About Everybody Hurts

"Everybody Hurts" is a song by American rock band R.E.M., originally released on the band's 1992 album Automatic for the People and also released as a single in April 1993. It peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 10 on the charts of Australia, Canada, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. In 2003, Q magazine ranked "Everybody Hurts" at number 31 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2005, Blender ranked the song at number 238 in their list of "Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".

Much of the song was written by drummer Bill Berry, although as R.E.M. share songwriting credits among its members, it is unknown how much he actually wrote. Berry's drums are largely absent from the song—a Univox drum machine took his place—but he was responsible for the sampling of the drum pattern on the track. The string arrangement was written by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.