"If Today Was Your Last Day" is the third single from

Nickelback Nickelback is a Canadian Rock music, rock band formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta. It is composed of guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan Peake, bassist Mike Kroeger, and drummer Daniel Adai ...

's sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

''Dark Horse''. It was originally planned as the first single, to hit all U.S. radio formats September 30, 2008, but was scrapped as the first single in favour of "

Gotta Be Somebody "Gotta Be Somebody" is the first official single released from Canadian rock band Nickelback's sixth studio album, ''Dark Horse''. It reached number 10 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming their sixth and final top-10 hit. Background Or ...

". Instead it was released on March 31, 2009. It was produced by

Robert John "Mutt" Lange Robert John "Mutt" Lange (born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer and songwriter, mainly known for his work in rock music as well as his previous marriage to Canadian singer Shania Twain, for whom he wrote and produced several ...

, who produced the entire album. The song was released as a digital download in the U.S. on November 11. "If Today Was Your Last Day" was released in the UK on June 15. The song was performed live for the first time on May 22 at the

Manchester Arena Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights s ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. In the US, the song has sold over 1,500,000 downloads, as of February 2010. According to

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is an American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock bands. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. History The label was launched in 1980 in t ...

UK, the song is "dynamically swelling our bank accounts". The song has also apparently been around with Nickelback for a while, but had never been finished. The song received Gold certification in Australia. Lead vocalist/guitarist Chad Kroeger has mentioned the song as his personal favorite from ''Dark Horse''. He had described the middle part of the song as "very motivational, and very positive". The song was used for promotional videos in the Winter Olympics in 2010, and was used as the closing song during

NHL Tonight ''NHL Tonight'' (formerly ''NHL on the Fly: Final'') is the flagship show on the NHL Network in Canada and the United States. The show made its debut under its current title in December 2011. It airs nightly at 10:00 pm throughout the NHL seaso ...

's 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs coverage.

Music video

The music video was shot with director

Nigel Dick Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is a British music video and film director, writer and musician from Catterick, England, now based in Los Angeles, California. He directed the Britney Spears videos " ...Baby One More Time" and " Oops!... I Did I ...

in March 2009. Performance portions of the video were shot at the

Qwest Center CHI Health Center Omaha is an arena and convention center in the central United States, located in the North Downtown neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. Operated by the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority (MECA), the facility has an ...

in Omaha, Nebraska and in New York City. The other portion was shot in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The music video premiered on 23 April. In the video, two teenage boys dressed in black seem to be up to some sort of business in Philadelphia. They record their journey on a camcorder and carry mysterious black bags with them. They stand on top of a bridge ready and open the bags to confetti with quotes from the song such as "Forgive your Enemy," "It's Never Too Late," "Call a Friend and Reminisce", and "Fall in Love" fall over the people beneath them. This inspires two women to hand out coats with messages similar to those on the colored paper, a well-dressed man to hand money to everyone he meets, an arguing couple make up, and a man presumably arguing with his boss to quit. All of the quotes refer to lines in the song "If Today Was Your Last Day".

Track listing

# "If Today Was Your Last Day" (album version) – 4:08

Charts

In November 2008, "If Today Was Your Last Day" debuted at number 35 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US based on downloads only. After its release as an official single, it re-entered the Hot 100 and reached a new peak at 19. It is their second top twenty hit on the Hot 100 from ''Dark Horse'', and their ninth top twenty hit on the chart overall. In Canada, it debuted at 91 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

also based on just downloads, and after its physical release in Canada and receiving airplay it made a re-entry on the chart at number 67 and would go on to reach number 7.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2008 songs Nickelback songs Songs written by Chad Kroeger Songs written by Mike Kroeger Songs written by Ryan Peake Music videos directed by Nigel Dick Song recordings produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange 2008 singles Roadrunner Records singles