Songfacts®:

• Here, Post Malone laments over a faded love that is running on empty.
  
  Seasons change and our love went cold
  Feed the flame 'cause we can't let it go
  Run away, but we're running in circles
  
  Though the relationship seems to bring only sorrow, Post and his lover are unable to split. But continuing to stay together on their carousel only increases the tension between them.
  
• The breezy, acoustic guitar-driven production contrasts with the melancholic lyrics. Post produced the track with his regular collaborators:
  
  Louis Bell ("Rockstar" and "Psycho").
  
  Frank Dukes ("Congratulations" and "Wow").
  
  Both Bell and Dukes produced together Malone's hit song "Better Now."
  
  Bell and Dukes have also found success producing hits for the likes of Camila Cabello ("Havana") and Jonas Brothers ("Sucker").
• Malone debuted the track on August 5, 2019 during his performance at the Bud Light Dive Bar Tour in New York City.
• This was Post Malone's fourth Hot 100 #1, following "Rockstar," "Psycho" and "Sunflower." It marks Malone's first chart-topper as a solo billing – the previous three featured 21 Savage ("Rockstar"), Ty Dolla $ign ("Psycho"), and Swae Lee ("Sunflower").
• "Circles" is the second US #1 with that word in its title. The other was Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round In Circles," which spent two weeks atop the chart in July 1973.
• This song got the prog rock treatment in 2019 when it was covered by the Hawkwind-themed group Hawkestrel, with guest musicians Todd Rundgren on guitar and L. Shankar on violin. It was billed as the first prog rock cover of a hip-hop song.
• Back in the summer of 2018, Post Malone's manager encouraged him to write with songwriter Tyler Armes. They got together in August of that year with Frank Dukes also present for the jam session. According to Armes, the track they came up with became "Circles," but Malone released it without his name on it.
  
  Armes alleges that he co-wrote the chords and bass line for the song, and had input in other areas such as the guitar melody. After a failed attempt at negotiating, Armes sued Malone and Dukes to get the co-writer credit and what he deems a fair cut of the royalties.
  
  The issue was settled out of court on March 21, 2023 just minutes before a trial for the copyright lawsuit was set to begin.
• "Circles" spent 39 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019-2020, overtaking the previous record of 33 weeks spent by Maroon 5's "Girls Like You," Ed Sheeran's "Shape Of You," and Post's own "Sunflower."
  
  The record was broken by The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights," which became the first song ever to have an entire year in the Top 10.
• Colbie Caillat released an acoustic cover of "Circles" in 2023, and in 2025 she covered it as a duet with Gavin DeGraw.
  
  "I love that song, and it was an easy one I could play," she said on the Off The Record podcast. "It's just two chords, and I'm very simple at playing piano or guitar."