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Let Her Go

FieldValue
nameLet Her Go
coverLet-her-go-by-passenger.jpg
typesingle
artistPassenger
albumAll the Little Lights
released24 July 2012
recorded2011
studioLinear Recording, Sydney
genre* Folk rock
length
label
writerMichael Rosenberg
producer
prev_titleThe Wrong Direction
prev_year2012
next_titleHoles
next_year2013
misc
typesingle
filePassenger - Let Her Go.ogg
description18-second sample from Passenger's "Let Her Go"
  • soft rock

"Let Her Go" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter Passenger. It was recorded at Sydney's Linear Recording and co-produced by Passenger (as Mike Rosenberg) and Chris Vallejo. The recording features Australian musicians Stu Larsen, Georgia Mooney, Stu Hunter, Cameron Undy, and Glenn Wilson. "Let Her Go" was released on 24 July 2012 as the second single from Passenger's fourth album, All the Little Lights.

The song became a sleeper hit, achieving international success and topping the charts in many countries around the world. As of July 2014, it has sold over one million digital copies in the UK, and over four million in the US. In 2014, the song was nominated for the Brit Award for British Single of the Year, and won Passenger the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Most Performed Work.

Commercial performance

"Let Her Go" was released in July 2012 as the second single from Passenger's third album All the Little Lights. The song became a hit first in the Netherlands after Dave, a Dutch fan, e-mailed Passenger expressing his wish to introduce the song to some Dutch radio stations, claiming it could be a hit there. This resulted in the song trending on Dutch stations and finding enormous commercial success with the Dutch public. The song reached number two in the Dutch Top 40 in November 2012, spending a total of four non-consecutive weeks at that position. The next month that year, it topped at number one.

Since 2013, and after initial success in the Netherlands, "Let Her Go" has reached number one in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland, number two in the UK Singles Chart, number five in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on Billboard Hot Rock Songs, making it Passenger's first international success. The song has sold over 1 million digital copies in the UK, and over 4 million in the US as of July 2014. In October 2019, "Let Her Go" surpassed one billion streams on the music service Spotify, making it one of the most played songs on the service.

Music video

The music video was uploaded on the day after the single, directed and produced by the Australian video artist Dave Jensen and Tavic. It shows the stage being prepared for a Passenger concert, with footage of Passenger performance with his backing band and shots of the audience present reacting.

As of March 2024, the video has received over 3.9 billion views on the video-sharing website YouTube, making it the 29th most viewed video ever on the site.

Track listing

Cover versions

British singer Birdy recorded a cover version called "Let Him Go" in 2013 on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.

An unreleased acoustic version of the song was donated to support college radio in the USA on the 2013 College Radio Day Vol. 2 album. The song was limited to being on only the CD version of the album (only 1,500 copies have been pressed).

In August 2014, Glen Templeton made a country cover of the song.

American trance singer JES released her cover version of the song titled "Let Him Go" in 2019.

The song is sampled heavily in Central Cee's 2022 single "Let Go".

Confusion with "Let It Go"

Let Her Go is regularly confused with Idina Menzel's hit song "Let It Go" from the Disney Animation film Frozen. At the 2018 Newport Folk Festival, Passenger introduced himself to the crowd, then explained: "I’ve only had one hit, so that’s a bit embarrassing. And it’s called Let Her Go, not Let It Go from Frozen. Amazing how people get them mixed up. She’s a Disney princess, and I’m an Englishman with a beard." Passenger again joked about the long-running confusion while performing at the Fox Oakland Theatre in September 2024 as part of his Anniversary Tour.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2012–2021)Peak
positionAustralia1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=25 March 2013refname="Australia"}}Austria1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=29 January 2013refname="Austria"}}Flanders1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=29 January 2013refname="Vlanders"}}Wallonia11artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=29 January 2013refname="Wallonia"}}Canada5artist=Passengerartistid=326708access-date=4 June 2014song=refname=}}Billboardcanadaac4artist=Passengerartistid=326708access-date=8 October 2025song=refname=}}Billboardcanadachrtop407artist=Passengerartistid=326708access-date=8 October 2025song=refname=}}Billboardcanadahotac4artist=Passengerartistid=326708access-date=8 October 2025song=refname=}}Czech Republic1year=2013week=25access-date=4 June 2014refname="Czech"artist=song=}}Czechdigital22year=2014week=19access-date=3 July 2014artist=song=refname=}}Denmark1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=29 January 2013refname="Denmark"}}Billboardeurodigital2artist=Passengeraccess-date=4 June 2014song=refname=}}Finland1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=8 March 2013refname="Finland"}}France6artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=26 March 2013refname="France"}}Germany1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Gosongid=995382access-date=29 January 2013refname=}}Greece Digital (Billboard)Global 200 (Billboard)Global Excl. US (Billboard)Hungarysingle18year=2014week=6access-date=4 June 2014artist=song=refname=}}Ireland1year=2013week=09access-date=4 June 2014refname="Ireland"artist=song=}}Israelairplay2year=2014week=3artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=4 June 2014refname="Israel"}}Italy1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Gorefname=Italy}}Lebanon Airplay (Lebanese Top 20)Luxembourg Digital (Billboard)Malaysia (Malay Muzik Official Chart)Mexico (Billboard Ingles Airplay)Mexico Anglo (Monitor Latino)Dutch401year=2012week=50access-date=17 October 2019refname="Netherlands"artist=song=}}Dutch1002artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=29 January 2013refname=}}New Zealand1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=29 March 2013refname="NewZealand"}}Norway1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=15 March 2013refname="Norway"}}Poland4chartid=1036year=2013access-date=15 July 2013artist=song=refname=}}Portugal Digital (Billboard)Romaniaradioairplay1year=2013week=40song=Let Her Goartist=Passengeraccess-date=2 July 2018publishdate=30 September 2013refname=}}Scotland2date=2013-05-25access-date=4 June 2014artist=song=refname=}}Slovakia2year=2013week=27access-date=4 June 2014refname="Slovakia"artist=song=}}Slovakdigital51year=2014week=28access-date=July 15, 2014artist=song=refname=}}Slovenia (SloTop50)Spain3artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=4 June 2014refname=}}Sweden1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=29 January 2013refname="Sweden"}}Switzerland1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=29 January 2013refname="Switzerland"}}UK2date=2013-05-25access-date=4 June 2014refname="UK"artist=song=}}UKindie1date=2013-05-19access-date=4 June 2014artist=song=refname=}}Billboardhot1005artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=4 June 2014refname="US"}}Billboardrocksongs1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=4 June 2014refname="USRock"}}Billboardrockairplay33artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=4 June 2014refname=}}Billboardadultcontemporary1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=4 June 2014refname=}}Billboardadultpopsongs1artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=4 June 2014refname=}}Billboardpopsongs8artist=Passengersong=Let Her Goaccess-date=4 June 2015refname=}}Venezuela Pop Rock General (Record Report)
1
169
139
3
1
1
1
5
4
5
1
Chart (2023)Peak
positionRomania Airplay (TopHit)
87
Chart (2025)Peak
positionIsrael International Airplay (Media Forest)
12

