"The Chain" is a song from Fleetwood Mac's best-selling album Rumours. "The Chain" is unique in being the only song written by all five members of the Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac lineup: Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks; this is partly due to the fact that John McVie and Mick Fleetwood are generally not songwriters. The band has used the song as a signature, citing the lyric, "Never break the chain."

According to interviews on the writing of Rumours, the final section of "The Chain" — beginning with a bass progression — was created by John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. It seemed like an ending, not a beginning. Stevie Nicks had written the lyrics separately and thought they would be a good match; she and Christine McVie did some reworking to create the first section of the tune. Lindsey Buckingham then created the guitar riff at the beginning and end. Thanks to its use as a TV theme (for the BBC's F1 coverage), the ending bass line is one of the most recognizable in the world, and although not released as a single, it does get air play.