by Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn