“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is a song by the British New Wave band Tears for Fears.
It was the band’s ninth single release in the United Kingdom (the third from their second LP: Songs from the Big Chair) and seventh UK Top 40 chart hit, peaking at number two in April 1985. In the U.S., it was the lead single from the album and gave the band their first Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit on 8 June 1985, remaining there for two weeks. It also reached number-one on both the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and Hot Dance Singles Sales charts in the U.S. The song has since become the pinnacle of Tears for Fears’ chart success, its endurance allowing it to accumulate over two million radio broadcasts by 1994, according to BMI.[citation needed]
The promotional clip for “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, filmed in early 1985, was the third Tears for Fears clip directed by Nigel Dick. It features Curt Smith driving an antique Austin-Healey 3000 sports car around various Southern California locales, including Salton Sea and Cabazon. Interspersed with these clips are shots of the full band performing the song in a London studio.
Along with the clip for “Shout”, the “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” video had a big hand in helping break Tears for Fears in America, due to its heavy amount of play on 
MTV.
