"Faded" is a song by Norwegian DJ and record producer Alan Walker with vocals by Norwegian singer-songwriter Iselin Solheim. A rework of Walker's earlier song "Fade", the song was written by Walker, Jesper Borgen, Mood Melodies, and Gunnar Greve and produced by the former three. It was released as a single by MER on 3 December 2015, for digital download and streaming.
The song has been described as electro house, progressive house, and melodic house and was praised by critics for its melancholic melody, synthesizers, and vocals. Lyrically, the song expresses a sense of longing and a search for something meaningful. It was also a commercial success, topping Norway's VG-lista chart for 14 weeks and becoming Walker's first number-one single. In Germany, it reached number one on the GfK Entertainment charts for ten weeks. It also reached number one on the Shazam Worldwide Top 100 Popular Songs in February 2016 and, by March 2016, had become the world's most Shazamed song. "Faded" reached number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the 16th Norwegian song to chart there. It topped the charts in 18 countries and also topped the year-end charts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden.
The accompanying music video was released the day after the single and was directed by Rikkard and Tobias Häggbom, with filming taking place in Estonia. It reached one billion views on YouTube on 26 March 2017, becoming the first Norwegian song to achieve this milestone. It also became the first electronic dance music (EDM) song to surpass three billion views on YouTube. As of July 2026, it has been viewed over 4 billion times, making it the 33rd most-viewed YouTube video.
The song won The Cannes Lions Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the Årets Låt (Song of the Year) award at Spellenmannprisen '16, and the Best International Hit award at the Swiss Music Awards, and was nominated for British Single of the Year at the Brit Awards 2017 and Song of the Year at the Echo Music Prize. Walker debuted a live performance of "Faded" with Solheim and string support on 27 February 2016, at the X Games Norway in Oslo, which was broadcast live on Norwegian television and Amercian broadcast network ESPN. It was included as the ultimate track on Walker's debut album Different World (2018) after an interlude specific to the track.
Background and release
"Faded" is a remake of Walker's earlier song "Fade", which was released by the British record label NoCopyrightSounds (NCS) in 2014. When "Fade" started gaining attention in 2014, Walker received feedback from listeners on how the song felt like it should have lyrics, which it lacked. Walker felt the song had the potential to be expanded, such as by adding vocals, but was not ready to do it yet. "Fade" had already racked up over 40 million views on YouTube and over 15 million streams on Spotify before the release of "Faded". He followed with the release of "Spectre" and "Force", which attracted the attention of major record labels.
On 24 August 2015 (Walker's 18th birthday), he signed with MER Musikk, signing the contract at his home with Gunnar Greve. After that, he began working on a new version of "Fade" with his new songwriting team: Anders Frøen, Jesper Borgen, and Greve. The team wrote the song's topline and lyrics, rebuilt the track, and added piano. Walker was also searching for the right vocalist to remake "Fade", and when he met fellow Norwegian singer Iselin Solheim through Borgen, Walker felt she was the perfect fit for the song. It was subsequently released for digital download and streaming on 3 December 2015. Three years after its release, it was included as the final track on Walker's debut album Different World (2018) after an interlude specific to the track.
Lyrics and composition
The lyrics for "Faded" were written by Walker, Jesper Borgen, Anders Frøen, and Gunnar Greve. Also participating were Ingrid Helgor Skretting as vocalist and Sören Von Malmborg as mastering and mixing engineer. In addition to the lyrics, the track was fully rebuilt with a new mix and mastering, and a piano was introduced. Walker said that by adding lyrics and piano, "the whole song just came together". In the acoustic version, only the piano, violin, and Solheim's vocals are heard. Lyrically, the song expresses a sense of longing and a search for something meaningful. Its protagonist feels like she is fading away, both physically and emotionally, and struggles to find her way back to a place of belonging and purpose.
In a Genius attribution, Walker said of the lyrics:
The song has been described as electro house, progressive house, and melodic house. It has also been described as melodic and melancholic. It is written in the E♭ minor key, with a tempo of 90 beats per minute and a chord progression of E♭m–C♭–G♭–D♭. Due to its slow tempo, the song is often categorized as "downtempo". Walker said this in an interview with Norwegian state-owned public broadcaster NRK: "This is not what's popular these days. 'Fade' and 'Faded' are different from other songs in tempo". In a 2017 interview with the British newspaper The Standard, he said, "It's kind of like a movie soundtrack because it won't distract you and you can have it on if you're working out or playing video games".
