There’s more to The Killers than ‘Mr. Brightside’. From Hot Fuss to Pressure Machine, we rank their 25 greatest songs.

One band I’ll have absolutely no shame in loving is Brandon Flowers-fronted rock outfit The Killers. Brought to you by way of fabulous Las Vegas, they’ve been adopted by the British public to an almost ridiculous degree. During their six-night Rebel Diamonds residency at the O2 Arena, they even stopped the set midway through to show England beating the Netherlands at the Euros, before launching straight into ‘Mr. Brightside’.

Flowers has since opted for a different, stripped-down approach on his new solo album THRASHER, going full Americana country after the experiments of Flamingo and The Desired Effect. But with that in mind, it feels like the perfect time to revisit The Killers’ catalogue in all its glory: unpretentious, crowd-pleasing, nostalgia-driven and packed with the kind of enormous singalongs that are almost impossible not to fall in love with.

Honourable mentions: My Own Soul’s Warning, The Cowboys Christmas Ball, Rut, Believe Me Natalie, Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf, Neon Tiger, Wembley Song, On Top & Bright Lights

25) For Reasons Unknown

The Killers’ own home run at a traditional rock record that shows they can write it as raw and as real as anyone. The fourth single from that album and when played live, its impact of being inspired by Flowers’ grandmother and her battle with Alzheimer’s gives it somewhat of a personal touch. One of the backbone tracks that really complements the gem that is Sam’s Town – embracing the vision that The Killers had for this core album.

24) Tranquilize

Originally left off my drafts until I was reminded just how good of a song ‘Tranquilize’ is - that tells you of its underrated status there and then - it’s another Sawdust gem that has you asking “how good are their records that this has to be left off it?” Lou Reed’s and Brandon Flowers’ vocals blend so well together, and instantly having Lou Reed on board increases the cool factor that comes so effortlessly. Stripped down and raw, it fits neatly into the same era of The Killers that gave us their cover of Dire Straits’ ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (which I have heard live), while Lou Reed’s understated creepiness brings its own strange sense of heart and joy.

23) The Ballad of Michael Valentine

Released in 2003 and repurposed in 2007 for Sawdust – a compilation of B-sides, rarities and covers, ‘The Ballad of Michael Valentine’ shows their depth in range and you’re just left wondering just how good their records had to be to leave something like this off. It’s a remarkable piece of work.

22) Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll

Released in two versions; both here and on cover album Sawdust – ‘Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll’ is a real triumph – stoked in sarcastic irony. Gritty synths and stripped back production give it a sense of energy that feels completely raw and rebellious. One day… just one day, maybe, they’ll play it live. It’s indie rock and roll for me… their poking fun at their status as being viewed as an indie rock band when they’re very much pureblood rock and roll shows them responding to their critics early on.

21) Run For Cover

The Killers back in anthemic mode for their late 2010s triumphant return after being away since ‘Battle Born’. Maybe it’s because this was the first time I got to see them live; in 2018 in Swansea, before competing with a stadium full of Ed Sheeran fans to get back over the bridge out of Wales, but there’s something about this record of Wonderful Wonderful that just works for me; and as one of its centre pieces, ‘Run for Cover’ bangs. “Run for cover but don’t look back / don’t be afraid of the fear that’s a played-out track”– man, this really sings and shows their ability to just pull you in completely. This was the first track that started the return to form as it felt like a callback to the Hot Fuss days – lyrically feeling like ‘Day & Age’ and its approach to humanity and politics, set to music that feels like an evolution of their early 2000s songs that dragged them kicking and screaming into the second half of the 2010s.

20) This Is Your Life

This is your life, ladies and gentlemen. “Candy talks to strangers / thinks her life’s in danger” opens the track – back in 2015, Flowers interviewed on the Andy Greenwald show to promote ‘The Desired Effect’ and was brought back into their setlist in the wake of Greenwald asking Flowers to play it more. It’s a song that creates an ability to evoke memories that you don’t even have – impossible not to be drawn under its spell and the lyrics really make you think here.

19) Miss Atomic Bomb

Before its bastardisation by the Chainsmokers ‘Miss Atomic Bomb’ calls back to the nostalgic 50s Americana and the fear of the Cold War and the nuclear age romance. Full of yearning and swoon-worthy lyrics – it’s a quasi-prequel to ‘Mr. Brightside’ – complete with the famous riff. “Making out with the Radio on / you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone… x2 / racing shadows on the moonlight” is full of heart and bursting with innocence lost – it’s hard not to be swept up in the hopes and dreams of a small town de-escalation – a move away from the blockbuster anthems of Day & Age into something entirely more personal.

18) This River is Wild

In terms of underrated Killers songs, it doesn’t get much higher than ‘This River is Wild’. In any other band’s discography, this is regarded as one of its biggest hits – but the sheer quality of Sam’s Town means that ‘This River is Wild’ is largely a forgotten extra. “or should I just get along with myself / I never did get along with everybody else” is tied into recapturing that era of existence that I was in in 2006 and whilst hopelessly, like all the best Killers anthems, full of cheese – isn’t that part of the fun and what makes them so great? They commit to the cheese – embrace it – and the second you realise that, the second you start to realise what the Killers are – not a band trying to be above their standard – but a band unashamed of what they are.

