"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by the American rock band Survivor. It was written as the theme song for the 1982 film Rocky III and released that year as a single from Survivor's third album, Eye of the Tiger.

Sylvester Stallone, the director and star of Rocky III, enlisted Survivor to write the song after the band Queen denied him permission to use their song "Another One Bites the Dust". They derived lyrics, including the title, from dialogue in the film, and conceived a riff with chord changes to match the punches in the boxing scenes.

"Eye of the Tiger" reached number one on the charts of many countries. In the US, it was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks, spent 15 consecutive weeks in the top ten, and was the second-bestselling single of 1982. It was certified platinum in August 1982, for sales of two million copies. In the UK, "Eye of the Tiger" sold 956,000 copies and was number one on the UK Singles Chart for four consecutive weeks.

At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, "Eye of the Tiger" won Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for Song of the Year. At the 55th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Original Song.

In 1982, the American band Survivor had released two unsuccessful albums, and were concerned they would be dropped by their record label.^[3] The director and actor Sylvester Stallone enlisted them to write a song for his 1982 film Rocky III, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust".^[3][4] Stallone told them he wanted "something street"^[3] with a pulse to match the punches of the boxing scenes.^[5] He sent them a copy of the montage used in the film's introduction, depicting the boxer Rocky Balboa and the ascent of his rival, Clubber Lang.^[3][4]

"Eye of the Tiger" was written by the guitarist, Frankie Sullivan, and the keyboardist, Jim Peterik.^[6] They conceived a riff based on chord changes to mirror the timing of punches.^[3][4] They took the title from a line spoken by Rocky's coach, Apollo Creed: "You had that eye of the tiger, man, the edge ... You gotta get it back."^[3] Stallone took the phrase from the 1969 film A Dream of Kings.^[7]

Survivor initially planned to title the song "Survival", and had the chorus: "Rising up to the spirit of our rival / And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night / And it all comes down to survival", with "survival" rhyming with "rival". Peterik said later: "That ['eye of the tiger'] hook is so strong, and 'rival' doesn't have to be a perfect rhyme with the word 'tiger'. We made the right choice and went with 'Eye of the Tiger'."^[8]

Survivor recorded a demo at the Chicago Recording Company on February 1, 1982.^[4][5] Sullivan was so destitute that he used a guitar with a broken headstock he glued back together.^[3] The band attempted to capture a drum sound similar to that of the Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham.^[4] Stallone loved the demo and insisted on using it in the film.^[3] Survivor rerecorded it for the album and single releases.^[5]

"Eye of the Tiger" gained extensive MTV and radio airplay and topped charts worldwide during 1982. In the United States, it held No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks.^[3] In August 1982, it was certified double platinum in the US for sales of two million copies.^[9] In the United Kingdom, "Eye of the Tiger" sold 956,000 copies and was number one on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks.^[10] It was the UK's third best-selling single in 1982.^[11] By February 2015, It had sold over 4.1 million in downloads in the US.^[12] Sullivan felt people related to the message of self-empowerment: "It's about getting your ass out of bed. It's about saying: 'I'm not going to try to go to the gym Monday – I am going to go to the gym Monday.'"^[3]

At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, "Eye of the Tiger" won Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for Song of the Year, but lost to "Always on My Mind" by Willie Nelson.^[13] At the 55th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Original Song (the only Academy Award nomination for Rocky III), but lost to "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman.^[14]

In 2012, Survivor sued the Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in Illinois federal court for using "Eye of the Tiger" without authorization as entrance music at his political rallies going back as far as 2009.^[15] The suit was settled out of court.^[16] In the same year, Sullivan demanded that Mitt Romney, another Republican candidate, stop using "Eye of the Tiger" at his campaign rallies. Romney agreed to drop the song from the campaign's playlists.^[16]

Sullivan's company Rude Music filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, Illinois, on November 18, 2015, against the former Governor of Arkansas and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's campaign organization for using "Eye of the Tiger" at a political rally without permission. The rally took place on September 8, 2015, when Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk, was released from jail after spending five days there for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky.^[17] In June 2016 it was reported by CNN that Huckabee had agreed to pay $25,000 in compensation.^[18][19]

Credits adapted from the album Eye of the Tiger.^[20]

• Dave Bickler – lead vocals
• Frankie Sullivan – lead and rhythm guitars
• Jim Peterik – grand piano, electric guitar
• Stephan Ellis – bass
• Marc Droubay – drums