Originally released in 2007, Arctic Monkeys’ “505” has found new life on TikTok and now finds itself trending at no. 29 on Spotify. The track was originally released on their second album, Favorite Worst Nightmare, and was written by lead singer and guitarist Alex Turner and produced by James Ford and Mike Crossey. This isn’t the first time the song has resurfaced. “505” found popularity on Tumblr in the mid-2010’s, with Rolling Stone stating: “During the mid-2010s Tumblr era, posts containing the dark lyric, ‘I’d probably still adore you /With your hands around my neck,’ were plentiful on the site.” It then received a resurgence in 2022 on TikTok. NME said of the resurgence: “frontman Turner said it was ‘genuinely moving’ to witness such a reaction.” And now in 2026, Dutch producer/DJ Xamuel has remixed the song into a techno/club anthem.
In “505,” which you can listen to below, you’ll notice the opening organ chord progression. This is from Ennio Morricone’s score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but rather than sampled per se, the two chords were just played by their own hands. Another example of how songs can find a second life when in the hands of the right fans.
The vocal range is rather small, not even an octave, but it allows for the vocal line to feel more conversational. Additionally, the guitar only cycles through two chords: D minor and E minor. The track avoids feeling repetitive, however, because of the limited range of the vocals. It feels like someone is talking to you, and the lyrics keep the listeners interested.
In the same Rolling Stone article from earlier, they say, “Even the subject of the song differed from the band’s usual topics; as Turner told NME, it was ‘the first proper love song [they’ve] done.’ The change was a welcome one, and the 2007 track has proven its staying power with two viral revivals since its release.”
“505” is Arctic Monkeys’ third most-streamed song on Spotify behind “I Wanna Be Yours” and “Do I Wanna Know?” Two songs that have proved their own staying power. With their last album, The Car, released in 2022 and a new album hopefully coming soon, I wonder if a new hit will emerge or if the next time we see Arctic Monkeys trending will be yet another oldie but a goodie. Or if a new remix will help bring another resurgence.
