The best-selling single of his solo career, the lyrics encourage listeners to imagine a world of peace, without materialism, without borders separating nations and without religion.

Shortly before his death, Lennon said that much of the song's lyrics and content came from his wife, Yoko Ono, and in 2017, she wanted to receive a co-writing credit.

In 2023, the song was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

More than 200 artists have performed or covered the song, including Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Joan Baez, Lady Gaga, Elton John and Diana Ross.

[7]With the combined influence of "Cloud Piece" and the prayer book given to him by Gregory, Lennon wrote what author John Blaney described as "a humanistic paean for the people".

[9] Blaney wrote, "Lennon contends that global harmony is within our reach, but only if we reject the mechanisms of social control that restrict human potential.

"[10] Rolling Stone's David Fricke commented: "[Lennon] calls for a unity and equality built upon the complete elimination of modern social order: geopolitical borders, organised religion, [and] economic class.

"[12] Rolling Stone described its lyrics as "22 lines of graceful, plain-spoken faith in the power of a world, united in purpose, to repair and change itself".

[14] Lennon finished composing "Imagine" one morning in early 1971, on a Steinway piano, in a bedroom at his Tittenhurst Park estate in Ascot, Berkshire, England.

[21] The finished recording featured Lennon on piano and vocal, Klaus Voormann on bass guitar, Alan White on drums and the Flux Fiddlers on strings.

[32] In 1972, Lennon and Ono released an 81-minute film to accompany the Imagine album which featured footage of the couple in their home, garden and the recording studio of their Berkshire property at Tittenhurst Park as well as in New York City.

[33] A full-length documentary rock video, the film's first scene features a shot of Lennon and Ono walking through a thick fog, arriving at their house as the song "Imagine" begins.

[35] Several celebrities appeared in the film, including Andy Warhol, Fred Astaire, Jack Palance, Dick Cavett and George Harrison.

[39] In 1999, on National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom, the BBC announced that listeners had voted "Imagine" Britain's favourite song lyric.

[40] Rolling Stone described "Imagine" as Lennon's "greatest musical gift to the world", praising "the serene melody; the pillowy chord progression; [and] that beckoning, four-note [piano] figure".

[48] Rolling Stone ranked "Imagine" number three on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", describing it as "an enduring hymn of solace and promise that has carried us through extreme grief, from the shock of Lennon's own death in 1980 to the unspeakable horror of September 11.

[49][nb 3] On 1 January 2005, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named "Imagine" the greatest song in the past 100 years as voted by listeners on the show 50 Tracks.

[61][nb 5] Others argue that Lennon intended the song's lyrics to inspire listeners to imagine if the world could live without possessions, not as an explicit call to give them up.

"[59] Stereogum contributors Timothy and Elizabeth Bracy did not include "Imagine" as one of Lennon's top 10 solo songs, saying "Lennon's astounding facility for writing instantly memorable hooks meets head on with his occasional weakness for pandering polemics on 'Imagine,' resulting in a tune that everyone can sing along with, even as many can't believe the trite silliness of the lyrics in question.

That piano part, "gentle as a rocking chair", underpins lyrics that, Waldman says, "[belong] to the tradition of hymns or spirituals that visualise a glorious afterlife without prophesising any immediate end to suffering on earth".

This understanding is also compounded by the historical context of Lennon's own violent death, "remind[ing] us that the universe can run ramshod over idealistic people".

[68] Elton John performed the song regularly on his world tour in 1980, including at his free concert in Central Park, a few blocks away from Lennon's apartment in The Dakota.

[82] Beginning in 2010, the song has been performed live by the headlining artist; first by Taio Cruz, then in 2011 by CeeLo Green, in 2012 by Train, in 2013 by Melissa Etheridge, in 2014 by O.A.R., in 2015 by Jessie J, in 2016 by Rachel Platten, in 2017 by Andy Grammer, in 2018 by Bebe Rexha, in 2019 by X Ambassadors, in 2020 by Andra Day, in 2021 by KT Tunstall, in 2022 by Chelsea Cutler, in 2023 by Paul Anka, and in 2024 by Mickey Guyton.

[83] The event got media attention outside of the US, with Britain's The Guardian stating "Lennon's original lyrics don't praise pluralism or interchangeable religious truths—they damn them".

[92] Seal, Pink, India.Arie, Jeff Beck, Konono Nº1, Oumou Sangaré and others recorded a version for Herbie Hancock's 2010 album The Imagine Project.

Performers including Ono, Hugh Jackman and ABBA announced the initiative at an event at the UN General Assembly in New York, with the intention of spreading the message that every voice matters.

[101] In 2020, amid the first COVID-19 lockdowns, Gal Gadot and a number of other celebrities performed an online version of the song intended to raise morale in the face of the pandemic.

[102] The performance was poorly received by audiences, many of whom criticized it for being a tone-deaf message from a group of socialites and members of the international elite who were largely unaffected by the pandemic.

[103][104] In June 2020, actor Chris O'Dowd, who appeared in the online version of the song, said the criticisms of the project were "justified", referring to the video as "creative diarrhoea".

[105] A pre-recorded version of the song performed by John Legend, Keith Urban, Alejandro Sanz and Angélique Kidjo, with musical arrangement by Hans Zimmer, was featured in the opening ceremony for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in July 2021,[106] and another pre-recorded cover version again as a theme song in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February 2022.