Heads Will Roll (song)

"Heads Will Roll" is a song by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released as the second single from their third studio album, It's Blitz! (2009). The CD and 7-inch singles were released in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2009.^[4]

"Heads Will Roll"
Single by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
from the album It's Blitz!
Released	June 29, 2009 (2009-06-29)
Genre	Dance-rock[1] new wave[2] disco[3]
Length	3:41
Label	Dress Up DGC Interscope
Songwriter(s)	Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Producer(s)	Nick Launay David Andrew Sitek
Yeah Yeah Yeahs singles chronology
"Zero" (2009) "Heads Will Roll" (2009) "Skeletons" (2010)
Music video
"Heads Will Roll" on YouTube
A-Trak Remix digital single cover

A remix by Canadian DJ A-Trak appeared in the film Project X. The remix was placed at number 124 of Rolling Stone's list of the 200 Greatest Dance Songs.^[5][6]

Composition

The song is built around a vintage sounding string riff, which was sampled from a Mellotron sound card: "Roxy SFX 2" from the Mellotron M4000D Sound Card 02.^[7]

Use in other media

The track was used as the BBC Sport theme tune for UEFA Women's Euro 2025 coverage.

Music video

The music video for "Heads Will Roll" was directed by Richard Ayoade, and premiered on NME.com on May 26, 2009.^[8] It features the band playing in a (presumably) underground venue when a dancing werewolf whose dancing is reminiscent of Michael Jackson (who died four days before the single was released and 30 days after the music video premiered) appears on stage. A light flashes halfway through the music video and the werewolf transforms. He then proceeds to chase after the audience and kills most of them. The video then ends with the band having been murdered while Karen O continues singing, her head severed from her body. The music video contains some mockery of horror in general; instead of blood, there is red glitter and confetti and Karen O keeps singing while decapitated. In the UK, there are two different versions of this video, the second replacing the violent conclusion with repeated clips from the previous section of the video, but it shows the confetti falling onto the band.^[9]

It was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video.^[10]

Track listings

CD single and 7-inch single^[4]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Heads Will Roll"	3:44
2.	"Heads Will Roll" (Passion Pit Remix)	4:39

Digital remix EP

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Heads Will Roll" (Passion Pit Remix)	4:37
2.	"Heads Will Roll" (Tommie Sunshine Remix)	5:21
3.	"Heads Will Roll" (Little Vampire Remix)	4:47
4.	"Heads Will Roll" (James Iha Remix)	4:15

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2009–2012) Peak position Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] 1 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[12] 7 France (SNEP)[13] 45 Germany (GfK)[14] 73 Ireland (IRMA)[15] 70 Scotland (OCC)[16] 75 UK Singles (OCC)[17] 89 US Alternative Digital Songs (Billboard)[18] 7 US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[19] 1 US Hot Singles Sales (Billboard)[20] 5

Year-end charts Chart (2010) Position Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[21] 16 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[22] 57

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Belgium (BRMA)[23]	Gold	15,000*
Germany (BVMI)[24]	3× Gold	450,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[25]	Gold	30,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[26]	Platinum	600,000‡
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Other versions

The song was performed by Scarlett Johansson in 2021 for Universal's computer animated feature Sing 2 as a porcupine named "Ash".

"Heads Will Roll" was Amber Glenn's short program music for the 2023-2024 Figure Skating Season. Glenn won the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships with this performance.