"
New Year's Day" is a song by Irish
rock band
U2. It is on their 1983 album
War and it was released as the album's
lead single in January 1983. Written about the Polish
Solidarity movement, "New Year's Day" is driven by
Adam Clayton's distinctive bassline and
the Edge's piano and guitar playing. It was the band's first UK hit single, peaking at no. 10, also becoming the band's first international hit, reaching for example no. 9 in Norway, no. 11 on the Dutch Top 40, no. 17 in Sweden and charting on the
Billboard Hot 100 in the United States (just missing the Top 50) for the first time in their career.