17) Shot at the Night

One of the first goes that the Killers had at a greatest hits compilation was ‘Direct Hits’ – released far too early and you could tell this was kind of a testing of the waters for ‘Rebel Diamonds’. But the longing and the lure that comes with ‘Shot at the Night’ and the freedom that comes with wanting to take a chance; run with it and escape it – the music video showing a young girl swept up by a daring man and escaping through the Vegas nights very much in love is peak The Killers optimism; alluring and faithful.

16) Human

“Are we human, or are we dancer?” One of the most successful songs the Killers ever put out especially in a post Mr. Brightside/Sam’s Town era – to do it on ‘Day & Age’; the album where they first started to “wobble” at that is some accomplishment. But wobble they did not – leaning into the grammatically incorrect refrain with a touch of swagger and class that pretty much commands respect for the fearlessness of the attempt. The techno rock space age of this song is stuck on my mind; good, bold and fearless.

15) Somebody Told Me

Written in B-flat minor, ‘Somebody Told Me’ leads into its first verse with gusto, creating the seedy vision of someone trying to meet someone in a club, as Flowers later clarified in an interview with Rolling Stone. There’s an undercurrent of a pop banger throughout. It’s infectious. “Breaking my back just to know this game,” Flowers croons over a wonderful onslaught of synth and guitars that just builds and builds. How can you not love “somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend I had in February last year?” THE indie nightclub dancefloor anthem of 2004.

14) Uncle Jonny

Dave Keuning has one of his best riffs in this track; and it’s often ripe to be overlooked when you consider how good the rest of the album is. But the descent of a man into an addiction is dark stuff for The Killers to cover – a young man watching his family member; his uncle, spiral and spiral and the effect of losing a family member to addiction really leans in. It hits home hard – raw and vitally powerful – “Tell us what’s going on, feel like everything’s wrong…” feels like an iconic indie track that stands the test of time against anything from the mid-2000s.

13) The Man

This is the stadium pelter; the song that led the almost critical revaluation of the Killers and encouraged many to look at them in a different light come the tail end of the last decade. It was a direct progression to the eventuality of the ‘Rebel Diamonds’ greatest hits tour – bombastic, campy, sampling James Brown – fully embracing for the first time the cheesiness of what it means to be a Killers frontman and the stardom that comes with it. This is where the Killers stopped trying to pretend to recapture that image of being the people responsible for Sam’s Town and Hot Fuss and built something entirely new.

12) Caution

The dual-wield two-hit combo of ‘Caution’ and ‘Dying Breed’ almost single-handedly made the pandemic of 2020 bearable. ‘Caution’ is the anthem of Imploding the Mirage; the stadium song, the pop banger – triumphant in its execution and biblical in its set-up. "Cuz it's some kind of sin...to live your whole life...on a might've been” tells a whole story in a single lyric – equivalent at most to Springsteen’s ‘The River’ – staggering in its performance and grandiose in its imagery.

11) Dying Breed

One of the gems of getting to do this piece is to re-evaluate the modern Killers’ discography with ‘Imploding the Mirage’. Each verse builds and builds to it just explodes – “if you’re looking for strong and steady; maybe you’ve found it…” the track talks about romance and dying breed – a second ‘Dustland’ and a great companion piece to the Killers’ classic; but more optimistic, beautiful and less gloomy. The last two minutes hit so hard it’s worth all the build-up and repeat listens really find a way to win you over. As part of the Killers’ pandemic album it allows the band to experiment and samples NEU! And Can – featuring lyrics co-written by Alex Cameron.

10) Spaceman

‘Day & Age’ is underrated, okay? But it’s easy to see why ‘Spaceman’ and ‘Human’ are the two songs that have survived deep into the Killers’ live repertoire. “it started with a low light / next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed and then they took my blood type” is a hell of a way to start a song that sits back, builds and builds to explosion. Told from the viewpoint of an alien abductee who’s driven mad by an extraterrestrial encounter it succeeds in making Brandon Flowers appear appropriately unhinged. The synthesiser is excellent and the epic, heart-pounding music embraces full sci-fi. I’m a fan.

9) A Dustland Fairytale

Performed by both Bruce Springsteen and the Killers on their live LP released as part of Record Store Day 2025 (“we call it Dustland”), ‘A Dustland Fairytale’ sums up The Killers’ vision of an ideal American dream wrapped up in a nightmare. The strings, guitar and drums drive it along – living in castles in the sky and drawing emotion without being on the nose. It’s an emotional track that feels like Flowers’ personal record; pleading with his mother to keep fighting for her life – like all the best Killers songs; at their best when they’re at their most Springsteen-esque; and live, oh my god. This song hits so hard live.

8) Midnight Show

The Killers are at their best when they are embracing the seediness of their personalities and the grit that comes with it. Once again embracing the nightclub vision of Hot Fuss – its outro hits hard every single time, and the guitar and bass riffs are some of the most intricate on the album. The Killers’ own murder ballads are triumphantly raw – maybe it’s the Nick Cave fan in me; but their ‘Murder Trilogy’ is one of the high points of their creative output – as evidenced by what comes next on this list (and ‘Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf’).

