"Manhattan Skyline" is a song by the Norwegian pop band a-ha. It was the fourth single from their Scoundrel Days album.
The song was co-written by keyboardist Magne Furuholmen and guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy. The song starts with a calm verse in F major, before kicking into a hard rock-style chorus with a guitar riff in D minor. In the official a-ha biography, The Swing of Things, Furuholmen said it was "perhaps one of the most inspired cut and paste-projects that Paul and I did. I wrote the quiet part. Paul wrote the rock part."
The music video was directed by Steve Barron and was inspired by newsprint, featuring a connect-the-dots animation of the band, a crossword puzzle, a printing press, and articles from newspapers from around the world.
The B-side "We're Looking for the Whales" was recorded at a concert in London on January 19, 1987.
Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience released an acoustic cover version of "Manhattan Skyline" in 2001.
