Everybody Wants to Rule the World (1985)

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a song by the English pop rock band Tears for Fears from their second studio album Songs from the Big Chair (1985). It was written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley, and Chris Hughes and produced by Hughes. It was released on 22 March 1985, by Phonogram, Mercury, and Vertigo Records as the third single from the album. Philosophical in nature, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a new wave and synth-pop song with lyrics that detail the desire humans have for control and power, and centres on themes of corruption.

An international success, the song peaked at number two in Ireland, Australia, and the United Kingdom and at number one in Canada, New Zealand, and on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox. It was certified gold by both Music Canada (MC) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Retrospectively, music critics have praised "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", with some ranking the song among the decade's best. Along with "Shout" (1984), it is one of the band's signature songs.

A music video received promotion from MTV. In 1986, the song won Best Single at the Brit Awards, and was re-recorded by the band as a charity single for the Sport Aid campaign the same year. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" has been covered extensively since its release, most notably by New Zealand singer Lorde for the soundtrack to the film adaptation of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013).

Background and release

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley and Chris Hughes, and produced by Hughes. The song was a "last-minute" addition during recording sessions of Songs from the Big Chair (1985). The decision to include the song in the album came after Orzabal played two chords on his acoustic guitar for Hughes. It was recorded in two weeks and added as the final track on the album. According to Orzabal, the final line in the song's chorus, originally written as "Everybody wants to go to war", contributed to his indifference towards the track.

In an interview with Mix magazine, Hughes said that "as a piece of recording history, [the song is] bland as hell". Orzabal's unimpressed reaction to the track during their songwriting sessions prompted Hughes to convince him to record it, in a calculated effort to garner American chart success. After completing their sessions at 6 p.m., they would spend an hour reviewing each recording many times; this helped Orzabal to create the song's guitar figure and change its title. Orzabal acknowledged that the shuffle beat used in the song was "alien" to their way of writing music, stating it was "jolly rather than square and rigid in the manner of "Shout", but it continued the process of becoming more extrovert." In a 2025 podcast, Orzabal stated that the basic rhythm track had been inspired in part by Simple Minds' "Waterfront" and in part by Linx's 1981 hit "Throw Away the Key". Curt Smith, the song's lead singer, said the themes were "quite serious — it's about everybody wanting power, about warfare and the misery it causes." In an interview with Guitar World, Orzabal recalled that the vocals were pitched up, as they felt the melody was not fast enough.