"Wonderwall" is a song by English rock band

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

. It was written by

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

. The song was produced by Gallagher and

Owen Morris Owen Morris (born in Caernarfon, Wales) is a Welsh record producer who has worked with rock bands including Oasis, the Fratellis, Ash, the View, Loso and the Verve. Biography Morris started working in the music industry as a sound engineer at ...

for the band's second studio album ''

(What's the Story) Morning Glory? ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'' is the second studio album by English rock band Oasis. Released on 2 October 1995 by Creation Records, it was produced by Owen Morris and the group's guitarist and main songwriter Noel Gallagher. The str ...

'', released in 1995. According to Gallagher, "Wonderwall" describes "an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself". The song was released as the fourth single from the album on 30 October 1995. "Wonderwall" topped the charts in Australia and New Zealand and reached the top 10 in 13 other counties, including Canada and the United States at 5 and No. 8, respectively, as well as No. 2 on both the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

. The single was certified sextuple

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

and gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

. It remains one of the band's most popular songs, and was voted No. 1 on the Australian alternative music radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

's "20 Years of the Hottest 100" in 2013. Many artists have also covered the song, such as

Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, artist, and poet. He has released 23 albums, as well as three studio albums as a former member of alt-country band Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams lef ...

Cat Power Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and model. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a ...

, and

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, and toured and recorded while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's Quar ...

. In October 2020, it became the first song from the 1990s to reach one billion streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Production history

The song was originally titled "Wishing Stone". Gallagher told ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' in 1996 that "Wonderwall" was written for

Meg Mathews Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

, his then-girlfriend and later wife. However, after Gallagher and Mathews divorced in 2001, he said the song was not about her: "The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it, and how do you tell your Mrs it's not about her once she's read it is? It's a song about an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself." The song's final title was inspired by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

's solo album ''

Wonderwall Music ''Wonderwall Music'' is the debut solo album by English musician George Harrison and the soundtrack to the 1968 film '' Wonderwall'', directed by Joe Massot. Released in November 1968, it was the first solo album by a member of the Beatles, and ...

''. The song was recorded at

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was originally founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Facilities Rockfield is a two- ...

in Wales, during a two-week recording of the ''Morning Glory'' album in May 1995. Morris produced the song in a half-day along with Gallagher, using a technique known as "

brickwalling The loudness war (or loudness race) is a trend of increasing audio levels in recorded music, which reduces audio fidelity and—according to many critics—listener enjoyment. Increasing loudness was first reported as early as the 1940s, with ...

" to intensify the sound of the song.

Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before starti ...

served as lead singer on the song after Noel had given him a choice between "Wonderwall" and "

Don't Look Back in Anger "Don't Look Back in Anger" is a song by English rock band Oasis. It was written by the band's guitarist and main songwriter Noel Gallagher. The song was produced by Gallagher and Owen Morris. Released on 19 February 1996 as the fifth single fro ...

", another single from the album, with Noel singing lead vocals on the latter. All of the band's members except bassist

Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan Paul Francis McGuigan (born 9 May 1971), known professionally as Guigsy (pronounced "Gwigzee"), is an English retired musician. He is best known as the bassist and co-founder of the British rock band Oasis. Career In the late 1980s, McGuigan st ...

contributed to the recording, with Noel playing bass instead of McGuigan. This decision displeased Liam, who told Morris, "That's not Oasis." "Wonderwall" is written in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp mi ...

and is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

with a moderate dance

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...

. Gallagher's voice ranges from an E₃ to an F₄ in the song.

