Don't Stop Believin'

Composition

Don’t Stop Believin’ was written by Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry, and Neal Schon. The chord pattern is built on Cain’s piano, and the chorus is held back until the final third of the song, an unusual structure for radio singles of its era.

Reception

The single reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. Initial reception was strong but not chart-defining for the era, yet the song remained a recurrent feature of rock and adult contemporary radio.

Revival

Use of Don’t Stop Believin’ in the closing scene of “The Sopranos” finale in 2007 and in the pilot episode of “Glee” in 2009 brought a sustained second life. It became one of the most-downloaded twentieth-century songs in the digital era.