Rebel Diamonds

''Rebel Diamonds'' is a greatest hits album by American rock band the Killers, released on December 8, 2023, through Island Records. It is the band's second greatest hits collection, following '' Direct Hits'' in 2013.

The compilation features three original songs from the band's aborted eighth studio album – "boy", "Your Side of Town" and "Spirit" – produced by Stuart Price and Shawn Everett.

Background

On August 5, 2022, the band released "boy", their first new song following 2021's ''Pressure Machine.'' "boy" was written during the recording sessions for ''Pressure Machine'' and was described by the band as a "catalyst" for the album, but was left off the final album as the band felt it didn't fit the album's overall genre. Consequently, they intended for it to be the first single from their planned eighth studio album, which was to be a "more electro-leaning record" and to be produced during the Imploding the Mirage Tour.

However, by the time their second single "Your Side of Town" was released on August 25, 2023, the band had scrapped this planned eighth album, instead suggesting that the two new singles would be included on an EP, which was later also scrapped.

Instead, on November 7, 2023, the band announced that they were to release their second greatest hits album, ''Rebel Diamonds'', to mark twenty years since their debut album, ''Hot Fuss'' (2004). This serves as a retrospective look at the career of the rock band, featuring a chronological arrangement of twenty of their hits by the year of release, including at least one track from each album, alongside the two previously released standalone singles, "boy" and "Your Side of Town", and a new track, "Spirit".

The album title is taken from the lyrics of their song "Read My Mind" from their second album, ''Sam's Town'', which features the line, "the stars are blazing like rebel diamonds, cut out of the sun".

Promotion

"boy" debuted live on 7 July 2022 at the Mad Cool Festival in Madrid, and was subsequently a regular fixture of set lists during the Imploding the Mirage Tour. "Your Side of Town" was given a similar festival debut, at Reading Festival on August 26, 2023. Finally, "Spirit" was first performed live the week before the release of ''Rebel Diamonds'', in São Paulo on November 30.

The release of the album was accompanied by the band's seventh major concert tour, the Rebel Diamonds Tour. This featured a number of arena shows in the UK and Ireland and North America, as well as festival headliner spots in Japan and Spain, between June and October 2024. The tour was announced the week before the release of the album with a four-city UK and Ireland tour, with the international dates announced later.

Commercial performance

''Rebel Diamonds'' debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band's eighth number one album with first-week sales of 25,360 copies. This tied them with R.E.M. as the US group with the most UK number one albums.

Track listing

Notes

* signifies an additional producer
* signifies an assistant producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{The Killers

2023 greatest hits albums
The Killers compilation albums
Island Records compilation albums