Daft Punk split: best songs, epilogue and why the French music duo are breaking up after 28 years

Parisian pairing Daft Punk worked with Pharrell Williams on the 2013 smash hit Get Lucky

Daft Punk have announced their split after 27 years.

The French electro duo, considered to be one of the greatest influencers of dance music over the last 30 years, confirmed their retirement in a video.

Formed in Paris in the 1990s, the pairing of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, became a multi-award winning act.

Daft Punk announced the split in an eight-minute video - titled Epilogue - posted on the music duo’s official website on Monday 22 February 2021. (Pic: Getty Images)Daft Punk announced the split in an eight-minute video - titled Epilogue - posted on the music duo’s official website on Monday 22 February 2021. (Pic: Getty Images)
Daft Punk announced the split in an eight-minute video - titled Epilogue - posted on the music duo’s official website on Monday 22 February 2021. (Pic: Getty Images)
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But why have they broken up and how did they announce their split, as we look back on some of their biggest hits and most striking helmets over the years.

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Why are Daft Punk breaking up?

Daft Punk are used to keeping parts of themselves away from the public spotlight and it appears they’ve left people guessing once more.

Their long-standing publicist Kathryn Frazier confirmed that they’d split but did not offer a reason.

How did Daft Punk announce their split?

Daft Punk announced the split in an eight-minute video - titled Epilogue - posted on the music duo’s official website on Monday 22 February 2021.

The video shows the pair dressed in their famous robot suits travelling through a desert-like landscape and concludes with one of the group detonating into hundreds of tiny fragments.

The sequence ends by cutting to a sunrise as a choral version of the group’s 2013 song Touch plays and the dates 1993-2021 (the year the group formed and the year of their split) appear.

What are Daft Punk’s biggest hits?

Among their bulging catalogue of hits, there are a select few that highlight the duo's global success.

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The collaboration with Pharrell Williams for 2013's electronic-dance track Get Lucky was one of the biggest selling songs of the year.

It reached the music charts top 10 in 32 different countries and sold almost 10 million copies worldwide.

Other hits include One More Time (2007), Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (2001), Around the World (1997), Lose Yourself to Dance (2013), and Digital Love (2001).

Did Daft Punk stop making music?

Random Access Memories, which featured smash hit Get Lucky in collaboration with Pharrell Williams, was Daft Punk’s last studio album released in 2013.

Amid rumours the duo were working on a new album, Daft Punk announced they were splitting after a musical career spanning three decades.

They are heralded as pioneers of the French house movement of the 1990s and, after years of DJing around Paris, found overnight fame with their debut album Homework in 1997.

Homework was seen as more suited for a mainstream audience as it adopted a more pop-oriented sound to both a critical and commercial success.

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Daft Punk started to wear their famous robot outfits during both concerts and public appearances following the release of their 2001 follow-up Discovery.

Did Daft Punk ever show their faces?

Daft Punk were regularly photographed with their full face robot helmets, which kept their identities hidden for many years.

Yet, in 2014, the duo showed their faces for the first time publicly upon receiving five Grammy awards for their fourth and final album Random Access Memories.

It came a year before the release of an 85-minute documentary - titled Daft Punk Unchained - which went behind the helmets and used rare archive footage of the duo.

The doc also featured interviews with friends, colleagues and some of the biggest names from the music industry, namely Pharrell Williams and Kanye West.