"Walking on a Dream" is a song by the Australian electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 duo Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun (band)

Empire of the Sun is an Australian electronic music duo that formed in 2008. The duo is composed of Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore of Pnau. The two met in 2000 after both being signed to the same record label. Luke and Nick knew that they instantly had a chemistry like no other...

, released as the lead single

Lead single

A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 from their debut album, Walking on a Dream

Walking on a Dream

Walking on a Dream is the debut album by Australian electronic duo Empire of the Sun, released in Australia on 4 October 2008 by EMI. The album was produced by band members Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore along with Peter Mayes....

. The full Sam La More

Sam Littlemore

Sam Littlemore, also known as Sam La More, is an Australian record producer and recording artist working in Hollywood, Sydney and London. Littlemore is best known for his work with Tonite Only and his production work with Nellee Hooper and Gwen Stefani, including Gwen's debut solo hit "What You...

 remix

Remix

A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

 was made available as a free download on the band's official website. The single was successful on the Australian ARIA Charts

ARIA Charts

The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

, reaching as far as number ten and being certified double platinum. It was also placed at number four in the 2008 Triple J Hottest 100

Triple J Hottest 100, 2008

The 2008 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on Australia Day, 26 January 2009. It was the sixteenth countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station, Triple J....

. "Walking on a Dream" won the award for Single of the Year at the ARIA Music Awards of 2009

ARIA Music Awards of 2009

The 23rd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards took place on 26 November 2009 at the Acer Arena at the Sydney Olympic Park complex. The ceremony was telecast on the Nine Network at 8:30pm that night...

.

Although the single was originally due for release in the United Kingdom on 9 February 2009, the CD release date was postponed until 6 July 2009. The song was made the Single of the Week on the iTunes Store

ITunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

 for the week of 21 April 2009.

The song was later used by American rapper Wiz Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa

Cameron Jibril Thomaz , better known by the stage name Wiz Khalifa , is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007...

 in his song "The Thrill" from his 2009 mixtape Burn After Rolling.

The song was also used in the promotional advertisements for the MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 reality show The City

The City (MTV series)

The City is an MTV reality television series. The first spin-off of MTV's, The Hills, it follows one of the show's former cast members, Whitney Port, as she moves to New York City to work for fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg. The program premiered on December 29, 2008 and concluded its first...

 and is currently being used in a commercial for Toyota's line of hybrid cars (as of April 2011).

The song was also featured in the films Cyrus

Cyrus (film)

Cyrus is a 2010 comedy-drama film written and directed by brothers Jay and Mark Duplass and starring John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, and Catherine Keener.-Plot:...

 and Hall Pass.

The song is regularly used as a musical 'sting' in the 2011 domestic Twenty20

Twenty20

Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...

 cricket competition in England.

Walking on a Dream has been remixed numerous times. Amongst others, Avicii

Avicii

Tim "The Phoenix" Bergling , known professionally as Avicii, Tim Berg, "Ashwin", "Yeshel", "Harshil" and Tom Hangs, is a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. His single "Bromance" has charted in the top 20 on the national single charts of Belgium, the Netherlands, and his native Sweden...

 and Mike Foyle

Mike Foyle

Mike Foyle is a British producer, composer and DJ of progressive electronic dance music.-Background:Mike Foyle was born in Southampton, England in October 1985. His Father is a session musician and band member playing cello, piano, bass guitar and acoustic guitar. At the age of 8, Mike began...

 have been credited for creating a remix of this song.

Music video

The music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the song was shot by Josh Logue on location along the Bund

The Bund

The Bund is a waterfront area in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District...

 in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, China in July/August 2008, just prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

. It features Steele and Littlemore wearing Eastern costumes and makeup.

Track listings

CD single and iTunes EP

1. "Walking on a Dream" – 3:16
2. "Walking on a Dream" (Van She Tech Remix) – 3:46
3. "Walking on a Dream" (Honk Kong Blondes Remix) – 7:11
4. "Walking on a Dream" (Sam La More
   Sam Littlemore
   Sam Littlemore, also known as Sam La More, is an Australian record producer and recording artist working in Hollywood, Sydney and London. Littlemore is best known for his work with Tonite Only and his production work with Nellee Hooper and Gwen Stefani, including Gwen's debut solo hit "What You...
   
    Remix Edit) – 3:36

UK 7" single

A. "Walking on a Dream" – 3:16

B. "Walking on a Dream" (Sam La More Remix Edit) – 3:36

iTunes exclusive single

1. "Walking on a Dream" (Sam La More 12" Remix) – 7:52

Peak positions

Chart (2009–2010)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	10
Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995...  (Flanders)	8
Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization...  (Wallonia)	12
Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	30
European Hot 100 Singles	89
German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	55
Hungarian Airplay Chart Mahasz Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary....	36
Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...	8
Italian Singles Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy....	16
Japan Hot 100 Japan Hot 100 The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com ....	13
New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...	14
Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	52
Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...	21
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	64
U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs	18

Certifications

Country	Certification
Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...	2× platinum

Year-end charts

Chart (2009)	Position
Australian Singles Chart	61
Hungarian Singles Chart	156
Italian Singles Chart	79
Swiss Singles Chart	66

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format
Australia	30 August 2008	Capitol Records Capitol Records Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine... , EMI EMI The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...	Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
	18 October 2008		CD single
United Kingdom	16 February 2009	Virgin Records Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...	7" single Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
	6 July 2009		CD single CD single A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
Germany	11 March 2011	Capitol Records Capitol Records Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine... , EMI EMI The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...