"We Used to Wait" is the first UK single from Arcade Fire's third album The Suburbs

The Suburbs (Arcade Fire album)

The Suburbs is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released in August 2010. Coinciding with the announcement the band released a limited edition 12-inch single containing two tracks from the album, “The Suburbs” and “Month of May”. The album debuted at #1 on the Irish...

, following "Ready to Start", which was the first US single. It was released on August 1, 2010 in the UK.

The Wilderness Downtown

The song is also part of the experimental project The Wilderness Downtown

The Wilderness Downtown

The Wilderness Downtown is an interactive multimedia video coded in HTML5, to show off the capabilities of the new Google Chrome browser. Directed by music video director Chris Milk, it features the We Used to Wait song from the Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs...

to tout the strengths of Google Chrome

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...

 web browser. It figures prominently in the location-based audiovisual web experience and the name of the project is taken from a line in the song.

Reception

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

named it the 5th best song of 2010. It also named its interactive music video 'thewildernessdowntown.com' one of the best music videos of 2010.

In July 2011, the music video was named one of "The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos" by TIME Magazine

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

.

Covers

On 20 October 2010, Mark Ronson

Mark Ronson

Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....

 and Business Intl, featuring Alex Greenwald on both vocals and the mandolin, and Rose Dougall on backing vocals, covered the song on Jo Whiley’s BBC Radio 1 show.
The Drums also covered this song.

Chart performance

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Chart (2010)	Peak position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... )	75
US Alternative Songs (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	22
US Rock Songs Rock Songs Rock Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks the airplay of songs on alternative, mainstream rock and triple A radio stations. The first chart was published in the issue dated June 20, 2009. "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day was the first number-one song. The Rock Songs... (Billboard)	42