"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a song by the British pop/rock band Tears for Fears. It was the band's ninth single release in the United Kingdom (the third from their second LP: Songs from the Big Chair) and seventh UK Top 40 chart hit, peaking at number two in April 1985. In the U.S., it was the lead single from the album and gave the band their first Hot 100 number-one hit on June 8, 1985, remaining there for two weeks. It also reached number-one on both the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and Hot Dance Singles Sales charts in the U.S. The song has since become the pinnacle of Tears for Fears' chart success, its endurance allowing it to accumulate over two million radio broadcasts by 1994, according to BMI.

In 1986, the song won "Best Single" at the Brit Awards. Orzabal would also argue the song deserved to win the Ivor Novello International Hit of the Year award, claiming that the winner - "19" by Paul Hardcastle - wasn't actually a song; it was just a dialogue collage.

Ironically, considering the song's overwhelming success, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was somewhat of an afterthought during the recording of Songs from the Big Chair. According to Roland Orzabal, he initially regarded the song as a lightweight that would not fit with the rest of the album. It was producer Chris Hughes who convinced him to try recording it, in a calculated effort to cross over into American chart success. Orzabal would later reveal in a radio interview that the beat from the song was "borrowed" from another UK Top 40 chart hit: "Waterfront", by Simple Minds.

As was the case with the three hit singles from Tears for Fears' debut LP The Hurting, the song featured bassist Curt Smith on lead vocals.

For such a popular song, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" has seen relatively few remixes. Extended, instrumental, and "urban mix" versions were done by producer Chris Hughes for inclusion on the single's various 12" releases. The only other remix of note was one done by electronica act The Chosen Few, included on the 2004 reissue of the greatest hits compilation Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92). No official radio edits or alternate 7" versions of the song have been issued. A version labeled as the 7" version is included on the 2006 remaster of "Songs from the Big Chair", but is no different than the album version apart from a shorter intro.

The song was later partially re-recorded with a new lyric and released as "Everybody Wants to Run the World" for the 1986 Sport Aid fund-raising campaign, once again reaching the UK Top 5 in the process.

"Pharaohs" is an instrumental that served as the B-side to the "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" single. The only voice heard is a recording of a BBC Radio announcer reading the Shipping Forecast for the sea lanes around the United Kingdom. The title of the song is a play on the word "Faroes", one of the places referenced in the forecast. This is one of the few songs in the Tears for Fears catalogue on which founding member Curt Smith shares a writing credit. The song has since been included in the B-sides and rarities collection Saturnine Martial & Lunaticas well as the remastered and deluxe edition reissues of Songs from the Big Chair. A remix by British electronica act Groove Armada is included on their 2000 compilation album Back to Mine.

The promotional clip for "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", filmed in early 1985, was the third Tears for Fears clip directed by famed music video producer Nigel Dick. It features Curt Smith driving an antique Austin-Healey 3000 sports car around various Southern California locales, including Salton Sea and Cabazon. Interspersed with these clips are shots of the full band performing the song in a London studio. Along with the clip for "Shout", the "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" video had a big hand in helping break Tears for Fears in America, due to its heavy amount of play on music video pioneer MTV.

The single was released on a wide variety of formats in the UK, including a standard 7", a 7" double pack, two separate 12" versions, and a 10" single.

Tears for Fears bassist Curt Smith included a solo acoustic version of the song on his 2000 EP Aeroplane.

In addition, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" has been covered by the following artists:

Additionally, the dark cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls insert a musical quoatation of it, with different but similar lyrics, in their song "My Alcoholic Friends" from their 2006 album Yes, Virginia....

A unique extended edit of the song was featured at the end of the 1985 film Real Genius. It has since been included on a number of other film soundtracks, including:

The song appears in the initial trailer for the blockbuster 1996 film Independence Day, but was dropped from the final soundtrack in favor of "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by the band R.E.M.. It can also be heard in the film Watchmenas a Musak version without vocals, in a scene featuring billionaire/philanthropist Adrian Veidt, formerly the superhero Ozymandias. The song was also used during the initial introduction school scene in Donnie Darko.

The song also appears in the videogame, World in Conflictas the main theme of the game.

On the small screen, the song is perhaps best remembered for the eight seasons it served as the opening theme for the talk show Dennis Miller Live. Other appearances include:

The song appears on the game, Karaoke Revolution Party, and is also listenable in the in-game radio of Saints Row 2.

The first two verses are heard in the Powerpuff Girlsepisode "The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!" sung by Mojo Jojo.

The song was used in the beginning and during the credits of Mike Tollin's ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about the USFL.

Curt Smith discusses Everybody Wants To Rule The World - RetroRewind interview

"Suffer the Children" · "Pale Shelter" · "Mad World" · "Change" · "The Way You Are" · "Mothers Talk" · "Shout" · " Everybody Wants to Rule the World " · "Head Over Heels" · "I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording)" · "Everybody Wants to Run the World" · "Sowing the Seeds of Love" · "Woman in Chains" · "Advice for the Young at Heart" · "Famous Last Words" · "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams" · "Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)" · "Break It Down Again" · "Cold" · "Goodnight Song" · "Elemental" · "Raoul and the Kings of Spain" · "God's Mistake" · "Secrets" · "Falling Down" · "Closest Thing to Heaven" · "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending/Call Me Mellow" · "Secret World"