Stevie Nicks’ New Single The Lighthouse Number One in the US

Stevie Nicks’ New Single Rocks Its Way Into The Top 10

Hugh McIntyre

Forbes

Stevie Nicks has never been afraid to stand up for what she believes in, and she’s continuing to do so with her new single. The beloved musician dropped “The Lighthouse” on Friday (September 27), and it quickly became a bestseller in the U.S.

After hours of slowly climbing the American iTunes chart, “The Lighthouse” now appears inside the top 10 on the list of the bestselling tracks in the country. Nicks’ latest sits at No. 8, as of the time of writing.

Nicks claims one of four new top 10s on the iTunes ranking. She comes in behind Cody Johnson and Carrie Underwood’s “I’m Gonna Love You” and “Timeless” by The Weeknd and Playboi Carti. Just one rung following the Fleetwood Mac star come Timcast and Phil Labonte, who push their odd collaboration “Coming Home” into the important region.

“The Lighthouse” appears to be a standalone single, as no larger project has been announced yet from the star, and it is Nicks’ first new release of 2024. She joined Dolly Parton on “What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done for You” in 2023, and her cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” dropped the year prior.

In a press release announcing “The Lighthouse,” Nicks’ team shared a statement from the singer-songwriter about the tune. The Grammy winner says, “I wrote this song a few months after Roe v. Wade was overturned. It seemed like overnight, people were saying ‘what can we, as a collective force, do about this…’ For me, it was to write a song.” She goes on to claim that when it comes to her latest cut, “I have often said to myself, ‘This may be the most important thing I ever do. To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters—and the men that love them.’”

“The Lighthouse” was written by Nicks, Magnus Birgersson, and Vincent Villuis. The single was produced by the singer herself, as well as superstar producer Dave Cobb. Another powerhouse musician, Sheryl Crow, is credited as a producer as well, and she also provided background vocals for the song.

Nicks is scheduled to serve as the musical guest on the October 12 episode of Saturday Night Live. With a new single out, there’s a good chance she’ll introduce viewers to the song, which may help it once again when it comes to sales and streams, perhaps making the tune into a hit—if it hasn’t already become at least a minor one by that point.

Current itunes USA:

#1 - Top 100 Rock Songs

#2 - Top New Songs

#3 - Top 100 Songs 

iTunes around the world:

#1 - Sweden

#3 - United States

#5 - Luxembourg

#9 - New Zealand

#14 - Ireland

#21 - Canada

#22 - Australia

#23 - United Kingdom

#48 - Switzerland

#86 - Netherlands

#108 - Germany

#150 - Denmark

Stevie Nicks is raising her voice once again (People Interview)

Stevie Nicks Wrote New Pro-Choice Anthem After She Saw Roe v. Wade 'Taken Away': ‘I Find It Very Sad’ (Exclusive)

The music icon — who released her new song on Friday, Sept. 27 — has said "there would have been no Fleetwood Mac" if she hadn't gotten an abortion in 1979.

By Jeff Nelson

People

Stevie Nicks is raising her voice once again.

The rock legend released a new pro-choice anthem "The Lighthouse" — her first new original solo track in four years — on Friday, Sept. 27.

"Don’t close your eyes and hope for the best / The dark is out there / The light is going fast / Until the final hours," she sings. "Your life’s changed forever / And all the rights that you had yesterday / Are taken away / And now you’re afraid / You should be afraid.”

Nicks wrote the heavy, atmospheric song in 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that June, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion.

“I find it very sad, at 76 years old, I had to see Roe v. Wade taken away," Nicks tells PEOPLE exclusively in an email interview. "Two years ago, when I realized the consequences of women’s rights that are vanishing, I watched a lot of news, and I was like a sponge — it just went into me.”

Following the news, the Grammy winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee channeled that sadness into song.

“One morning I woke up… which, I never write when I wake up in the morning, and all of a sudden went, ‘I have my scars, I have my scars,’ so I just grabbed my notebook, and I started writing the whole thing," she says. "It was a long-form poem, and I didn't know what kind of song that would be. I found an instrumental that I loved and within two or three days, I had recorded the song. I never redid the vocal — it's an original vocal — and it's taken me two years.”

Ever since, the Fleetwood Mac alum has been fine-tuning the track, working with some A-list collaborators along the way.

"This song has traveled around; it has been in the hands of many producers, of many musicians, of many people that have helped with it. Sheryl Crow, bless her, came in and was such a help with the production. Dave Cobb did the incredible classical guitar chords and was the first producer I worked with on the song," she says. "I’ve been touring solidly for two years, so the whole time, we've been working on this song. I never thought it would take two years to get it to the point where it was perfect.”

The topic of women's reproductive rights is a personal one for Nicks, who in 2020 revealed to The Guardian that she "would have had to walk away" from Fleetwood Mac if she didn't get an abortion in 1979. Without the procedure, "I’m pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac," she added at the time.

Now, she tells PEOPLE, “All the stories that we tell about the necessity for women's healthcare and the necessity for a safe and legal abortion option for women is absolutely necessary."

Nicks wrote the track on Sept. 26, 2022.

"It seemed like overnight, people were saying, 'What can we, as a collective force, do about this…' For me, it was to write a song," she said in a statement. "I have often said to myself, 'This may be the most important thing I ever do.' To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters — and the men that love them. This is an anthem."

Nicks — who has two remaining dates of her latest tour — is set to perform on Saturday Night Live for the first time in 41 years on Oct. 12.