7) Jenny Was a Friend of Mine

For debut albums; there are few more powerful and more melodic basslines than Mark Stoermer’s triumphant echo on ‘Jenny Was a Friend of Mine’; released as part of Hot Fuss and the first track on that record – it had to make a good impression. It does – the third and final track in the ‘Murder’ trilogy; released in reverse order – ‘Midnight Show’ from Hot Fuss and ‘Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf’ from Sawdust (2007). This is The Killers at their most rock-opera anthem yet in the style of ‘The Wall’ – deep lyrics; and emotive in a way that always, like all the Killers songs do, sounds better live – but there’s something about this one.

6) All These Things That I’ve Done

I don’t love this song as much as some people, but hearing a stadium full of people sing it together is quintessential Killers. Epic, desperate and emotional, it’s a real plea for help and for anyone to listen – “you know you gotta help me out, yeah / oh don’t put me on the back burner / you know you gotta help me out, yeah” Flowers cries – “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier” is raw and triumphant with an excellent bridge and that sheer, unforgettable vocal melody that has you from the opening guitar hook. Universal in its appeal, it embraces the layers and repetition to create a beautiful sound about a man’s struggle between himself and himself. Applied to the record label A&R Matt Pinfield who told Flowers about his work with the US army in 2003 at a bar mentoring musician soldiers with PTSD; Flowers apparently went home and wrote the song that evening.

5) Bling (Confession Of a King)

This one rips. Drawn by legendary vocals and lyrics and an anthem from the heart, Dave Keuning’s impeccable guitar notes make the most out of the rapid four-note sweep in the verses to tell a richly compelling story that never gets old. The outro is perfect here; one of the Killers’ best – WHEN I OFFER YOU SURVIVAL it bellows – the synth part kicking in afterwards in a way that screams pure Americana blockbuster – up until ‘When You Were Young’ became the lead single; this was the choice for ‘Sam’s Town’ – and it almost would’ve worked better. But I’m glad we ended up where we are now. “Higher and Higher…” reads triumphant. Majestic in all its glory.

4) Bones

One of my first introductions to music videos was ‘Bones’ skeletons running on a beach at night – quickly unforgettable and quickly entrancing, directed by auteur oddball filmmaker Tim Burton (whose influence becomes readily apparent the second you know who is responsible) to create vividly unique gothic imagery that was met with palpable excitement on release day. Hearing COOOME WITH ME for the first time back in school hit so hard – Burton has plenty of fun with the title, filling ‘Bones’ with skeletons in a structure that does exactly what it says on the tin, complete with an ode to the work of legendary animator Ray Harryhausen. NME called it ‘indie’s newest shag anthem’ in 2006 and it’s easy to see why – straight out of an 80s teen movie and completely unafraid to embrace the cheese.

3) When You Were Young

The Killers’ ‘When You Were Young’ screams ROCK AND ROLL. “you sit there in your heartache / waiting on some beautiful boy / to save you from your old ways”; it begins – evoking an 80s rock and roll anthem that finds a way to pull you in and keep you there – beautiful instrumentation backing a meaningful air of nostalgia that accompanies the lyrics – it’s like the Killers writing a song that they know people are going to grow old and return to – the tradition away from Britishcore music into Americana and Springsteen properly started here; if ‘Mr. Brightside’ was an indie drama this is a Hollywood movie. Emotionally rawer than its predecessors with a raging urgency that once again calls back to the Boss for influence – it’s textbook rock and roll at its purest most distilled form – eschewing the snobbery of a Vegas club for something that sums up the Killers as unpretentious as they are – an ordinary, rural homeland filled with people who “don’t look a thing like Jesus.”

2) Mr. Brightside

The bisexual anthem of 2004, the song that broke Britain, a song that was fresh and as cool as hell, timelessness has transformed this track and kept it relevant – the anthemic chorus embracing a singalong in a way that feels beyond impossible to rank. The stadium hit of stadium hits – somehow the first song that the band has ever written; and what more can you really say about it that hasn’t been said already? Completely transcendent, completely deserving of 382 weeks on the UK’s top 100 chart, catchy as hell, and the sense of euphoria that comes with screaming it along with your friends – most recently sending pubs across the country into a unified chorus when they played at the Champions League final earlier in the summer. It’s impossible to think of a more iconic anthem. Nothing on the radio at the time felt tighter, sharper or quite as effortlessly huge. Even over twenty years later – that’s still very much the case.

1) Read My Mind

I am one of the few that prefers Sam’s Town to their breakout debut Hot Fuss and part of the reason why is the beautiful ‘Read My Mind’. The guitar hooks in the verses are some of the catchiest you’ll hear; and the opening synths create a nostalgic, quasi-80s feel. The bridge with the guitar solo goes crazy and Brandon’s emotional voice anchors this to perfection – blazing through “the stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun” – this is big; emotional stadium music – stripped down to its core. Even all these years later; “magic soakin my spine” is one of the coolest mainstream rock lyrics ever written.

The 25 Best Songs By The Killers, Ranked