I’m a Believer

“I’m a Believer” is a song written by Neil Diamond and recorded by the Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966, and remained there for seven weeks, becoming the last No. 1 hit of 1966 and the biggest-selling single for all of 1967. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 5 song for 1967. Because of 1,051,280 advance orders, it went Gold within two days of release. It is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold more than 10 million physical copies worldwide. While originally published by Screen Gems-Columbia Music (BMI), it is now published by Stonebridge Music/EMI Foray Music (SESAC), with administration passed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group. The song was No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in January and February 1967 and reached the top spot in numerous countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland. Billboard described the song as ‘an easy-go dance mover’ that ‘will hit with immediate impact’. The song appeared in four consecutive episodes of the television series The Monkees in December 1966. The Monkees principals later played it for themselves in live appearances, on overseas tours, and at reunion concerts. Diamond also suggested the song to the Fifth Estate, who recorded it as a 1967 album cut to follow up their hit “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead”.  A recording by Diamond, featuring additional lyrics, appears on his 1979 album September Morn. Diamond also performed it in a duet with Linda Ronstadt as part of a medley of his songs on an episode of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in 1970