Upon its release , " Iris " became second of a string of hits from the film 's soundtrack , '' City of Angels : Music from the Motion Picture '' . ( The first was Alanis Morissette 's " Uninvited " and the third was Sarah McLachlan 's " Angel " ) . The song debuted at number 66 on the '' Billboard '' Hot 100 Airplay chart on April 18 , 1998 , and eventually spent a record of 18 weeks at number one in Hot 100 Airplay . However it was not allowed to chart on the '' Billboard '' Hot 100 because no commercial single had been released . In December 1998 , just after the song 's airplay had peaked , the rules changed to allow airplay-only songs onto the chart . As a result , the song debuted and peaked at number nine and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks . On the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart , " Iris " peaked at number eight . The song was the band 's 2nd number one hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart , following their 1995 hit " Name . " " Iris " stayed at number one for five weeks on the Alternative Songs chart and also hit number one on the Mainstream Top 40 chart for four weeks . The song spent a then-record 17 weeks at number one on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart ( beating No Doubt 's 15-week run at number one with " Do n't Speak " in 1996 – 97 ) . The Goo Goo Dolls performed " Iris " on October 20 , 2001 at Madison Square Garden as part of The Concert for New York City to raise money for victims of the September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Iris (song)