Live performances

Noel Gallagher debuted the song on UK television backstage at

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

, and it was broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

on 24 June 1995. The song was not performed by the band during their headline performance the night before. The song went on to be regularly played on the (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Tour where it was typically played and sung solo by Noel acoustically. On occasions however (including the

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest atte ...

and

Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Hert ...

gigs) it was played full band acoustically with Liam on vocals. The song was also regularly played on both the

Be Here Now Tour The Be Here Now World Tour was a world concert tour by English rock band Oasis in support of their third album '' Be Here Now''. The tour, which spanned the UK, Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America, included 85 shows over a ...

and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants Tour, performances on these tours featured the full band on electric guitars with Liam on vocals. For the Heathen Chemistry Tour, Noel changed the arrangement of his live performances of the song to a style he admitted was heavily influenced by

' cover. For the Don't Believe the Truth Tour, the original arrangement was used for live performances by the full band with electric guitars and Liam on vocals. During the 2008 tour, the band returned to performing the song in a semi-acoustic form, in an arrangement closely resembling the album version. This song was also performed during the

2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, also known as A Symphony of British Music, was held on 12 August 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London. The chief guest was Prince Harry of Wales representing Queen Elizabeth II. The clo ...

by Liam Gallagher and his post Oasis band

Beady Eye Beady Eye were an English rock band formed in London in 2009 by former Oasis members Liam Gallagher (vocals), Gem Archer (guitar), Andy Bell (guitar), and Chris Sharrock (drums). In 2013, former Kasabian guitarist Jay Mehler joined the band as ...

. Since Oasis split up, both Noel and Liam have continued to play the song as part of

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds are an English rock band formed in 2010 as the solo moniker of former Oasis songwriter, lead guitarist, and backing vocalist Noel Gallagher. The touring band consists of former Oasis members Gem Archer (guitar ...

and Liam's solo career, respectively. Both have often varied the presentation of the song, sometimes being performed in stripped down acoustic versions, whilst other times more full band arrangements have been performed.

Critical reception

Steve Baltin from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' picked "Wonderwall" as Pick of the Week, describing it as "a perfect example of melodic pop." He added, "Following the more uptempo riff of “

Morning Glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...

”, this single will remind listeners of the anthemic single “ Live Forever’’, a track that generated massive airplay on multiple formats last year. Look for the same results for this lovely near

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

. A simple, sweet song, it shows why Oasis is rapidly becoming one of music’s great singles bands." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote, "A swirling rock song that slowly builds to epic proportions. Nicely chiming acoustic guitars and psyched-up strings support

's trademark declamatory and plaintive vocals. Not the easiest song for EHR, but a sure grower."

Music video

The original

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

to the song conceived by Johanna Bautista was filmed by director Nigel Dick at Unit 217B in

Woolwich, London Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

, on 30 September 1995. The filming of the promotional video took place during the brief period when bassist Guigsy quit the band due to

nervous exhaustion Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North ...

, and was replaced by Scott McLeod, who appears in the video along with the four other members of the band. The song won

British Video of the Year The Brit Award for British Video of the Year was an award given by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an organisation which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom. The accolade is presented at the Brit Awards, an annua ...

at the 1996 Brit Awards. A second video depicts the band sitting down throughout the video with some getting up and leaving before returning. The video ends with Noel, Alan White and Scott McLeod leaving their seats, leaving Liam and Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs in their seats. There are two versions of the video: one posted online by

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

that has reached over 427 million views, and one posted by the band themselves that has reached 446 million views for a total of 873 million views, making it the most popular Oasis video online.

Cover art

The sleeve artwork was inspired by the paintings of the Belgian surrealist

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...

, and was shot on

Primrose Hill Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) It was named after the natural hill in the centre of ...

in London by Michael Spencer Jones. The hand holding the frame is that of art director

Brian Cannon Brian Cannon is a British graphic designer, art director, photographer, band manager and music video director. His Microdot graphic design company created the album cover for Oasis' debut album, ''Definitely Maybe'' in 1994. Two of Cannon's r ...

. The original idea was to have Liam in the frame before Noel vetoed that idea whilst the shoot was taking place. Instead, a female figure was deemed necessary, so

Creation Records Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...

employee Anita Heryet was asked to stand in as cover star for the shot.

Chart and sales performance

"Wonderwall" reached the No. 2 spot in both Ireland and the United Kingdom in October and November 1995. In the UK, the song was held off the top spot by " I Believe" by

Robson & Jerome Robson & Jerome are an English pop duo who were active in the mid-1990s, consisting of actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn. They rose to prominence via the English television series ''Soldier Soldier''. The duo's musical catalogue was compose ...

