"Livin' on a Prayer" is Bon Jovi's second single from their Slippery When Wetalbum. Written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora with Desmond Child, the single, released in late 1986, was well-received at both rock and pop radio and its music video was given heavy rotation at MTV, giving the band their first #1 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The single also became Bon Jovi's second consecutive #1 Hot 100 pop hit and has become the band's signature song, topping fan-voted lists and re-charting around the world decades after its release.

Jon Bon Jovi did not like the original recording of this song, which can be found as a hidden track on 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong. Richie Sambora convinced him the song was good, and they reworked it with a new bass line, different drum fills and the use of a talk box to include it on their Slippery When Wetalbum. The songs verse melody closely resembles the verse melody of the song "Venus" by the band Shocking Blue. It spent two weeks at number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, from January 31–February 14, 1987, and four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, from February 14–March 7. It also hit number four on the UK singles chart.

After the attacks of September 11th, 2001—in which New Jersey was the second-hardest hit state after New York, suffering hundreds of casualties among both WTC workers and first responders—the band performed an acoustic version of this song for The Concert for New York City. Bon Jovi performed a similar version as part of the special America: A Tribute to Heroes.

In 2006, online voters rated "Livin' on a Prayer" #1 on VH1's "list of The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s". More recently, in New Zealand, "Livin' on a Prayer" was #1 on the C4 music channel show's "U Choose 40", on the 80's Icons list. It was also #1 on the "Sing-a-long Classics List". After Bon Jovi performed in New Zealand on January 28 2008 while on their Lost Highway Tour, the song re-entered the official New Zealand RIANZ singles chart at number 24, over twenty years after the initial release.

Australian music TV channel MAX placed this song at #18 on their 2008 countdown "Rock Songs: Top 100". In 2009, the song returned to the charts in the UK, notably hitting the number-one spot on the UK Rock Chart.

In 2010 the song was chosen in an online vote on the Grammy.com website over the group's more recent hits "Always" and "It's My Life" to be played live by the band on the 52nd Grammy Awards telecast.

In the Billboard Hot 100 Anniversary 50, "Livin' on a Prayer" was named as 46 in the All time rock songs.

The song is about a fictional working class couple, Tommy and Gina, who struggle to make ends meet and maintain their relationship. Tommy "used to work on the docks" because "union's been on strike, he's down on his luck". Gina works at a diner, "workin' for her man".

While some have loosely interpreted the lyrics to be anti-labor, inferring that the striking labor union are the catalyst for the troubled chain of events for Tommy and Gina, others have pointed out that the song does not clarify the circumstances behind the strike, and the lone, vague reference does not equate with an anti-union political message. In fact, Jon Bon Jovi explained that he "wrote that song during the Reagan era and the trickle-down economics are really inspirational to writing songs".

The video for the song features shots of the band rehearsing, then playing in front of a crowd. The first half of the video, featuring the rehearsal footage, is black and white, and the second half of the video, performing to the arena audience, is in color.

In the beginning of the video, Jon Bon Jovi has a harness attached, and later in the music video he soars over the crowd via overhead wires.

The music video was recorded at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California and was directed by Wayne Isham.

Bon Jovi made several references to lyrics in "Livin' on a Prayer" in subsequent songs.

Some other bands referenced Tommy and Gina in their songs, too.

Bon Jovi have themselves reworked the song several times, including an acoustic live version that served as a precursor to the MTV Unpluggedseries and a re-recorded version of the song, "Prayer '94", which appeared on U.S. versions of their Cross Roadhits collection. But the song has had a life of its own beyond the band, particularly in several dance music incarnations. Stellar Kart covered the song for their first album, All Gas. No Brake.The Audition recorded a version for Kerrang!'s CD Higher Voltage (June 7). Disco singer Hazell Dean, popular in the UK in the '80s, recorded Hi-NRG/Trance remixes of the song, released on Academy Street Records in 1999. Jordan James recorded his own version, and released a slew of remixes of the song on the Robbins Entertainment label which charted on the U.S. Dance charts in 2004. Other dance versions of the song have been recorded by Topmodelz, Groove Coverage, and Heavydance.

Christian rock band Stellar Kart covered the song on their 2005 album All Gas. No Brake.The same year, during the first American leg of Tori Amos' Original Sinsualitytour she performed "Livin' on a Prayer" in a cover section called "Tori's Piano Bar".

