The single peaked at number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Green Day's first Billboard Hot 100 chart entry.
Green Day performed the song at the 2005 Grammy Awards.
"American Idiot" has sold 1,371,000 copies as of July 2010.
"American Idiot" was written in the key of A major and recorded in standard tuning.
The song appeared in the trailer for the 2005 film Wedding Crashers.