In Australia, the song entered at No. 38 and on the week of January 10, 2010, it topped the chart with 37,354 copies sold, having the biggest sales for a song in one week. On Januit was revealed that "Fireflies" is the twentieth most downloaded song of all time in Great Britain. The BPI certified "Fireflies" silver in February 2010. The following week, it rose to No. 1, and topped the chart for three consecutive weeks, the song has sold 639,587 copies to date. The song would go on to make a forty-eight place jump to No. 2 the following week, beaten only to the top by " Replay" by Iyaz.
In the United Kingdom, the song entered at No. 50 due to early download sales from a fake version that was leaked onto iTunes. By November 2012, the song had shifted 4,648,000 downloads in the United States. The RIAA certified "Fireflies" triple-platinum in June 2010. On the Billboard Hot 100 2010 year-end chart, it was ranked thirtieth. On the Billboard Hot 100 2009 year-end chart, it was ranked sixtieth. "Fireflies" contributed to sales of the album Ocean Eyes, and was credited as being responsible for its entry to the top ten on the U.S. The song stayed at No. 1 for two non-consecutive weeks, in the top ten for fifteen weeks and on the Hot 100 for thirty-one weeks. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in early-September at No. 97, and it reached No. 1 in its tenth week, becoming Owl City's first No. 1 single. As of July 3, 2013, the video has received nearly 100,000,000 views. The video had an exclusive premiere on MySpace, but was leaked onto Dailymotion some time before and YouTube soon after. There are also vintage household devices such as a black and white television and a record player. Most of the toys are older model toys, with most of them from the 1970s and 1980s (the exceptions being a Robosapien and a Roboraptor ). It features Adam Young playing the song on a Lowrey spinet organ in a toy-filled bedroom, where most of the toys (including an astronaut, a Tyrannosaurus rex, a Speak & Spell, toy cars, and a blimp) come to life. The music video for "Fireflies" was directed by Steve Hoover. It is also a downloadable content for both Guitar Hero 5 and Rock Band 3. It is also featured in Disney Sing It: Party Hits. įireflies was used in the promotional video for Sony's EyePet video game. "Fireflies" was Owl City's only hit in the US Top 40 until three years later when " Good Time", a duet with Canadian recording artist Carly Rae Jepsen, charted at No. 8. The single attained worldwide success in late 2009-early 2010, topping the charts in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands. Adam Young described the song as "a little song about bugs and not being able to fall asleep at night." The song is built around a "bleepy" 1980s-influenced synthline and includes lyrics about insomnia, fireflies and summer. Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen is eatured as a guest vocalist in the song. Fireflies is a synthpop song and the debut single from Owl City's album Ocean Eyes.