“Imagine” by John Lennon

"Imagine" is the title song of John Lennon's 1971 album, and it's the quietest radical statement in rock: a gentle piano ballad asking listeners to picture a peaceful world without religion, without possessions and without the borders that divide nations. Lennon later said that much of it came from his wife, Yoko Ono, and in 2017 she was credited as a co-writer.

Lennon, Ono and Phil Spector produced it. Recording started in May 1971 at Lennon's home studio at Tittenhurst Park in England, with overdubs finished that July at the Record Plant in New York. Lennon sits at the piano, Klaus Voormann plays bass and Alan White drums, and the arrangement stays soft and plain, so the idea does the heavy lifting.

Released as a US single that October, it reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Britain didn't get it as a single until 1975, when it went to No. 6, and after Lennon was killed in 1980 it went all the way to the top. It is his biggest-selling solo single, has drawn both praise and controversy over its message, and has been covered by more than 200 artists. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 3 among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004, and in 2023 the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.

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