Every James Bond theme ever and where they charted
James Bond themes are not only an exciting music event, they're an integral part of British music and film legacy.
Sam Smith's Bond theme for 2015's Writing's On The Wall takes the claim as the first Bond theme to reach Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart (better late then never, right?), and last year Billie Eilish joined them with her song for the upcoming Bond flick No Time To Die, which after several delays is released on September 30.
While Sam claims the first Bond Number 1, No Time To Die claims the biggest opening week for a Bond theme ever, scoring 90,000 chart sales, including 10.6 million streams to debut at the top.
Billie Eilish with her Official Number 1 Single Award for No Time To Die.
Two songs have come close to reaching hte UK summit; Duran Duran's A View To A Kill and Adele's Skyfall each peaked at Number 2 in 1985 and 2012 respectively. Despite the latter winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe, Skyfall was denied Number 1 by Swedish House Mafia's Don't You Worry Child, while A View To A Kill logged a frustrating three weeks at Number 2, held off the top by the might of Paul Hardcastle's 19.
Other chart entries are more surprising. Despite releasing two of the most memorable songs in Bond theme history, Shirley Bassey's Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfinger both failed to make the Top 10. Diamonds only managed to reach Number 38 in 1971, logging just two weeks in the Top 40 (six in the Top 100), while Goldfinger peaked at Number 21 in 1964 (the less said about Moonraker, the better).
Every James Bond theme ever and where they charted
| YEAR | TITLE | ARTIST | CHART PEAK | WEEKS IN TOP 100 |
| 1963 | From Russia With Love | Matt Monro | 20 | 13 |
| 1963 | James Bond Theme | John Barry Orchestra | 13 | 11 |
| 1964 | Goldfinger | Shirley Bassey | 21 | 9 |
| 1965 | Thunderball | Tom Jones | 35 | 4 |
| 1967 | You Only Live Twice | Nancy Sinatra | 11 | 19 |
| 1969 | We Have All The Time in the World | Louis Armstrong | 3 (in 1994) | 19 |
| 1971 | Diamonds are Forever | Shirley Bassey | 38 | 6 |
| 1973 | Live and Let Die | Paul McCartney & Wings | 9 | 14 |
| 1975 | The Man With The Golden Gun | Lulu | n/a | 0 |
| 1977 | Nobody Does It Better | Carly Simon | 7 | 12 |
| 1979 | Moonraker | Shirley Bassey | n/a | 0 |
| 1981 | For Your Eyes Only | Sheena Easton | 8 | 13 |
| 1983 | All Time High | Rita Coolidge | 75 | 4 |
| 1985 | A View To A Kill | Duran Duran | 2 | 16 |
| 1987 | The Living Daylights | A-ha | 5 | 9 |
| 1989 | License To Kill | Gladys Knight | 6 | 11 |
| 1995 | GoldenEye | Tina Turner | 10 | 9 |
| 1997 | Tomorrow Never Dies | Sheryl Crow | 12 | 9 |
| 1999 | The World Is Not Enough | Garbage | 11 | 10 |
| 2002 | Die Another Day | Madonna | 3 | 17 |
| 2006 | You Know My Name | Chris Cornell | 7 | 19 |
| 2008 | Another Way To Die | Alicia Keys & Jack White | 9 | 14 |
| 2012 | Skyfall | Adele | 2 | 32 |
| 2015 | Writing's On The Wall | Sam Smith | 1 | 17 |
| 2020 | No Time To Die | Billie Eilish | 1 | 12 |
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Espionage-Cognoscente
The 007 brand has not only eulogised and promoted the "espionage industry" but it has also spread so much disinformation about that industry that even MI6 would have been proud of the dissemination of so much fake news. Anthony Horowitz has already penned the next Bond book and movie, With a Mind to Kill, which is due for release any day now.
