1985 Pop Rock Hit Flopped on First Release But Became One of the Happiest Songs Ever Made
The 1985 pop rock hit "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves didn't start out the song the world fell in love with. Before it became one of the happiest songs ever made, it was a dance floor killer that the band had dropped from their setlist. Then they tried again and accidentally made it into the beloved classic it is today.
In the late 1970s, American singer Katrina Leskanich was working as a dishwasher on a U.S. military base in England by day and performing as a covers singer at night. Eventually, she joined forces with musicians Kimberley Rew (guitar), Alex Cooper (drums), and Vince de la Cruz (bass) to form Katrina and the Waves.
In early 1983, on their own dime, the band recorded an album of their original songs to sell at gigs. Ultimately the album got picked up by Attic Records in Canada, so their first album Walking on Sunshine was only released there and didn't get widespread play.
Rew wrote all the songs on that album, including "Walking on Sunshine," a song the band wasn't excited by at first. "I thought it wasn't really us. Vince de la Cruz, our bass-player, thought it was irritating," Leskanich told The Guardian. "It proved to be a total dance floor emptier. So we dropped it."
Then a series of rapid-fire events pushed the band into the spotlight. First, a Radio 1 DJ, who heard the album at a party in Cambridge, played a track from it. Next, super-cool, fellow '80s band The Bangles covered another of the band's songs "Going Down to Liverpool" and had a hit. That's when Capitol Records signed them.
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For the first Capitol album, the band substantially changed up "Walking on Sunshine." Leskanich says they were recording the song when an arranger popped by and said: 'You should put horns on that.' And so they did. The new and improved 1985 version of the song featured several upbeat saxophones and trumpets, live drums, and a tighter, more radio-friendly production.
The band's self-titled breakthrough album, Katrina and the Waves, was officially released on March 22, 1985. "Walking on Sunshine" was released on April 26, and by June 22, the single peaked at No. 9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and remained on the chart for 21 weeks. The band was nominated for "Best New Artist" at the 28th Annual Grammy Awards (1986), but they did not win.
Looking back on writing the song, Rew told The Guardian, "I'd love to say 'Walking on Sunshine' relates to a significant event in my life, like walking out of my front door, seeing a comet and being inspired," he said. "But it's just a piece of simple fun, an optimistic song despite us not being outstandingly cheery people. We were a typical young band, insecure and pessimistic."
"Walking on Sunshine" has become an enduring musical phenomenon, consistently ranking on happiest song lists, including No. 5 on Ranker's best happy songs and No. 10 on Far Out magazine's science-backed list of the happiest songs ever recorded.
The song can still be heard across decades of commercials, at wedding receptions, and on '80s radio stations. In 1996, Dolly Parton released a cover of the song, and it's also been featured in a number of films, including American Psycho (2000) and Daddy Day Care (2003). To date, the pop-rock classic is approaching 1 billion streams on Spotify.
If at first you don't succeed, try again. Katrina and the Waves did. The world's happiest song came from a band of self-described pessimists on their second try. Sometimes that's how it works.
Watch the music video for "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves:
Listen to the Dolly Parton rendition of "Walking on Sunshine":
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 2:42 PM.