Imagine (John Lennon song)

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"Imagine"
UK picture sleeve
Single by John Lennon
from the album Imagine
B-side	"It's So Hard" (US) "Working Class Hero" (UK)
Released	11 October 1971 (1971-10-11) (US) 24 October 1975 (1975-10-24) (UK)[1][2]
Recorded	27 May – 4 July 1971
Studio	Ascot Sound, Ascot Record Plant East, New York City
Genre	Soft rock
Length	3:03
Label	Apple
Songwriter(s)	John Lennon Yoko Ono
Producer(s)	John Lennon Yoko Ono Phil Spector
John Lennon US singles chronology
"Power to the People" (1971) "Imagine" (1971) "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (1971)
John Lennon UK singles chronology
"Stand by Me" (1975) "Imagine" (1975) "(Just Like) Starting Over" (1980)
Song sample
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Music video
"Imagine" on YouTube

"Imagine" is a song by the English rock musician John Lennon from his 1971 album of the same name. The best-selling single of his solo career, the lyrics encourage listeners to imagine a world of peace, without materialism, without borders separating nations and without religion. Shortly before his death, Lennon said that much of the song's lyrics and content came from his wife, Yoko Ono, and in 2017 she received cowriting credit.^[3][4][5]

Lennon and Ono co-produced the song with Phil Spector. Recording began at Lennon's home studio at Tittenhurst Park, England, in May 1971, with final overdubs taking place at the Record Plant, in New York City, during July. In October, Lennon released "Imagine" as a single in the United States, where it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was first issued as a single in Britain in 1975, to promote the compilation Shaved Fish, and reached number six on the UK Singles Chart that year. It later topped the chart following Lennon's murder in 1980.

BMI named "Imagine" one of the 100 most performed songs of the 20th century. In 1999, it was ranked number 30 on the RIAA's list of the 365 "Songs of the Century", earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". A 2002 UK survey conducted by the Guinness World Records British Hit Singles Book named it the second-best single of all time, while Rolling Stone ranked it number three in the 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Since 2005, event organisers have played the song just before the New Year's Times Square Ball drops in New York City. In 2023, the song was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

"Imagine" has sold more than 1.7 million copies in the UK. More than 200 artists have performed or covered the song, including Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Joan Baez, Lady Gaga, Elton John and Diana Ross. After "Imagine" was featured at the 2012 Summer Olympics, the song re-entered the UK Top 40, reaching number 18, and was presented as a theme song in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The song remains controversial, as it has been since its release, over its request to imagine "no religion too".^[6]