. "Wonderwall" finished at No. 10 on the year-end chart for 1995 and at No. 26 on the 1990s decade-end in the UK. The track has sold 3.6 million copies in the UK as of April 2022, certifying the song sextuple platinum and making it Oasis' biggest-selling song in their homeland. In the United States, the song peaked at No. 1 on the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart for a then-unprecedented ten weeks and reached No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in March 1996, becoming their only top-10 hit on the latter chart. "Wonderwall" also proved to be a major hit in Australia and New Zealand, claiming the No. 1 spot in both countries. In Canada, the song reached No. 5 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' 100 chart and topped the ''RPM'' Alternative 30 ranking.

Awards and accolades

* The American magazine ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''s

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

critics' poll ranked "Wonderwall" at No. 11 on its annual year-end poll in 1995. The following year, "Wonderwall" was ranked at No. 4, tied with

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

s "

Common People A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

". * In the

Grammy Awards of 1997 The 39th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997, at Madison Square Garden, New York City. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Babyface was the night's biggest winner, with 3 awards. Celine Dion, Toni ...

, the band received a nomination for

Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011. The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Beginning in 2012, all solo or duo/group ...

, and

picked up an additional nomination for

Best Rock Song The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...

, winning neither. * In May 2005, "Wonderwall" was voted the best British song of all time, in a poll of over 8,500 listeners conducted by

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

. * In August 2006, "Wonderwall" was named the second-greatest song of all time in a poll conducted by ''

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...

'', finishing behind another Oasis song, " Live Forever". * In 2006, U2's guitarist

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...

named "Wonderwall" one of the songs he most wishes he'd written. * In May 2007, ''

'' magazine placed "Wonderwall" at No. 27 on its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever. * On 28 June 2007, ''NME'' stated that Alex James, bassist of Blur, who had been long-standing rivals with Oasis, said: "Wish I'd written it. He's got a great voice, Liam (Gallagher)". * In July 2009, "Wonderwall" was voted at No. 12 in the ''Hottest 100 of all time'' countdown poll, conducted by Australian radio station

. More than half a million votes were cast. * In February 2014, the song was voted No. 36 of The 500 greatest songs of all time, according to ''

''. * In March 2016, "Wonderwall" was voted the greatest British song of all time by Radio X listeners. *In September 2021, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' placed the song at No. 95 on its list of the

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

Track listings

Personnel

– vocals, tambourine *

– backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, piano *

Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs Paul Benjamin Arthurs (born 23 June 1965), known professionally as Bonehead, is an English musician. He is best known as the rhythm guitarist, occasional keyboardist and co-founder of the rock band Oasis. Early life Paul Benjamin Arthurs was ...

–

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

* Alan White – drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

The Mike Flowers Pops version

British band

the Mike Flowers Pops The Mike Flowers Pops (also known as MFP, The Pops or The Mike Flowers Pops Orchestra) are a British easy listening band fronted by Mike Flowers (real name Michael Roberts). Mike Roberts was born in Liverpool in 1960, now married with 2 childre ...

released an

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

version that reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart—just as the Oasis original had done two months earlier—during Christmas 1995. On New Year's Day 1996, it earned a Silver certification from the

for sales greater than 200,000 copies. This cover also peaked within the top ten on the charts of Denmark, Ireland and Sweden. Noel Gallagher mentioned that when

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

premiered the song, they jokingly claimed that they had found "the original version of Wonderwall". Gallagher, who had been in America at the time, was surprised to be asked by one of his record company's executives if he had actually written the song. The Mike Flowers Pops cover was used in the 1997 film '' The Jackal'', and also in the 1999 film ''

Superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cover versions

' version, first performed in 2001, and later released in 2003 on '' Love Is Hell pt. 1 EP'', was well received by Noel Gallagher. It was featured in ''

The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initiali ...

'' episode "The Heartbreak". It was featured in the final scenes of the ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

Season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

episode "Velocity" and the first season of the Israeli documentary series ''Couchsurfers''. In an interview with ''Spin'', Gallagher said "I think Ryan Adams is the only person who ever got that song right."

