The story of Sex On Fire and how Kings of Leon's feelings about it have changed...

4 September 2025, 17:00

Kings of Leon on Sex on Fire's billion streams milestone

By Jenny Mensah

We take a look at the band's iconic single and delve into how the band's feelings towards it have changed.

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Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire is 17 years old this week.

Released on 4th September 2008 from the band's fourth studio album Only By The Night, the song catapulted the already successful band into the stratosphere and has become a mainstay on during their live performances ever since.

However, the song's popularity hasn't always been an easy pill to swallow for Caleb Followill and co. Find out why here...

Kings Of Leon - Sex on Fire (Official Video)

What is Sex on Fire about?

The raunchy of title of the song is pretty unmistakable, but did you know it started off as a joke? The track started out as a melody, therefore the band just kept throwing silly lyrics over the chorus. They tried out several different iterations such as Set Us on Fire, Snatch on Fire and Cocks on Fire, but the band settled on Sex on Fire, which was a bit of a joke that just stuck.

The band also revealed about how they make the track sound more palatable for their young kids.

“It’s ‘Socks on Fire’,” drummer Nathan Followill told Radio X. “Uncle Caleb’s socks caught on fire one night when I was drying them out on the heater."

Caleb added: "I think that song is the least of our worries. We have much bigger things to tackle than Sex On Fire,” before Nathan interjected: “They won’t listen to Taper Jean Girl. Ever.”

Kings of Leon with their Sex On Fire single inset. Picture: Press

Do Kings of Leon like Sex on Fire?

Kings of Leon have had a somewhat uneasy relationship with Sex On Fire in the past - not unlike Radiohead's relationship with Creep - but in recent years they seem to have softened to their ubiquitous track.

Back in May 2024, Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire hit the headlines for surpassing the billion streams mark and asked if it's something they ever imagined would happen, they told Radio X's Dan O'Connell they were "blown away" by the achievement.

"Sex on Fire is a weird one," mused bassist Jared. "It's almost grown in a cult fashion since it came out. It was pretty big and I think Use Somebody was even bigger and now Sex on Fire is the biggest one and we didn't expect it and we still are blown away."

Frontman Caleb admitted: "It's one of those songs that we used to kind of... you don't dread playing it, but it's one of those things where you would just see how much bigger of a response it got to everything else and it made you feel bad for the rest of [the set].

"But then you get to a point of pride where you go, 'Man we did this. We wrote this song. Let's go out there and enjoy it."

He added: "We always know we have it in our pocket and between that and Use Somebody, I don't think there are many places in the world where we couldn't break into those songs and people wouldn't be like, 'Oh I know this song!'"

Despite the band's Sex on Fire streaming milestone, when it comes to achieving more bucket list moments, they believe there are "always new" things to achieve, but creating a legacy is key.

"There's always new boxes," said Jared. "I mean, I think that we all probably have lofty goals, but without ignoring the fact that we've hit a lot of awesome milestones, I think that respect is a big one and creating a legacy.

"Going down as a band that was important and meant something and did good things."