Critical reception "Faded" was met with positive reviews from music critics. Julia Friese of Die Welt called it "universal emotional pop" and "ideal background music", while Aundun Vinger of Dagens Næringsliv described it as a "definitive masterpiece". Vinger and German radio station 1LIVE's Anke van de Weyer highlighted Solheim's "ethereal" vocals for adding "depth" and "emotional weight", which Austrian news portal noted fit the concept "perfectly". Music critics also focused on the atmospheric composition, with Bradley Stern of PopCrush praising its "lonesome trance pulsations" and "ghostly cries", and Simon Kress of German music website noting the shift from piano to synth sections. Kress and Vorarlberg Online commended the balance between the soulful melody and a "powerful dance beat". Further praise came from Emily Blake of Mashable, who labeled it a "dizzying, beautifully lonesome EDM track", while S. B. Vijaya Mary of The Hindu praised the song, saying that its "uniquely melancholic mood" "connected with EDM audiences".
The song has been ranked on several lists. Tatiana Cirisano of Billboard ranked it as Walker's best song, stating that "It's not hard to understand why the winding beat and triumphant synth progression of 'Faded' captivated dance listeners around the globe". Vice ranked "Faded" number 93 on its list of "The 101 Best EDM Songs of All Time", writing that the song "feels shockingly singular amid the trap arms race" and "weightless", with drifting piano parts and Fourth World–style synth percussion reminiscent of Enigma. Spin ranked the song number 10 on "The 50 Best EDM Songs You've Heard at Every Summer Festival", praising its mournful piano intro, shimmering synths, and Solheim's emotive vocals and noting its appeal in both intimate and festival settings. Additionally, American media platform Dancing Astronaut ranked the song 78th in their "Top 100 Songs of the Decade", while Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen ranked the song 19th in their list "The 100 Best Norwegian Hit Songs Ever".
Commercial performance Global
"Faded" was an immediate commercial success worldwide, reaching number one on the charts in 18 countries and reaching the top five in over 25 countries. The song reached number one on Shazam's Worldwide Top 100 Popular Songs in February 2016, where it remained at number one for seven weeks, and it was the most Shazamed song worldwide by March 2016. The song was also Shazamed 6 million times in the first three months of 2016, making it the third most Shazamed song of the year.
The song reached number one on the Spotify Global Viral Chart and number five on the Global Top 50. It also reached 500 million streams on Spotify in December 2016 and 1 billion streams in April 2019, making it the first Norwegian song to reach both milestones and the first song from outside the UK or US to reach over 1 billion streams. As of July 2016, the single had been downloaded 4 million times. Four years after its release, the song became the most-streamed song on Apple Music in Venezuela during the week of 4 November 2019. It also debuted on the Billboard Global Excl. US chart on 19 September 2020 and peaked at number 147 on the chart on 21 November 2020. As of December 2025, this song has been streamed over 25 billion times worldwide.
North America In the United States, "Faded" debuted at number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated 30 April 2016. This was Walker's first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, and it became the 16th Norwegian song to chart there. After that, the song moved in and out of the lower reaches of the chart but rose from number 97 to number 80 on the chart dated 11 June 2016. It also ranked number four on the Dance Club Songs chart and number seven on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
In July 2016, Billboard reported that "Faded" was the tenth best-selling EDM song in the United States, with 186,000 copies sold, and the tenth most-streamed on-demand EDM song across audio and video platforms, with 77.1 million streams. In July 2017, it was the ninth most-watched EDM song on video on demand, with 64.0 million views. By July 2018, it had risen to seventh place in on-demand audio and video streams, totaling 121.2 million streams. In July 2019, it was ranked as the third most-streamed EDM song on-demand, with 192.4 million streams. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the single as triple platinum for sales of over 3 million units and track-equivalent streams. In Canada, the song reached number 32 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart dated 18 June 2016 and remained on the chart for 31 weeks. Music Canada (MC) certified the single 8× Platinum for sales of 640,000 units and track-equivalent streams.
Europe In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at number 91 on the UK Singles Chart on 11 February 2016. On the chart dated 1 April 2016, the song rose seven places to number 11, up from number 18 the previous week, and reached number one on the Official Trending Chart that week. The following week, on the chart dated 8 April, it rose four places to number 7. The song stayed on the charts for 42 weeks. It also debuted at number 39 on the UK Dance Chart on 15 January 2016 and peaked at number two on the chart dated 29 April 2016. In 2019, the Official Charts Company released its The Top 40 one-hit wonders of the decade chart, a chart of the biggest single hits by artists who only had one Top 40 hit in the 2010s, with "Faded" ranking at number 13. Also, in 2022, to mark the 70th anniversary of the UK Singles Chart, it released the UK's Most-Streamed songs of all time chart, with the song coming in at number 147. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the single triple platinum for sales of over 1.8 million units and track-equivalent streams. According to Wired UK, it has sold 54,000 digital copies in the UK by September 2016.