Paramore and Hayley Williams' Official Top 20 biggest songs in the UK revealed

16 February 2023 | By George Griffiths

 

Since their debut in the mid-00s, Paramore have grown in stature, now widely regarded as one of the pillars of the pop-punk explosion, and now one of its most widely beloved vanguards.

 

In a career that has now spanned six albums - and an extra two solo records from frontwoman Hayley Williams - Paramore may have been defined by their early, raucous pop-rock roots, but they have moved inbetween genres and moves like a steadily flowing stream of water.

 

From the tender emo-pop of Brand New Eyes (2009), to their stunning New Wave re-invention in After Laughter (2017) and now to This Is Why's confidently jagged, hard post-punk soundscape (2023), there is a reason why to their loyal legions of fans Paramore are regarded, proudly, as the best band in the world.

 

To celebrate the release of This Is Why - which looks set to claim Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York their first Number 1 album in a decade, and third overall - we've crunched the numbers to reveal the biggest songs released by Paramore, and Hayley during her solo endeavours.

 

Before we reveal the Top 20 in full below, let's catch up on the Top 5, shall we?

 

5. Stay The Night (with Zedd)

Released: 2014

Official Singles Chart peak: Number 2

Total UK chart units: 504,000

Who's that? Hayley Williams? On an EDM song? In 2014?

 

In one of the many ruts of Paramore's revolving door of members (before the trio of Williams, York and Farro settled into their groove), Hayley dipped her toe once again into solo waters for this buoyant house anthem with Zedd. Released on the back of his career-making singles with Foxes (Clarity) and Ariana Grande (Break Free), Stay The Night burnt a fire up the Official Singles Chart, reaching Number 2.

 

4. Hard Times

Released: 2017

Official Singles Chart peak: Number 34

Total UK chart units: 675,000

And that is how you perform a sonic pivot so fully-formed and lived-in, it feels like it was the music you were born to make. Channeling heartbreak and anger in the midst of her divorce, Hayley Williams' solidified Paramore's sturdiest pairing of herself, York and Farro (returning from a seven year hiatus from the band) with their fifth album After Laughter. With its candy-coated melodies and suave 80s-pop influences, lead single Hard Times re-introduced Paramore as strong as they have ever been, making the best music of their career.

 

Hard Times ranks as Paramore's fourth most-popular song on streaming in the UK, with a combined total of 69 million streams.

 

3. Still Into You

Released: 2013

Official Singles Chart peak: Number 15

Total UK chart units: 952,000

The biggest hit from Paramore in the UK, Still Into You presents a softer pop edge to the band, helped along by its very Tumblr-esque visuals; with Hayley's bright, pink hair, yellow paint-splattered tights and quirky images of the band rowing a boat through balloons. It's their second-highest peaking track in the UK as a band, reaching Number 15, and is their most-downloaded too (259,000), as well as claiming over 80 million streams across audio and video.

 

2. Misery Business

Released: 2007

Official Singles Chart peak: Number 17

Total UK chart units: 1 million

The song that made Paramore's career, Misery Business hits you straight between the eyes as a guttural burst of fire and rage, as only a teenager in the midst of feeling her feelings can do.

 

Misery Business has of late been a bit of a murky spot in Paramore's discography, with Hayley herself retiring the song from their live sets, stating that she no longer agreed with its aggressive message. Time seems to have healed that wound, though. After a resurgence of the pop-punk moment which resulted in a hastily-added credit in Olivia Rodrigo's Good 4 U, Hayley performed the track with Billie Eilish at Coachella and since, the band have re-instated the song at their shows, although now they invite fans up on the stage to sing it for them.

 

You may be surprised to know Misery Business never actually reached the UK Top 10, settling for a peak of Number 17, while it's Paramore's biggest seller in the UK, cracking 1 million total chart units and over 88 million streams.

 

1. Airplanes (with B.O.B)

Released: 2010

Official Singles Chart peak: Number 1

Total UK chart units: 1.6 million

We like to think that, in an alternate universe, Hayley Williams used the success of Airplanes - her first UK Number 1 single and a Number 2 hit in the US - to break away from Paramore and live her best big pop girl life, but in hindsight it's probably best she didn't, as Petals For Armor sounded like the solo statement she always wanted to make.

 

Still, far be it for us to knock Airplanes. It still, and always has, slapped, and was a staple of the lived experience of any tween in 2010, it was everywhere.

 

So, Hayley's shining-star moment as a pop vocalist is her biggest track by far in the UK - with over 1.6 million total chart units, including the most downloads (825,000) and streams (101 million) of any song on this list.

 

Paramore and Hayley Williams' Official Top 20 biggest songs revealed

POS TITLE ARTIST YEAR PEAK

1 AIRPLANES B.O.B FT HAYLEY WILLIAMS 2010 1

2 MISERY BUSINESS PARAMORE 2007 17

3 STILL INTO YOU PARAMORE 2013 15

4 HARD TIMES PARAMORE 2017 34

5 STAY THE NIGHT ZEDD FT HAYLEY WILLIAMS 2013 2

6 AIN'T IT FUN PARAMORE 2013 N/A

7 IGNORANCE PARAMORE 2009 14

8 THE ONLY EXCEPTION PARAMORE 2008 31

9 DECODE PARAMORE 2007 52

10 CRUSH CRUSH CRUSH PARAMORE 2007 61

11 THAT'S WHAT YOU GET PARAMORE 2007 55

12 BRICK BY BORING BRICK PARAMORE 2009 85

13 MONSTER PARAMORE 2011 21

14 ROSE-COLORED BOY PARAMORE 2017 N/A

15 ALL I WANTED PARAMORE 2009 N/A

16 TOLD YOU SO PARAMORE 2017 N/A

17 AIRPLANES PT.II B.O.B/EMINEM/HAYLEY WILLIAMS 2010 N/A

18 FAKE HAPPY PARAMORE 2017 N/A

19 PLAYING GOD PARAMORE 2009 N/A

20 NOW PARAMORE 2013 39

 

©2023 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/p...evealed__38552/

#8 and above has sold 400k+ and #12 and above has sold 200k+.