The song has been a popular karaoke and wedding band song and has been attempted by numerous contestants in the various worldwide Pop Idolcompetitions and similar talent contest shows. The song was sung by American Idolseason 6 winner Jordin Sparks on May 1, 2007 as her pick for Bon Jovi week on the show. American Idolseason 7 winner David Cook auditioned with the song. The song was sung also on Australian Idol, Season One, by runner-up Shannon Noll. It was considered one of his better performances. 2008 Swedish Pop IdolKevin Borg performed a rousing rendition of "Living on a Prayer", which many believed was the cause of his victory. In 2009, all-vocal rock group Face performed this song on NBC's a cappella competition, The Sing-Off.

In 2008, Swedish rap group Looptroop released a cover on their album Good Things. They also made a remix called "Praying On A Liver". Alvin and the Chipmunks released a cover of the song on their 2008 album Alvin and the Chipmunks: Undeniable. Kidz Bop covered this song on the album Kidz Bop 80s Gold. There's even an oompah version in 3/4 time by UK oompah band Oompah Brass featured on their 2008 album Oompocalypse Now.

Mash-up band Rock Sugar covered the song, mixed with Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" and Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend", on their album Reimagination.

The song was also sung by Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge, as part of his 2008 stand-up comedy tour Alan Partridge and Other Less Successful Characters.

New Jersey is the only state in the union without an official state anthem, but Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" is cited by many, after Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run, as a sort of unofficial anthem. "Livin' on a Prayer" was one of the theme songs for the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry.

That same year, "Livin' on a Prayer" was the "theme song" for the 2004 Boston Red Sox after their historic comeback in the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees. During halftime at Philadelphia Soul Arena Football games, the song is played, paying tribute to their owner Jon Bon Jovi. For a commercial about the Arena Football League that Bon Jovi did with John Elway, he asks the quarterback (who is suiting up to go into the fictional game) "What? Are you living in the past?" To which Elway says, "Better than living on a prayer." The song is often played during Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles home games, during an offensive rally when the home team needs a big clutch hit. The Washington Nationals use this song in-between innings karoake contest. The Chicago Cubs use this song during home games when the opposing team makes a pitching change in the middle of an inning.

The song has been performed by many college marching bands including San Diego State University, Michigan State University, The University of Tennessee, Auburn University, Purdue University, Notre Dame, Northern Illinois University, Pennsylvania State University, Eastern Michigan University, Niagara University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan, Columbia University, and Georgia Tech and it is frequently a crowd favorite. The song become a theme for the George Mason University Patriots during their run to the Final Fourin 2006. The Rutgers University Scarlet Knights football team plays "Livin' on a Prayer" in the 4th quarter of all home games. The song is performed by the Roamin' Bones of the Florida State University Marching Band, the Marching Chiefs. The Louisiana State University marching band, The Golden Band From Tigerland, plays the song during the fourth quarter of home football games with the student section continuing the song when the band finishes. "Livin' on a Prayer" is the unofficial theme song of the Stimson Superfans, a group of Fanatic Washington State Volleyball fans, and the song is sung by the group before every WSU Volleyball game.

Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" was featured in the film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and appears on its soundtrack album. The song was also featured on the trailer and a commercial for the 2009 film Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

A brief a cappella set of "Livin' on a Prayer" was included as part of the November 7, 2006, episode of the TV show Gilmore Girls. In 2009 the song was featured on an episode of the hit UK series Skins.

The song is in the 2008 version of the Cadbury's "Trucks" advert. The song's chorus was used in an old Filipino Zesto orange juice commercial in the 1990s. The lyrics were reworked as "Cool and refreshing, that's the way to go-o. Oh! Way to go, Zesto!"

It is a playable track for the music video games Rock Band Unplugged, Rock Band 2, and for Guitar Hero World Tour. On the latter of the two, the ending is changed. Instead of it fading out on the ending chorus, it finishes the chorus and then has an "outro" riff. The song is also featured in the musical video game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2.

On May 8, 2009, the song was featured prominently in the final scene of "Everybody Hates G.E.D.", the final episode of the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. The scene was a tribute to "Made in America", the final episode of the HBO drama The Sopranos, which featured Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" in its final scene.

In 2010, the song was used the Cold Caseepisode "One Fall".

An altered version of this song, entitled "Livin' on a Grant", is the anthem of the New ERA cohort of students within University College Dublin. The chorus is amended to reflect New ERA students' defiance of the status quo within Irish university society.

In a Alvin and the Chipmunks Cd sponsoring the 2007 film, Livin on a prayer was one of the featured songs.