"Birds of a Feather" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish from her third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft (2024). It was released with the album on May 17, 2024, and was made the second official single on June 18, 2024, through Darkroom and Interscope Records. Eilish wrote the song with her brother, Finneas O'Connell, who recorded and produced it at his home studio in Los Angeles. A baroque pop, indie pop, new wave, and synth-pop song, "Birds of a Feather" explores themes of deep love and a desire for lasting connection.
"Birds of a Feather" topped the Billboard Global 200 and the national charts of nine countries, including Australia, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore. The song additionally peaked at number two in nine other countries. It has been certified Diamond in France and multi-platinum in Australia, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was the fourth best-selling song of 2024 globally according to the IFPI. "Birds of a Feather" was nominated for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2025.
Background and release 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. The song was one of three teased ahead of the album's release. In an interview with Apple Music, Eilish revealed that the song contains the highest belt of her career. It was released as a single on June 18, 2024, the second from Hit Me Hard and Soft.
Composition A pop, baroque pop, indie pop, new wave, and synth-pop song, "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.
The song is composed in the key of D major in a common time and features a tempo of 105 beats per minute.
Critical reception Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times described "Birds of a Feather" as a "breezy neo-new-wave jam", 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". 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". In 2026, writers for Time Out named "Birds of a Feather" the best love song of all-time.
Year-end lists +Critics' year-end rankings of "Birds of a Feather" Publication List Rank Billboard The 100 Best Songs of 20244Complex The 50 Best Songs of 20244Coup De Main The Best Songs of 20243ELLE The 42 Best Songs of 2024 Exclaim! 20 Best Songs of 202420 Los Angeles Times The 30 Best Songs of 20249 NME 50 Best Songs of 202412NPR 124 Best Songs of 2024Pitchfork The 100 Best Songs of 202427Rolling Stone The 100 Best Songs of 20245 Slant Magazine The 50 Best Songs of 20241The Guardian The 20 Best Songs of 20245 The New York Times Lindsay Zoladz's Best Songs of 20244 The Ringer The 11 Best Songs of 20247Time Out The Best Songs of 20242Uproxx The Best Songs of 2024 USA Today The 10 Best Songs of 20243
Commercial performance
United States 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. 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. In its thirteenth week on the Hot 100, "Birds of a Feather" reached a new peak of number five, while rising to the top of the multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts in its twelfth week. 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. "Birds of a Feather" was the ninth most-streamed song of 2024 in US on-demand audio with 660.7 million streams, and the tenth most-streamed song in 2025, with 511.8 million streams.
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. "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. 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".
Worldwide 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. Following its increase in popularity, the song reached its peak of number two on the UK Singles Chart. The single was certified 4× Platinum by the BPI on April 24, 2026.
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. 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.
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". It also became the fastest song, at the time, to surpass both 2 billion and 3 billion streams on the platform. The song was also the ninth most-streamed song globally on Apple Music in 2024 and fifth in 2025. In 2025, "Birds of a Feather" was Spotify's second most-streamed song worldwide. It is the most-streamed solo song by a female artist on the platform.
Music video 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. 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."
Accolades +Awards and nominations for "Birds of a Feather" Year Award Category Result 2024MTV Video Music Awards Song of the Summer MTV Europe Music Awards Best Song Danish Music Awards International Hit of the Year Musa AwardsAnglo International Song of the Year 2025 Grammy Awards Record of the Year Song of the Year Best Pop Solo Performance iHeartRadio Music Awards Best Lyrics Brit Awards Best International Song GAFFA Awards (Denmark) International Song of the Year GAFFA Awards (Sweden) International Hit of the Year Music Awards Japan Best International Alternative Song in Japan American Music Awards Song of the Year Favorite Pop Song Rockbjörnen Foreign Song of the Year MTV Video Music Awards Video of the Year Song of the Year
Live performances 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. On October 19, 2024, Eilish performed the song on Saturday Night Live alongside "Wildflower". 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).
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. They also performed the song at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on February 2.
Charts
Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for "Birds of a Feather" Chart (2024–2025) Peakposition Bulgaria Airplay (PROPHON) 6 Colombia Anglo Airplay (National-Report) 1 Croatia (Billboard) 17 Croatia International Airplay (Top lista) 1 Greece International (IFPI) 3 Hong Kong (Billboard) 11 Hungary (Editors' Choice Top 40) 8 Iceland (Tónlistinn) 1 India International (IMI) 9 Indonesia (IFPI) 8 Israel (Mako Hitlist) 30 Latin America Anglo Airplay (Monitor Latino) 4 Latvia Airplay (LAIPA) 1 Latvia Streaming (LaIPA) 2 Lebanon (Lebanese Top 20) 5 Lithuania (AGATA) 1 Luxembourg (Billboard) 2 Malaysia (IFPI) 6 Malaysia International (RIM) 1 Malta Airplay (Radiomonitor) 3 Middle East and North Africa (IFPI) 2 Nigeria (TurnTable Top 100) 56 North Macedonia Airplay (Radiomonitor) 6 Peru (Billboard) 16 Philippines (Philippines Hot 100) 2 Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100) 6 Poland (Polish Streaming Top 100) 9 Romania Airplay (UPFR) 7 Saudi Arabia (IFPI) 7 Serbia Airplay (Radiomonitor) 7 Singapore (RIAS) 1 Slovenia Airplay (Radiomonitor) 5 South Africa Airplay (TOSAC) 2 South Korea (Circle) 117 Taiwan (Billboard) 7 Thailand (IFPI) 8 Turkey International Airplay (Radiomonitor Türkiye) 5 United Arab Emirates (IFPI) 2 Venezuela Airplay (Record Report) 24 Vietnam (Vietnam Hot 100) 66
Monthly charts + Monthly chart performance for "Birds of a Feather" Chart (2024–2026) Peakposition Belarus Airplay (TopHit) 60 Brazil Streaming (Pro-Música Brasil) 41 CIS Airplay (TopHit) 16 Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100) 13 Estonia Airplay (TopHit) 1 Lithuania Airplay (TopHit) 4 Panama Streaming (PRODUCE) 152 Paraguay Airplay (SGP) 25 Romania Airplay (TopHit) 25 Slovakia (Rádio Top 100) 24 Slovakia (Singles Digitál Top 100) 14 South Korea (Circle) 129
Year-end charts + 2024 year-end chart performance for "Birds of a Feather" Chart (2024) Position Australia (ARIA) 6 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) 13 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 30 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia) 26 Canada (Canadian Hot 100) 13 CIS Airplay (TopHit) 54 Denmark (Tracklisten) 16 Estonia Airplay (TopHit) 12 France (SNEP) 44 Germany (GfK) 29 Global 200 (Billboard) 7 Global Singles (IFPI) 4 Iceland (Tónlistinn) 3 Lithuania Airplay (TopHit) 5 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 12 Netherlands (Single Top 100) 15 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) 7 Philippines (Philippines Hot 100) 5 Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100) 32 Poland (Polish Streaming Top 100) 32 Portugal (AFP) 7 Romania Airplay (TopHit) 50 South Africa Streaming (TOSAC) 16 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 24 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) 12 UK Singles (OCC) 7 US Billboard Hot 100 15 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 49 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard) 27 US Pop Airplay (Billboard) 23 US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard) 3 Venezuela Anglo Airplay (Record Report) 19