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...

covered the song on his swing album ''

Rock Swings ''Rock Swings'' is an album by Paul Anka. Recorded in November 2004 and released on May 31, 2005 in Canada and June 7, 2005 in the United States, it contains swing jazz covers of popular rock and pop songs from the 1980s and 1990s. The idea of ...

'', released in 2005 and was used as figure skater

Paul Fentz Paul Fentz (born 8 September 1992) is a retired German figure skater. He has won four senior international medals and is a four-time German national champion (2018–20, 2022). He has competed in the final segment at eight ISU Championships. ...

's backing track during his

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

performance in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This version sparked an internet meme at the time. American rapper

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

often has his crowds sing "Wonderwall" after his song " Jockin' Jay-Z", which includes a reference to Noel Gallagher's criticism of the rapper's involvement in the typically rock-centric

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. It launched a war of words between Jay Z and Oasis, with Oasis' rhythm guitarist

Gem Archer Colin Murray Archer (born 7 December 1966) is an English musician and singer, best known as a member of the English rock bands Oasis, Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, making him, alongside Chris Sharrock, one of the only member ...

describing Jay Z's actions as akin to an "eight-year-old girl." After Oasis broke up, Jay Z later claimed he would like to work with Liam Gallagher.

Mashups

"Wonderwall" was featured in the popular mashup "

Boulevard of Broken Songs "Boulevard of Broken Songs" (also known as "Wonderwall of Broken Songs" or "Wonderwall of Broken Dreams") is a popular mash-up mixed by American DJ and producer Party Ben in late 2004. The mix consists of elements from American pop punk band G ...

" mixed by

Party Ben Ben Gill, better known as Party Ben, is a DJ in San Francisco. He spent many years working at radio station Live 105 and producer of mashup music. Mashups From June 2003 to December 30, 2005, Party Ben hosted the "Sixx Mixx" on Live 105, a wee ...

in late 2004, which also contained parts of both Travis's "Writing to Reach You" and

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

's " Boulevard of Broken Dreams". In late 2006, Gallagher accused Green Day of 'ripping off' "Wonderwall", saying "If you listen, you'll find it is exactly the same arrangement as "Wonderwall". They should have the decency to wait until I am dead efore stealing my songs I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy".

Neil Cicierega Neil Stephen Cicierega ( ; born August 23, 1986) is an American comedian, actor, filmmaker, singer, YouTuber, musician, songwriter, puppeteer, artist, and animator. He is known as the creator of a genre of Flash animation he termed "Animutation ...

's mashup albums ''

Mouth Silence ''Mouth Silence'' is the second mashup album by American musician and comedian Neil Cicierega. Following the format of his previous release, ''Mouth Sounds'', the album is composed of mashups and remixes of popular songs from the 1980s, 1990's, a ...

'' and ''

Mouth Moods ''Mouth Moods'' is the third mashup album by American musician and comedian Neil Cicierega released in 2017. Like his previous mashup albums ''Mouth Sounds'' and ''Mouth Silence'', its source material is primarily Top 40 hits from the late 20th an ...

'' feature tracks that are mashups of "Wonderwall" titled "Wndrwll" and "Wallspin", the former a humorous remix featuring " Everywhere You Look" and the latter a mashup with "

You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" is a song by English pop band Dead or Alive, featured on their second album, '' Youthquake'' (1985). Released as a single in November 1984, it reached No. 1 in the UK in March 1985, taking 17 weeks to get ...

In popular culture

"Wonderwall" is the team song of

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Socc ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, sung after every home victory. The overarching fan organisation is MNWonderwall. Wonderwall is also played after all

Manchester City F.C. Manchester City Football Club are an England, English association football, football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English football. Fo ...

home games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wonderwall (Song) 1995 songs 1995 singles Black-and-white music videos Creation Records singles Epic Records singles London Records singles The Mike Flowers Pops songs Music videos directed by Nigel Dick Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Scotland Oasis (band) songs Rock ballads Ryan Adams songs Song recordings produced by Noel Gallagher Songs written by Noel Gallagher 1990s ballads

Production history

Live performances

Critical reception

Music video

Cover art

Chart and sales performance

Awards and accolades

Track listings

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

The Mike Flowers Pops version

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cover versions

Mashups

In popular culture

See also

References