The 11 best Imagine Dragons songs

With two London stadium dates on the horizon next summer, it's time to rank the best Imagine Dragons tracks

A lot of bands strives to be anthemic: to create songs that have the power to unite thousands of people in the biggest of rooms, fields and stadiums. Some might achieve it once in a career, some may never do it at all, and some will do it again and again in a way that makes it seem utterly effortless. Imagine Dragons fall firmly into the latter category.

The Las Vegas collective are six albums deep now, with their latest, LOOM, released back in June. They’ve built up a fearsome back catalogue that they will be showing off next summer when they play two of their biggest UK shows to date at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

With almost 50,000 fans likely in attendance each night, a tour like that demands the biggest of anthems. Fortunately, that’s what the Dragons specialise in, and we’ve whittled down the 11 best of them…

11. ‘Sucker For Pain’

(Suicide Squad: The Album, 2016)

Released to coincide with Warner Bros’ first attempt at bringing Suicide Squad to the big screen, ‘Sucker For Pain’ saw Imagine Dragons collaborate with Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Logic, Ty Dolla $ign and X Ambassadors. With that many featured artists, the band’s part is confined to the chorus, but it sure is a catchy one. It also shows just how well the band’s thumping brand of anthemic rock mixes with other genres. Seamless.

10. ‘Walking The Wire’

(Evolve, 2017)

Taken from their sophomore LP, Evolve, ‘Walking The Wire’ is Imagine Dragons embracing U2; all jangly guitars, thunderous percussions and handclaps brought together to produce a powerful stomp. They weren’t in stadiums at that point, but you can tell they were already planning ahead.

9. ‘Friction’

(Smoke + Mirrors, 2015)

‘Friction’ could have been written for a movie montage, it’s got that surging feel to its structure, with guitar and top-line that demand action. It’s musical Red Bull.

8. ‘Eyes Closed’

(LOOM, 2024)

The first single from new album, LOOM, and it’s another designed to inject espresso straight into your veins. A fusion of hip hop, trap beats and chugging stadium rock, it naturally explodes into a huge chorus. Already vintage Imagine Dragons.

7. ‘I Bet My Life’

(Smoke + Mirrors, 2015)

This is Imagine Dragons at their most rollicking. ‘I Bet My Life’ has a slight Mumford & Sons feel to it, all twangy guitars and pounding percussion, but underpinned by that same uplifting surge that unites all their biggest hits.

6. ‘Demons’

(Night Visions, 2012)

Imagine Dragons are a band who don’t really go in for subtlety, but they can certainly do introspection and wonder. ‘Demons’ is a shimmering thing that builds slowly into a stomper.

5. ‘Bleeding Out’

(Night Visions, 2012)

This is as close as Imagine Dragons get to a ballad. A big, spacey, widescreen effort, it’s sparer than many of their other songs, but no less affecting. A real lighters in the air moment (you might need a couple of spares at an Imagine Dragons gig…).

4. ‘Believer’

(Evolve, 2017)

The ultimate hype-up. ‘Believer’ is half call-to-arms and half snarling underdog, all wiry guitars, with frontman Dan Reynolds firing out his words like a trainer whispering into the ear of a prize fighter. It’s a song to get you supercharged. The band must have been feeling the same, else why would they have enlisted Rocky legend Dolph Lundgren for the video?

3. ‘It’s Time’

(It’s Time, 2011)

There’s a darkness that underpins so much of Imagine Dragons’ work, but ‘It’s Time’ is a true moment of lightness and a embrace of pure pop. A chiming wall of guitars, summery vibes and a chorus that brings a smile to the face.

2. ‘Thunder’

(Evolve, 2017)

Over the course of their career, Imagine Dragons have melded and meshed so many genres, and it’s never more evident than on ‘Thunder’. This is part dubstep, part hip hop, part stadium rock and part electronica. It shoudn’t work. But with a chorus this size? Of course it does.

1. ‘Radioactive’

(Night Visions, 2012)

Although Imagine Dragons had been steadily building their profile through their early EPs, and were already starting to move after the success of debut single ‘It’s Time’, it was ‘Radioactive’ that made the world sit up and pay attention.

‘Radioactive’ is everything that would go on to define the band. Twinkly guitars, bombastic percussion, and a skyscraper-sized chorus that instantly melds itself to the inside of your brain. The second you heard it, you knew, this band was destined for the biggest of stages. Get your hands up and keep them there: this is the very definition of anthemic.