1 in the UK singles chart: the pairing of Mariah Carey and boyband Westlife, in September 2000,[5] and then again by Steve Brookstein, the first winner of The X Factor, in January 2005.
", the song's music was written by Collins during sessions for his debut solo album Face Value (1981), but it fell by the wayside as it was his least favourite of the several ballads he wrote at the time.
Eventually, Collins presented the demo to Taylor Hackford when approached to write a song for the Against All Odds movie, which he loved.
[11] On episode 339 of This American Life, "Break Up", Collins relays that the song was inspired and written shortly after the breakup between him and his first wife.
When he signed with Atlantic Records, he was provided with a roster of artists, among whom Collins was chosen to render the film's theme song based on the quality of his voice.
[12] Writing for the soundtrack's review, Allmusic editor Heather Phares claimed that the film is best remembered for the inclusion of Collins' "classic theme song".
At the Academy Awards ceremony, Collins was not invited to sing his song on stage and instead sat in the audience as dancer Ann Reinking gave a mostly lip-synced vocal performance accompanied by a dance routine.
Reinking's performance was poorly received by critics from the Los Angeles Times and People,[14][15] as well as by Collins himself in a Rolling Stone interview.
[18] The Guardian and American Songwriter both named "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" as Collins' second-best solo song behind "In the Air Tonight".
[21] The single's music video was directed by Taylor Hackford, produced by Jeffrey Abelson through Parallax Productions and cinematographed by Daniel Pearl.
[23] The concept for the video was created by Keith Williams, a Welsh-born writer who had already worked with Abelson on the video for "Dancin' With Myself" (Billy Idol), and who would go on to also create concepts for "Holding Out for a Hero" (Bonnie Tyler) and "Ghostbusters" (Ray Parker Jr.) for the same producer as well as "Say You Say Me" (Lionel Richie) from White Nights, which Taylor Hackford also directed.
American singer Mariah Carey recorded and co-produced her version of the song with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for her seventh studio album Rainbow (1999).
English singer and The X Factor winner Steve Brookstein included "Against All Odds" on his debut studio album, Heart and Soul (2005).
[69] In 2004, Brookstein won the televised UK talent competition The X Factor, and recorded a cover of the Phil Collins 1984 hit "Against All Odds" as his debut single.
"Against All Odds" sold 127,701 copies in its first week in the UK, the lowest first-week sales for an X Factor winner's single until 2015.
[71] It has sold fewer than half the copies of Leon Jackson's "When You Believe" and Little Mix's "Cannonball", a third of Joe McElderry's "The Climb", a quarter of Leona Lewis's "A Moment Like This", and a fifth of those of Matt Cardle's "When We Collide", Shayne Ward's "That's My Goal", James Arthur's "Impossible" and Alexandra Burke's "Hallelujah".
The song is featured in the 2024 action comedy film The Fall Guy during the scene where Jody Moreno thinks her ex-boyfriend, Colt Seavers, stood her up.