Songfacts®:

• "Welcome To The Circus" is the third single and opening track from Five Finger Death Punch's ninth album, AfterLife.
• Tell me, how will I know?
  Am I the only one
  That isn't just here for the show?
  Welcome to the circus
  
  While Five Finger Death Punch vocalist and lyricist Ivan Moody doesn't like to explain his lyrics, it's clear here he's venting about the current social media generation. "This is a straight-up arena banger plowing through a not-so-subtle social commentary about the epic clown-show we are all living in today," guitarist Zoltan Bathory commented to Metal Hammer. "Addicted to "likes' and "thumbs ups,' people really will do just about anything for that digital dopamine."
• "Welcome To The Circus," along with the rest of AfterLife, finds the Las Vegas-based hard rockers sticking to their meaty, groove metal music. "This is the ninth record, and at this point everyone knows who we are and the sound," Bathroy said. "It's very difficult to achieve a signature sound, but when you have that, you have nothing to prove, and it allows you to venture farther away. Take Queen: you can't categorize Queen, and that's the place you want to be, because you can do anything."
• "Welcome To The Circus" topped the Billboard Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart. It was Five Finger Death Punch's 16th single to reach #1 on the tally.
  
  It also became Five Finger Death's 10th #1 in a row on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay, the longest run of leading consecutive entries in that chart's history, and their 14th song in total to top the chart. Their previous 13 were:
  
  "Coming Down"
  "Battle Born"
  "Lift Me Up"
  "Wash It All Away"
  "Sham Pain"
  "When The Seasons Change"
  A cover of Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black"
  "Inside Out"
  "A Little Bit Off"
  "Living The Dream"
  "Darkness Settles In"
  "AfterLife"
  "Times Like These"
• Zoltan Bathory and Dale "Rage" Resteghini (Hatebreed, Sevendust) co-directed the video, which is adapted from a story written by Bathory himself. It is the second in a two-part storyline tied to the band's AfterLife graphic novel. The action picks up from the end of the "Times Like These" clip, as Moody escapes into a club with two pursuers hot on his tail.