"Lonely Boy" is a song by American rock band the Black Keys. It is the opening track from their 2011 studio album El Camino and was released as the record's lead single on October 26, 2011. The song is also the A-side of a promotional 12-inch single that was released in commemoration of Record Store Day's "Back to Black" Friday event. The single was accompanied by a popular one-shot music video of a man dancing and lip-synching the lyrics.
"Lonely Boy" became one of the group's most successful singles. It topped several rock radio charts, including the Alternative Songs and Rock Songs charts in the US, and the Alternative Rock and Active Rock charts in Canada. On the singles charts, "Lonely Boy" was the group's highest-charting song in several countries, peaking at number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100, number two on the Australian Singles Chart, and number 33 on the Canadian Hot 100. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, the song won awards for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song, while also receiving a nomination for Record of the Year.
The song has been used for the UFC Primetime event, UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, and in the soundtracks for Need for Speed: The Run and Forza Horizon. It was also used in a highlights package prior to the Italy vs. England match in the 2012 Six Nations and for Drew Brees and Alex Smith in the pregame before a 2011 NFL Divisional Playoff game between Brees' New Orleans Saints and Smith's San Francisco 49ers. It also featured on Channel 4 Racing during their preview of a big race where Jim McGrath talked through the runners.
During the midpoint of the 2011–12 NHL season, it has been the goal song for the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers.[33] For most of the 2011–12 NHL season, it has been the song played when the New York Rangers come onto the ice before home games.
On TV, the song was featured in episodes of Workaholics, Eastbound & Down and Hawaii Five-0, the first episode of 24/7 Flyers/Rangers: Road to the NHL Winter Classic, the twelfth episode of season three, "The Ties That Bind", on The Vampire Diaries, the episode "Broken" of Criminal Minds, and in the opening sequence for episode one in the Australian TV show Underbelly: Badness. It was also used in 2012 commercials for the launch of the A&E in Australia and Lee.
In movies, it was most recently heard in the trailers for the 2013 zombie comedy Warm Bodies,[34] the 2014 family comedy Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,[35] the 2016 monster action comedy film Monster Trucks,[36] and a trailer for the 2022 science fiction animated film Lightyear.
Ellen DeGeneres danced to this song with her audience as the opening dance on an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the fall of 2012.
The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show uses a sample of the song at times to bring the show back from commercial break.
In 2014, the Austrian company A1 Telekom Austria used "Lonely Boy" for advertisement.
Spanish TV show Late Motiv used a version of it performed by its house band as its opening theme.
In 2018, eBay used an instrumental version of this song for their UK ad campaign.
The song was used as the official theme for talkSPORT radio station
In 2023, the song was used in the first cutscene for Hi-Fi Rush.
