In the Year

In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus) is the title of a hit song from 1969 by the duo Zager and Evans, which reached number 1 in the Billboard Charts for July 21. The song was written by Rick Evans in 1964.

The song opens with the words "In the year 2525, If man is still alive, If woman can survive, They may find...". Subsequent verses pick up the story at 1010-year intervals (namely 3535, 4545, 5555, 6565). Then the pattern as well as the music changes and verses for the years 7510, 8510 and 9595 follow.

The song's structure is unusual in that it moves up a key for each successive verse. There is no chorus, and at the conclusion a cyclic idea of man's history is invoked by the song effectively "starting over" with the first verse again and fading out.

It is rare for a recording artist to have a number one hit single but never have another chart single. In The Year 2525 gave Zager and Evans a unique double in that they were, and remain, the only act to do this in both the US and UK singles charts.

The song has been covered many times. One notable version is the UK new romantic group Visage.