Year-end charts

Chart (2012)PositionBelgium (Ultratop Flanders)Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)Netherlands (Single Top 100)
44
57
16
Chart (2013)PositionAustralia (ARIA)Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)Belgium (Ultratop Wallonia)Canada (Canadian Hot 100)France (SNEP)Germany (Media Control Charts)Israel international songs (Media Forest)Italy (FIMI)Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)Netherlands (Single Top 100)New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)Slovenia (SloTop50)Spain (PROMUSICAE)Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)UK Singles (Official Charts Company)US Billboard Hot 100US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)
3
4
12
25
61
23
5
5
20
30
23
6
6
6
2
4
4
97
32
16
Chart (2014)PositionBelgium (Ultratop Wallonia)Canada (Canadian Hot 100)France (SNEP)Italy (FIMI)Netherlands (Single Top 100)Slovenia (SloTop50)Spain (PROMUSICAE)Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)US Billboard Hot 100US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)
88
20
133
8
58
38
35
55
52
19
4
5
15
37
Chart (2015)PositionItaly (FIMI)
98
Chart (2016)PositionFrance (SNEP)
173

Decade-end charts

Chart (2010–2019)PositionAustralia (ARIA)Germany (Official German Charts)Israel (Galgalatz)Netherlands (Single Top 100)UK Singles (Official Charts Company)US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)
9
26
6
10
19
32

All-time charts

ChartPositionUS Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)UK Singles (Official Charts Company)
48
79

Certifications

Release history

CountryRelease dateFormat
United StatesDigital download
Europe
United KingdomCD
United StatesContemporary hit radio
Canada

References

References

  1. Pakinkis, Mike. (22 May 2014). "Ivor Novello Awards 2014: All the winners". Intent Media.
  2. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25674995 "Brits 2014: Nominations in full"]. BBC News. Retrieved 9 January 2014
  3. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRrgWOCEDsI Passenger live at Pinkpop 2013 - FULL SHOW] - Passenger says during the Pinkpop concert in Holland after singing "Let Her Go": "You know, I wrote that song two-and-a-half years ago and put it on an album and we released the album, and for nine months, nothing happened. No one gave a shit. It's funny, we were kind of working on the next record, I'm thinking "okay cool, no problem". And this guy called Dave from Holland gave us an e-mail and he said: Look, I've heard this song "Let Her Go" and I want to take it to radio here because I think here in the Netherlands it could really work and could do something. So we're like "okay mate, cool, do your thing, knock yourself out". Within two weeks, I think it got to number one and that's kind of what started this whole crazy fucking thing. Firstly, I'd like to thank Dave because without Dave I don't think I'd be here at all. And secondly, I want to thank you guys just for supporting me and my music before anybody else did really. So a massive, massive thank you. "Let Her Go" is ''your'' song, thank you very very much". [from 27:50 to 28:50 on the tape]
  4. "Airplay Charts Deutschland – Woche 12/2013". German Charts.
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  6. Grein, Paul. (30 July 2014). "Chart Watch: Jason Aldean Is Back". Yahoo!.
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  73. "Platz 2️⃣6️⃣ der erfolgreichsten Singles und Alben des Jahrzehnts +++ "Let Her Go" sang Passenger im Jahr 2013 - und zwar nicht nur in den Charts, sondern auch im Film "Fack Ju Göhte" +++ Santianos Album "Von Liebe, Tod und Freiheit" war ingesamt starke 129 Mal platziert.". offiziellecharts.de.
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