"Let Her Go" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter Passenger. It was recorded at Sydney's Linear Recording and co-produced by Passenger (as Mike Rosenberg) and Chris Vallejo. The recording features Australian musicians Stu Larsen, Georgia Mooney, Stu Hunter, Cameron Undy, and Glenn Wilson. "Let Her Go" was released on 24 July 2012 as the second single from Passenger's fourth album, All the Little Lights.
The song became a sleeper hit, achieving international success and topping the charts in many countries around the world. As of July 2014, it has sold over one million digital copies in the UK, and over four million in the US. In 2014, the song was nominated for the Brit Award for British Single of the Year, and won Passenger the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Most Performed Work."Brits 2014: Nominations in full". BBC News. Retrieved 9 January 2014 In 2023, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the song, Passenger released a remix version with English singer Ed Sheeran.
Commercial performance
"Let Her Go" was released in July 2012 as the second single from Passenger's third album All the Little Lights. The song became a hit first in the Netherlands after Dave, a Dutch fan, e-mailed Passenger expressing his wish to introduce the song to some Dutch radio stations, claiming it could be a hit there.Passenger live at Pinkpop 2013 - FULL SHOW - Passenger says during the Pinkpop concert in Holland after singing "Let Her Go": "You know, I wrote that song two-and-a-half years ago and put it on an album and we released the album, and for nine months, nothing happened. No one gave a shit. It's funny, we were kind of working on the next record, I'm thinking "okay cool, no problem". And this guy called Dave from Holland gave us an e-mail and he said: Look, I've heard this song "Let Her Go" and I want to take it to radio here because I think here in the Netherlands it could really work and could do something. So we're like "okay mate, cool, do your thing, knock yourself out". Within two weeks, I think it got to number one and that's kind of what started this whole crazy fucking thing. Firstly, I'd like to thank Dave because without Dave I don't think I'd be here at all. And secondly, I want to thank you guys just for supporting me and my music before anybody else did really. So a massive, massive thank you. "Let Her Go" is your song, thank you very very much". [from 27:50 to 28:50 on the tape] This resulted in the song trending on Dutch stations and finding enormous commercial success with the Dutch public. The song reached number two in the Dutch Top 40 in November 2012, spending a total of four non-consecutive weeks at that position. The next month that year, it topped at number one.
Since 2013, and after initial success in the Netherlands, "Let Her Go" has reached number one in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland, number two in the UK Singles Chart, number five in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on Billboard Hot Rock Songs, making it Passenger's first international success. The song has sold over 1 million digital copies in the UK, and over 4 million in the US as of July 2014. In October 2019, "Let Her Go" surpassed one billion streams on the music service Spotify, making it one of the most played songs on the service.- The mournful ballad has become only the seventh song by a British artist to hit one billion Spotify streams. It's also now one of only 42 songs overall that have notched that many streams
Music video The music video was uploaded on the day after the single, directed and produced by the Australian video artist Dave Jensen and Tavic. It shows the stage being prepared for a Passenger concert, with footage of Passenger performance with his backing band and shots of the audience present reacting.
As of June 2026, the video has received over 4 billion views on the video-sharing website YouTube, making it the 28th most viewed video ever on the site.
Track listing
Cover versions British singer Birdy recorded a cover version called "Let Him Go" in 2013 on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.
An unreleased acoustic version of the song was donated to support college radio in the USA on the 2013 College Radio Day Vol. 2 album. The song was limited to being on only the CD version of the album (only 1,500 copies have been pressed).
In August 2014, Glen Templeton made a country cover of the song.
American trance singer JES released her cover version of the song titled "Let Him Go" in 2019.
The song is sampled heavily in Central Cee's 2022 single "Let Go".
Confusion with "Let It Go" "Let Her Go" is regularly confused with Idina Menzel's hit song "Let It Go" from the Disney Animation film Frozen. At the 2018 Newport Folk Festival, Passenger introduced himself to the crowd, then explained: "I've only had one hit, so that's a bit embarrassing. And it's called 'Let Her Go', not 'Let It Go' from Frozen. Amazing how people get them mixed up. She's a Disney princess, and I'm an Englishman with a beard." Passenger again joked about the long-running confusion while performing at the Fox Oakland Theatre in September 2024 as part of his Anniversary Tour.
In popular culture "Let Her Go" was used in a Budweiser commercial shown during Super Bowl XLVIII entitled "Puppy Love", which showed the friendship between a Labrador Retriever puppy and one of the Budweiser Clydesdales. It was used also in the season 7 finale of the Canadian television show Heartland as the send-off song and in "500 Years of Solitude", the 100th episode of The Vampire Diaries.
Bluegrass band the Travelin' McCourys recorded the song at a Nashville studio, the Butcher Shoppe releasing the version on 13 January 2017.Brittney McKenna. "Hear the Travelin' McCourys' Fiery Cover of Passenger's 'Let Her Go'." Rolling Stone. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
Charts
Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for "Let Her Go" Chart (2012–2021) Peakposition scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" Greece Digital (Billboard)1 Global 200 (Billboard) 169 Global Excl. US (Billboard) 139 scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row"Lebanon Airplay (Lebanese Top 20)3 Luxembourg Digital (Billboard)1Malaysia (Malay Muzik Official Chart)1 Mexico (Billboard Ingles Airplay)1 Mexico Anglo (Monitor Latino)5 scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" Portugal Digital (Billboard)4scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" Slovenia (SloTop50)5 scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" Venezuela Pop Rock General (Record Report)1 +2023 Weekly chart performance for "Let Her Go"Chart (2023)Peakposition Romania Airplay (TopHit) 87 +2025 Weekly chart performance for "Let Her Go"Chart (2025)Peakposition Israel International Airplay (Media Forest) 12
Year-end charts +Annual chart rankings for "Let Her Go"Chart (2012)PositionBelgium (Ultratop Flanders)44Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)57Netherlands (Single Top 100)16 Chart (2013)PositionAustralia (ARIA)3Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)4Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)12Belgium (Ultratop Wallonia)25Canada (Canadian Hot 100)61France (SNEP)23Germany (Media Control Charts)5Israel international songs (Media Forest)5Italy (FIMI)20Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)30Netherlands (Single Top 100)23New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)6 Slovenia (SloTop50)6Spain (PROMUSICAE)6Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)2Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)4UK Singles (Official Charts Company)4US Billboard Hot 10097US Adult Top 40 (Billboard) 32 US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard) 16 Chart (2014)PositionBelgium (Ultratop Wallonia)88Canada (Canadian Hot 100)20France (SNEP)133 Italy (FIMI)8Netherlands (Single Top 100)58 Slovenia (SloTop50)38 Spain (PROMUSICAE)35Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)55Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)52US Billboard Hot 10019 US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard) 4 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 5 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard) 15 US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)37 Chart (2015)Position Italy (FIMI) 98 Chart (2016)PositionFrance (SNEP)173
Decade-end charts Chart (2010–2019) Position Australia (ARIA) 9 Germany (Official German Charts) 26 Israel (Galgalatz) 6Netherlands (Single Top 100) 10 UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 19 US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard) 32
All-time charts Chart PositionUS Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)48UK Singles (Official Charts Company)79
Certifications
See also List of best-selling singles in Australia List of Billboard Adult Contemporary number ones of 2014
Release history CountryRelease dateFormatUnited States Digital downloadEuropeUnited KingdomCDUnited StatesContemporary hit radioCanada
References