Europe’s ‘Final Countdown’ Finally Hits Billboard No. 1 (Sort Of) Thanks to Geico Ad

Nearly 30 years after it was released, Europe's "The Final Countdown" is finally at No. 1 — sort of.

Classic Rock Magazine reports that the song has taken the top spot on Billboard's Top Commercials chart, which uses streams, downloads, and Shazam tags to determine the popularity of songs being used in current ad campaigns. As the report notes, "The Final Countdown" was a huge hit in many parts of the world, hitting No. 1 in over a dozen countries, but this marks the first time it's earned the top spot on a Billboard chart.

The song's current success is owed to its prominent placement in an ad currently being aired by the Geico insurance company — the latest in a long line of commercials that take the seemingly mundane topic of insurance and inject it with tongue-in-cheek, occasionally surrealist humor. In this clip, which you can watch above, an office worker waiting for the microwave to finish heating up his food is startled when the band shows up in the break room to perform during the timer's — you guessed it — final countdown. According to Billboard's data, the ad has had a seemingly pretty profound impact on the song's popularity, accounting for more a more than 2 million month-to-month streaming increase.

The surge comes at an opportune time for Europe, who are currently on tour with Scorpions and released their 10th studio album, War of Kings, earlier this year. Like each of the six LPs they've released since 1988's Out of This World, it's failed to chart in the U.S., but who knows? Maybe the Geico effect is enough for a comeback, just in time for next year's "Final Countdown" 30th anniversary celebration.

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