"Thunderstruck" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Single by AC/DC | ||||
from the album The Razors Edge | ||||
B-side | "Fire Your Guns" | |||
Released | 10 September 1990 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:52 | |||
Label | ATCO | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Bruce Fairbairn | |||
AC/DC singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Thunderstruck" on YouTube |
"Thunderstruck" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released as the lead single from their twelfth studio album The Razors Edge (1990). It peaked at No. 4 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, No. 1 in Finland, and No. 5 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. In 2010, "Thunderstruck" topped Triple M Melbourne's Ultimate 500 Rock Countdown in Australia. [3] It is one of the best-selling singles of all time with over 15 million units sold.
Angus Young stated in the liner notes of the 2003 re-release of The Razors Edge:
It started off from a little trick I had on guitar. I played it to Mal and he said "Oh, I've got a good rhythm idea that will sit well in the back." We built the song up from that. We fiddled about with it for a few months before everything fell into place. Lyrically, it was really just a case of finding a good title ... We came up with this thunder thing, based on our favourite childhood toy ThunderStreak, and it seemed to have a good ring to it. AC/DC = Power. That's the basic idea. [4]
The song has sold over a million digital copies since it became available for digital download. [5]
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the "most Australian" songs of all time, "Thunderstruck" was ranked No. 8. [6]
"Thunderstruck" is widely considered one of the band's best songs. In 2020, The Guardian ranked the song number eight on its list of the 40 greatest AC/DC songs, [7] and in 2021, the British rock magazine Kerrang! ranked the song number six on its list of the 20 greatest AC/DC songs. [8] In 2025 the song was voted 13 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs. [9]
The video which accompanied the single, directed by David Mallet, was filmed at London's Brixton Academy on 17 August 1990. The audience members were given free T-shirts with the words "AC/DC – I was Thunderstruck" on the front and the date on the back, and these T-shirts were worn by the entire audience throughout the filming of the video. [10]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [46] | 10× Platinum | 700,000‡ |
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [47] | Platinum | 60,000‡ |
Canada (Music Canada) [48] | Diamond | 800,000‡ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [49] | 2× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
Germany (BVMI) [50] | 3× Gold | 900,000‡ |
Italy (FIMI) [51] | 3× Platinum | 300,000‡ |
Mexico (AMPROFON) [52] | 3× Platinum+Gold | 210,000‡ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [53] | 6× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
Portugal (AFP) [54] | Platinum | 40,000‡ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [55] | 3× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [56] | 3× Platinum | 1,800,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [57] | Diamond | 10,000,000‡ |
Ringtones | ||
Canada (Music Canada) [58] | Platinum | 40,000* |
United States (RIAA) [59] | Platinum | 1,798,000 [60] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
The song was reportedly used as part of the payload of a computer virus which attacked the Iranian nuclear program in 2012. In an email sent to Finnish computer security expert, Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure, one of the scientists involved in the nuclear program was quoted as saying: [61]
...There was also some music playing randomly on several of the workstations during the middle of the night with the volume maxed out. I believe it was playing "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC.
In 2025, it was revealed that the US Department of Agriculture in Oregon was using drones playing the song to deter wolves from attacking livestock. [62]