Peak
83
Weeks
1
Score
61
Chart Year
2025
Scores & Rankings
Chart Performance
Peak Position83
Peak DateSep 27, 2025
Weeks at Peak1
Weeks Charted1
Weeks in Top 400
Weeks in Top 100
Weeks at #20
Weeks at #10
Scoring
Summary Calc18
Weekly Calc43
Total Score61
Rankings
Year Ranking#388
Decade Ranking#3,346
Billboard Year#390
Top 5000#31,317
Details
- Album
- Breach
- Label
- Fueled by Ramen
- Genre
- Rap Rock
- Composer(s)
- Tyler Joseph;Paul Meany
- Entered Chart
- Sep 27, 2025
- Peak Date
- Sep 27, 2025
Music Video
The video begins immediately after the events of "Paladin Strait" and "The Contract". Clancy resists Nico's powers and engages in battle against him, the leader of the nine Bishops governing Dema, atop the central circular tower rising above the cement city. The Torchbearer and a group of Banditos rush up the stairs to assist Clancy. Throughout the battle, Clancy is plagued by flashbacks of Nico, each one recalling a memory from his journey where he was beaten by Nico.[a] With each flashback, Clancy's fear grows. After Nico fatally impales Clancy with his sharpened antlers, he breaks them in half, shattering the connection between Clancy and Nico that had allowed Clancy to wield Nico's powers. In a final act, Clancy uses his "final power of the seizing"[b] to merge their souls into one. When the Torchbearer bursts into the room where Clancy and Nico fought, Clancy, now seemingly transformed, wears a Bishop hood and hands out the remaining robes to his squad. He offers one to the Torchbearer, who silently declines and departs the tower as Clancy's team assumes the roles of the new Bishops of Dema. As the Torchbearer leaves, one of the remaining Banditos asks him what to do next. The Torchbearer packs his belongings and responds, saying that Clancy is still out there, and they will try again. With that, he and the Bandito member leave the city.
Notes
Opening Twenty One Pilots' eighth album, Breach, "City Walls" functions as the grand finale to the Dema storyline that's been unspooling since Blurryface in 2015. Sung through the eyes of Clancy, Tyler Joseph's alter ego, the track dramatizes his fight on two fronts: against the authoritarian grip of Dema, and against the inner fog of doubt, fear, and self-sabotage. The "city walls" stand for both the external barricades of control and the internal barriers of fear, doubt, and isolation. "Show me the way around those city walls," Clancy pleads, only to discover he's been "abandoned by the sun," a devastating image of reaching for guidance that never arrives. The imagery of confrontation and breaking through, symbolized by the titular breach, makes the track feel like a battle cry for anyone who's ever wrestled with their inner demons. The song and its accompanying video bring closure to the narrative involving characters like Clancy and the Torchbearer that has been developed across multiple albums. Tyler Joseph described the track as "the soundbed for that final part of the story." "City Walls" contains deliberate callbacks to earlier Twenty One Pilots tracks, creating connections throughout their discography. Fans have noted references to "Polarize," "Migraine," and "Holding On To You." The outro of "City Walls" also samples the intro of "Heavydirtysoul," the opening track from Twenty One Pilots' 2015 album Blurryface, creating a full-circle moment that connects the beginning and end of their extended narrative arc. Tyler Joseph wrote and produced the song with longtime collaborator Paul Meany, the lead singer and keyboardist for the rock outfit Mutemath.
Square up with me, I can take your right, throw a left Pair up with me, I'ma take you right to the chest Warpath etched in the surface Lines of the yellow tape, they're movin' quiet like a serpentine In a formation, buddy, that's my team, pretty impatient Now they're waitin' on me It might be the furthest we've reached Now move it up, move it up, it's a breach I wonder where you are I wanted to you to show me The way around those city walls The way on through I wonder where you are I wanted to you to show me But now the night was fallen Abandoned by the sun Square up with me, I can come to you, tell me when Pair up with me, I can run on you in the end I write a promise in pencil, but my loyalty's in pen Use a mistake as a crooked stencil Then we trace it back again From the mainland to the island of violence It was the same plan for a while, decided To send me up and rip you out of your seat You see, in a city with no entrance there is not a retreat I'm wondering' what you thought would happen Who you thought I would be Was this a sideswipe, or did you picture this in a dream? Buckle down, this is possibly the furthest we've reached Now move it up-up, move it up-up, it's a breach I wonder where you are I wanted to you to show me The way around those city walls The way on through I wonder where you are I wanted to you to show me But now the night was fallen Abandoned by the sun Abandoned by the sun Uh-oh Uh-oh, oh My smile wraps around my head, splittin' it in Two, two, two, two I don't have a clue how I can keep the top half Glued, glued, glued, glued (uh-oh) My smile wraps around my head, splittin' it in Two, two, two, two (uh-oh) I don't have a clue how I can keep the top half Glued, glued, glued, glued I wonder where you are I wanted to you to show me Entertain my- Entertain my- Entertain my- Entertain my- Entertain my- Entertain my- Entertain my- Entertain my faith This is the last time This is the last time Entertain my faith This is the last time that I try Address my soul Address my soul Address my soul Entertain my faith This is the last time that I try
Chart History (1 week)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 27, 2025 | 83 | 43 |