Birds of a Feather (Billie Eilish song)

Billie Eilish first previewed "Birds of a Feather" on May 13, 2024, through a teaser trailer for the third season of the Netflix series Heartstopper.^[3] The song was one of three teased ahead of the album's release.^[4] In an interview with Apple Music, Eilish revealed that the song contains the highest belt of her career.^[5] It was released as a single on July 2, 2024, the second from Hit Me Hard and Soft.^[6]

A pop,^[7] baroque pop,^[8] indie pop,^[9] new wave,^[10] and synth-pop song,^[11] "Birds of a Feather" borrows its title from the English idiom "birds of a feather flock together". In an "emotionally vulnerable" tone, Eilish sings about falling in love with a person that she wants to "stick together" with. The love for her significant other brings her to tears, and she begs her lover to stay and never end their relationship.^[5]

The song is composed in the key of D major in a common time and features a tempo of 105 beats per minute.

Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times described "Birds of a Feather" as a "breezy neo-new-wave jam",^[10] Alisa Ali of NPR wrote of the song that "poignant lyricism hides amid the dark humor and [Eilish's] clever cadence makes for one of the singer's most memorable vocal performances".^[12] Tom Taylor of Far Out classifies it as "a classic pop chorus with Eilish burst out in a blushing '80s pop vocal", adding that it "has a sort of hook that would have old-fashioned music bigwigs screaming, 'It's a hit', but cleverly, the song doesn't give itself up to that and heads back to nuanced verses, layering in a touch more sincerity to undercut the bubblegum synth whistle".^[13] In 2026, writers for Time Out named "Birds of a Feather" the best love song of all-time.^[14]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Following the release of Hit Me Hard and Soft, "Birds of a Feather" debuted at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart issue dated June 1, 2024, the highest-placing track from the album after "Chihiro" at number twelve and the lead single "Lunch" at number five.^[31] In its fourth week, the then-album cut rose from number eleven to number nine on the chart, its peak position as a non-single track.^[32] In its thirteenth week on the Hot 100, "Birds of a Feather" reached a new peak of number five,^[33] while rising to the top of the multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts in its twelfth week.^[34] It surpassed 30 weeks atop both charts, becoming the first song by a female artist to achieve the feat on the former, and the first song by a lead female artist to do so on the latter.^[35] "Birds of a Feather" was the ninth most-streamed song of 2024 in US on-demand audio with 660.7 million streams,^[36] and the tenth most-streamed song in 2025, with 511.8 million streams.^[37]

Following its music video release, the song reached a new peak of number two on the Hot 100, becoming her highest placement since "Therefore I Am" in 2020 and the highest-charting song from Hit Me Hard and Soft. The single was certified 5× Platinum by the RIAA on March 14, 2025.^[38] "Birds of a Feather" became Eilish's first song to chart for over a year (52 weeks) inside the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing "Bad Guy"'s 49 weeks.^[39] The song accumulated 50 weeks on the Pop Airplay chart after topping it for eight weeks, making it the longest-charting solo song by a female artist in the chart's history and the sixth overall, tied with The Weeknd's "Die for You".^[40]

In the United Kingdom, "Birds of a Feather" debuted at number nine on the UK Singles Chart during the week of the album's release. The song was the third best after "Chihiro" at number seven and "Lunch" at number two.^[41] Following its increase in popularity, the song reached its peak of number two on the UK Singles Chart.^[42] The single was certified 4× Platinum by the BPI on April 24, 2026.^[43]

In Australia, "Birds of a Feather" debuted at number nine on the ARIA Singles Chart during the album's release week. It later topped the chart for two weeks, marking Eilish's fourth number one in the country.^[44] The song remained inside the top ten for 54 weeks, becoming the female song with the most weeks spent in the top ten in the chart's history and the third overall. The single was certified 9× Platinum by the ARIA.^[45]

Elsewhere, the song topped the charts in various countries, including New Zealand and Iceland, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Canada, the Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Switzerland. It also topped the Billboard Global 200 chart.

"Birds of a Feather" became the most-streamed song in a calendar year on Spotify in 2024, surpassing Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso".^[46] It also became the fastest song, at the time, to surpass both 2 billion and 3 billion streams on the platform.^[47] The song was also the ninth most-streamed song globally on Apple Music in 2024^[48] and fifth in 2025.^[49] In 2025, "Birds of a Feather" was Spotify's second most-streamed song worldwide.^[50]

Teased a day prior, an accompanying music video for "Birds of a Feather", directed by Aidan Zamiri, was released on September 27, 2024, and was filmed at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.^[51] In the video, Eilish is shown singing in an abandoned office building while being dragged around by the arm by an invisible force; Sarah Kearns of Hypebeast interpreted this as "a symbol that seems to relay the feeling of being pulled in different directions by someone who isn't actually present."^[52]

Eilish performed the song during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony on August 11, 2024. The performance was part of the Olympic flag handover from Paris to Los Angeles (who is set to host in 2028) and was recorded the day before at Long Beach.^[66] On October 19, 2024, Eilish performed the song on Saturday Night Live alongside "Wildflower".^[67] Eilish included "Birds of a Feather" as the final song of the set list of the Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (2024–2025).^[68]

Eilish sang the song with Finneas as the last part of a three-song set during the FireAid benefit concert to raise funds for victims of the Los Angeles area wildfires on January 30, 2025.^[69] They also performed the song at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on February 2.^[70]

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

• List of Billboard Pop Airplay number-one songs of 2024
• List of highest-certified singles in Australia
• List of number-one singles of 2024 (Australia)
• List of number-one songs of 2024 (Malaysia)
• List of number-one songs of 2024 (Singapore)
• List of songs which have spent the most weeks on the UK singles chart
• List of Spotify streaming records
• List of UK top-ten singles in 2024