"In the Air Tonight" is the debut solo single by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins.

It was released as the lead single from Collins's debut solo album, Face Value, in January 1981.

Collins co-produced "In the Air Tonight" with Hugh Padgham, who became a frequent collaborator in the following years.

[9] Collins wrote the song amid the grief he felt after divorcing his first wife Andrea Bertorelli in 1980.

"[10] In a 1997 BBC Radio 2 documentary, the singer revealed that the divorce contributed to his 1979 hiatus from the band Genesis, until they regrouped in October of that year to record the album Duke.

Collins remembered playing the song to Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks but he felt it was too simple for the group.

[11] "In the Air Tonight" has been described as being "at the vanguard of experimental pop" in 1981 and "a rock oddity classic", having been influenced by "the unconventional studio predilections of Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel".

"[3] Musically, the song consists of a series of ominous chords played on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 over a simple drum machine pattern (the Roland CR-78 Disco-2 pattern, plus some programming); processed electric guitar sounds and vocoded vocals, an effect which is increased on key words to add additional atmosphere.

[12] Collins has described obtaining the drum machine specifically to deal with personal issues relating to his divorce through songwriting, telling Mix magazine: "I had to start writing some of this music that was inside me".

"[18] An urban legend has arisen about "In the Air Tonight", according to which the lyrics are based on a drowning incident in which someone who was close enough to save the victim did not help them, while Collins, who was too far away to help, looked on.

Increasingly embellished variations on the legend emerged over time, with the stories often culminating in Collins singling out the guilty party while singing the song at a concert.

So what makes it even more comical is when I hear these stories which started many years ago, particularly in America, of someone come up to me and say, "Did you really see someone drowning?"

Twice a spectral figure appears in the window, but only the second time does Collins get up to look at it, then is shown walking to the one door of the room.

The third door is locked, but as the fourth one opens, the drum break sounds and the viewer is returned to Collins's face again, this time in thermal coloring, which gradually reverts to black and white.

[22] "In the Air Tonight" remains a popular selection on classic rock radio stations.

"I remember doing 'In the Air Tonight' at Live Aid," he recalled, "and [Pete] Townshend saying, 'Are you going to do that fucking song again?'

[25] In 1984, the song was memorably used in a scene from the first episode of the television series Miami Vice, which film and television critic Matt Zoller Seitz cited as why the song has been stamped as "Property of Michael Mann" (the series' executive producer) for years, rarely being used in other screen works due to its indelible use in the series, akin to Martin Scorsese's signature use of songs by the Rolling Stones for his films.

[26] "In the Air Tonight" received a new wave of attention thanks to its use in the series, enough for it to rise in sales outside the Billboard Hot 100 at number 102.

[27] The mix was picked up by Virgin Records for an official release, which hit Number 4 in the UK charts.

In July 2020, a video reaction to the song by TwinsthenewTrend increased the sales and streaming of Collins's original version.