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Cover of After the Disco by Broken Bells — Cover: After the Disco

Song · Broken Bells

“Holding On For Life” by Broken Bells

From the album After the Disco (2014)

“Holding On For Life” by Broken Bells appears on 19 radio countdowns from 15 stations between 2013 and 2025. It was first released in 2014 on the album After the Disco. Its best result is #21 on the Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2014. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #108 alternative song of 2014.

19countdowns

15stations

#21best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

2013–2025years charted

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Broken Bells - Holding on for Life (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (brokenbellsVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Holding On for Life" was the lead single from After the Disco, the second Broken Bells album, released on November 21, 2013. James Mercer wrote it with Brian Burton, who produced it as Danger Mouse, and it's the third track on the record, with Myla Balugay, Z Berg, Heather Porcaro and Becky Stark stacking up the backing vocals and Kennie Takahashi on the mix.

Critics kept hearing the same thing: Rolling Stone's Kory Grow pegged it as indie-disco in the Bee Gees mold, NPR's Bob Boilen heard the brothers Gibb too, and Danger Mouse cheerfully admitted the resemblance, pointing out that the Bee Gees knew a good chorus. Jacob Gentry's video, starring Kate Mara and Anton Yelchin, picks up where the clip for "Angel and the Fool" left off, and the song also turned up in MLB 14: The Show.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2013	68	Lightning 100 Nashville, TN	Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2013	101
2013	78	107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2013	107
2013	62	102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany)	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2013	103
2013	83	WXPN Philadelphia, PA	WXPN Year in Review: Top 200 Songs of 2013	200
2013	86	97X Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL	97X Top 97 of 2013	97
2013	56	The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2013	89
2013	85	WTMD Baltimore, MD	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2013	89
2014	47	91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana	91X Top 91 Songs of 2014	91
2014	46	CD101 Columbus, OH	CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2014	103
2014	48	92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2014	50
2014	21	Lightning 100 Nashville, TN	Lightning 100 Top 100 Songs of 2014	100
2014	31	WRNR 103.1 Annapolis, MD	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2014	104
2014	60	WFUV New York, NY	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2014	90
2014	65	WTMD Baltimore, MD	WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2014	89

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2014	593	WXPN	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014)	885
2016	131	WYEP	WYEP 913 Countdown 2016	913
2018	619	WTMD	WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018	896
2019	472	KEXP	KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time	627
2025	743	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century	909

Also listed as: Holding On for Life; Holding on for Life.

Charting alongside it in 2014

Best songs of 2014 →

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