However, maybe the Bond legacy is finally coming to an end notwithstanding the recent publication of Anthony Horowitz’s With a Mind to Kill, particularly after Daniel Craig's au revoir in No Time To Die. We think the anti-Bond era is now being firmly established in literature and on the screen. Raw noir anti-Bond espionage masterpieces are on the ascent. Len Deighton's classic The Ipcress File has been rejuvenated by John Hodge with Joe Cole aspiring to take on Michael Caine.
Then there's Edward Burlington in The Burlington Files series by Bill Fairclough, a real spy who disavowed Ian Fleming for his epic disservice to the espionage fraternity. After all, Fleming single-handedly transformed MI6 into a mythical quasi-religious cult that spawned a knight in shining armour numbered 007 who could regularly save the planet from spinning out of orbit.
Last but not least, the final nail in wee Jimmy Bond's coffin has been hammered in by Jackson Lamb. Mick Herron's anti-Bond sentiments combine lethally with the sardonic humour of the Slough House series to unreservedly mock not just Bond but also British Intelligence which has lived too long off the overly ripe fruits Fleming left to rot!
S
Sarah
These songs 1969,71,77,81.83,99,2006, and 2015 does not really connect to the Bond movies.
Count Plutarch
Justice for Lulu. Often seen as the worst Bond theme by lazy journalists... its a camp BANGER.
Küll
Alice Cooper was rejected 😪
Damián
Goldeneye by Tina Turner is one of the best Bond songs ever.
Still waiting Kylie records a Bond theme
Ronald van Veen
If only....
Damián
Let's hope it happens one day soon Ronald
Kasper Elbjørn
Chris Cornell and Jack White are the weirdest choices ever. It's like the producers woke up one day and thought it was still the 90's
Michael Rain
Chris Cornell goes far beyond the nineties...
His voice in fact, is timeless!
Norb Peti
... The Sam Smith version is not just dreadful but won an Oscar too if I'm correct. LOL . the taste....
Norb Peti
Die Another Day is amazing! The sound is so good dance electronica mixed with the classic strings and all. Great video as well.
etin
still wondering amy winehouse's bond song
M
MarkM
She definitely had the chops for it.
J
Joe
"We have all the time in the world" A beautiful song for a dreadful film!
CM
Caroline Monroe
Says lots about pop music when that dreadful dirge by Sam Smith is used as a Bond theme and actually gets to number 1 in the charts. Skyfall sounded a good song let down by Adele's weak delivery and Shirley Bassey only reaching 38 in 1971 with Diamonds are Forever, one of the best Bond songs ever, goes to show that there was a lot more quality competition around back then.
berardo monis maia-cuckold´s
DURAN DURAN AND PAUL MACARTNEY
Graham Needham
We Have All The Time in the World is not the theme to On Her Majesty's Secret Service - the theme is (an instrumental) by John Barry (which, although released, didn't chart at the time). The Louis Armstrong song is a secondary track from the soundtrack. If you're counting secondary James Bond film tracks then you are missing:
Marvin Hamlisch - Bond 77 (didn't chart in 1977)
The Pretenders (for 007) - If There Was A Man (reached No.49 in 1987)
Patti LaBelle - If You Asked Me To (didn't chart in 1989)
Eric Serra - Experience Of Love (didn't chart in 1995)
Moby - James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-Version) (reached No.8 in 1997)
Even that is not a complete list of secondary tracks/singles released for James Bond films.
http://missmoneypennysarchives.com/
KH
Kevin Henry
Shirley Bassey's Moonraker is a great song. Love the uptempo version at the end of the film too.
Tal Gabay
after artists record a James Bond's song they usually lose their fame and they barely have a careers after that... Shame that the wonderful Sam smith will his career because of this bad move...
JC
John Clark
Don't see many on that list that went downhill after a Bond movie recording as for Sam Smith poor choice !
Rubén Darío González-Román
Die Another Day is my favorite, also it has the BEST video.
berardo monis maia-cuckold´s
LIVE AND LET DIE