"Eternal Flame" is a song by The Bangles which became a hit single in 1989, peaking at number one in the charts in six countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was written by popular songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and the Bangles' own Susanna Hoffs.

It was a ballad, unlike the rest of the garage-band pop songs on their album Everything. Co-writer Billy Steinberg describes it as "The Beatles meet The Byrds".

The song was inspired by two eternal flames: one for Elvis Presley that Michael Steele saw when the band was at Graceland, and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which Steinberg attended as a child. Steinberg recalled to Songfacts: "Susanna was talking about The Bangles having visited Graceland, and she said there was some type of shrine to Elvis that included some kind of eternal flame. As soon as those words were mentioned, I immediately thought of the synagogue in the town of Palm Springs, California where I grew up. I remember during our Sunday school class they would walk us through the sanctuary. There was one little red light and they told us it was called the eternal flame."

It spent one week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, preceded by "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics and followed by "The Look" by Roxette.

The song debuted on the UK Singles Chart in February 1989 at number 81 and peaked at number one in April spending four weeks there and went on to spend twenty weeks in the chart and was the UK's third best-selling song of 1989.

The song also spent seven weeks at the #1 position in the Dutch Top 40. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart for two weeks.

The song was Australia's biggest selling single of '89 and was sent-up on the Australian TV show Fast Forward.

The song provided the musical backdrop for the closing montage of Season 1, Episode 21 of Cold Case.

Eternal Flame was featured in an episode of True Bloodon HBO and Pushing Daisieson ABC, where it was sung by Kristin Chenoweth.

, "What I Meant To Say" is a non-album track

A cover version by Atomic Kitten was released as a single and reached number one for two weeks on the UK charts in 2001. Susanna Hoffs liked the cover version and subsequently teamed up with Atomic Kitten and once again with Eternal Flame writers Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and wrote "Love Doesn't Have to Hurt" for their next album Feels So Good.

The original version of the song ran a total of 3:37 and is featured on Atomic Kitten's debut album, Right Now. This version was more similar to the original version released by The Bangles. For the single release the song was re-recorded with a new musical arrangement and new vocals, cutting the song down to 3:17. This version is available on the "Greatest Hits" and the physical CD single.

Atomic Kitten's version was remixed by Love to Infinity (T-Club Mix: 7:20).

Atomic Kitten made the song another massive success, entering at #1 in the UK, staying there for two weeks, with over 140,000 in its first week and 70,000 in its second week. The song has sold over 400,000 copies in the UK, and has been certified Gold. The single entered the top 5 in over ten countries.

The single went to number 2 in the French singles chart, a huge success, considering it is their only single to get anywhere into the top 20! This meant that they were one-hit wonders there. It was certified gold for sales of over 150,000 copies.

The single was a moderate success in Canada, getting into the top 20 at number 15, outdoing Whole Again, which only peaked at 20.

Eternal Flame was certified Gold in United Kingdom, Sweden, and New Zealand.

The single was, without doubt a worldwide success, entering the top 10 in every country it was released, except from Norway, where it was close to the top 10, at 13, and Australia, where it peaked at 47. This was disappointing compared to the rest of the countries it was released.

Eternal Flame went on to sell over one million copies worldwide.

The song has been covered in 2008 by Human Nature on their album: "A Symphony of Hits"

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