 

Even factoring it being released in the streaming era, I'm amazed 'Hard Times' has shifted that much!

 

Their two big hits of 'Still Into You' and 'Misery Business' are both classics, but I'm also a big fan of 'Ignorance', 'The Only Exception', 'Decode', 'That's What You Get' and 'Now' from the singles listed here. Also pleasing to see 'All I Wanted' as their most popular album track!

Only ever been a casual fan of Paramore but 'Still Into You' is a classic :wub:

Mixed feelings about this list - glad that 'Misery Business' is their biggest seller still (poorly aged lyric aside it is still an all time banger), 'Still Into You' was never a big favourite for me. 'Ain't It Fun' is probably my least favourite single from them so ergh at that being so high despite not charting in the UK, I know it was huge in the US though so no big surprise it racks up strong catalogue streams. Also kind of expected 'The Only Exception' to be higher but again not that keen on that one so not complaining. Great to see 'Ignorance' (my fave from them) top 10 along with 'crushcrushcrush' + decent showings for 'Brick By Boring Brick' and 'Playing God' too!

 

A shame Hayley's proper solo stuff never took off enough to have even one song appear here, I really liked both of her solo albums. 'Airplanes' is cool though. 'Stay The Night' however is garbage oops

I never remember Hard Times being as big as that!

'crushcrushcrush' is probably my favourite of theirs (with 'Ignorance' a very close second), happy to see that in the top 10 :wub:

I started following the charts in 2009 and Airplanes was certainly one of the first tracks that I thought was in the UK top 40 for too long.

So happy to see how well "Hard Times" has done despite its low peak in the charts. Just had a look at its spotify numbers and has done ~345 million streams :o I am also happy "Ain't It Fun" is so high - it's a travesty it didn't chart in the UK. It became their first and so far only Top 10 hit in the US.

 

Great to see "Rose-Colored Boy", "Told You So" and "Fake Happy" making the list as well. After Laughter is probably my favourite album of theirs and happy to see some of the songs have longevity in the streaming era despite the lack of chart success. I wonder how close some of them are to silver - shame they didn't give any info outside of the top 5.

 

"All I Wanted" is such a fantastic album cut, as is "Playing God", so happy to see them in the list as well.

 

 

I started following the charts in 2009 and Airplanes was certainly one of the first tracks that I thought was in the UK top 40 for too long.

 

I remember that it got to #1 like 2 months before its release date as well. :lol:

 

I remember that it got to #1 like 2 months before its release date as well. :lol:

How could it have got to #1 before it was released? :lol:

 

'Airplanes' is a very special song to me for a personal reason so I still love hearing it on the radio (and Heart still seem to play it a fair bit).

'Emergency' is my absolute fave but I wasn't expecting that to show up or anything.

 

They've had some right bangers and it's nice they're still going strong and diversifying their sound. Although, seriously baffling single choices from both Riot and Brand New Eyes when 'When It Rains' and 'Turn It Off' respectively were right there!!

Love that Misery Business is the biggest Paramore song. An iconic song that was big in my life in my early 20s

How could it have got to #1 before it was released? :lol:

 

'Airplanes' is a very special song to me for a personal reason so I still love hearing it on the radio (and Heart still seem to play it a fair bit).

 

It got #1 just from downloads of the album track. There was no CD, single version, radio edit, remixes, etc. It didn't really matter that much and happened a few times with US post-album singles back then because they were released earlier there so already had music videos so they would get popular from the Internet, and UK radio would normally start playing singles (both pre-album and post-album) a couple of months before their release date anyway. But it was still impressive and most UK post-album singles would peak on their release week, especially when their single version was different to the album version.

Yeah 'Hard Times' has always felt massive to me despite the low peak, I heard it loads in 2017/18!

Article is confusing as says 'Still Into You' is Paramore's biggest hit in the UK but 'Misery Business' is their biggest seller in the UK. What is the difference? :kink: If they're talking about peak 'Ignorance' would be their biggest.

Article is confusing as says 'Still Into You' is Paramore's biggest hit in the UK but 'Misery Business' is their biggest seller in the UK. What is the difference? :kink: If they're talking about peak 'Ignorance' would be their biggest.

 

I'm guessing that combined with streams 'Misery Business' is ahead, but in terms of paid downloads/sales 'Still Into You' wins on that front?

 

*edit - ignore me, I've just re-read it again and concluded the writer of the article must be drunk.

Edited February 17, 20232 yr by Jessie Where

Maybe "the biggest hit from Paramore in the UK" means 'Paramore' the self-titled album? Probably not though :lol:

 

(I'm glad 'Decode' is top 10 :wub:)