Dan Wilson

Dan Wilson studied at Harvard University, Harvard College and St. Louis Park High School. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are alternative rock. Works named in the authority record are Someone Like You.

• Name — Dan Wilson • Birth Name — Daniel Dodd Wilson • Born — 20 May 1961 • Birthplace — St. Louis Park, Minnesota, U.S. • Instruments — * Vocals • guitar • bass • keyboards • drums • percussion • Genre — * Alternative rock • pop rock • post-grunge • power pop • folk rock • country • Occupation — * Musician • singer • songwriter • record producer • visual artist • Label — Ballroom Music, Pleasuresonic Recordings • Current Member Of — Semisonic • Past Member Of — Trip Shakespeare • Website — danwilsonmusic.com/ Daniel Dodd Wilson (born May 20, 1961) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, visual artist and record producer who has been called the songwriter's songwriter. His songwriting résumé includes "Closing Time," which he wrote for his band, Semisonic; "Not Ready to Make Nice," co-written with The Chicks; and "Someone Like You," co-written with Adele. Wilson's work earned him a Grammy nomination for "Closing Time" (Best Rock Song) and garnered him Grammy wins for Song of the Year ("Not Ready to Make Nice" in 2007) and Album of the Year as a producer for Adele's 21 in 2012. Wilson has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including Pink, Celine Dion, Leon Bridges, Mitski, Claud, Halsey, Weezer, Panic! at the Disco, My Morning Jacket, Dierks Bentley, John Legend, Joy Oladokun, Laufey, and many others. In 2012, Wilson produced the song "Treacherous”, which he co-wrote with Taylor Swift for Swift's fourth studio album Red, resulting in an additional Album of the Year Grammy nomination. In 2021, Wilson produced the re-recorded version of "Treacherous" for Swift's second re-recorded album, Red (Taylor's Version). On November 10, 2023, Wilson received Grammy nominations for Song of the Year for "Butterfly", which he wrote with Jon Batiste, and Best Country Song for “White Horse," which he co-wrote with Chris Stapleton. In January 2024, "It Never Went Away," the song Wilson co-wrote with Jon Batiste for the documentary American Symphony, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. On February 4, 2024, Wilson won the Grammy for Best Country Song for “White Horse," which he co-wrote with Chris Stapleton. On November 20, 2024, Wilson won his first CMA Award for Song of the Year for “White Horse," which he co-wrote with Chris Stapleton. In addition to being the frontman of Semisonic, Wilson has released several solo recordings, including the 2017 release Re-Covered, in which he covers songs he wrote for other artists. He was also a member of the Minneapolis band Trip Shakespeare.

Wilson is a native of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Wilson attended Harvard University, where he studied visual arts with a focus on printmaking and from which he graduated B.A. summa cum laude in Visual and Environmental Studies in 1983, while he resided in Dunster House. Wilson is an accomplished artist, and won the first Louis Sudler Prize for Outstanding Artistic Talent and Achievement in 1983. While in college, he began collaborating with his brother, singer-songwriter Matt Wilson, who also attended Harvard College. The Wilson brothers played in two bands, Animal Dance and the Love Monsters. After college, Wilson pursued his interest in drawing and painting, first in San Francisco and then in Minneapolis.

In 1987, Wilson joined the Minneapolis band Trip Shakespeare, which his brother Matt Wilson had founded with bassist John Munson and drummer Elaine Harris. The original three members had already released one record, Applehead Man, and now as a quartet, with Wilson on guitar, piano, sharing lead vocal duties with Matt Wilson—with whom Wilson also co-wrote many of the songs—and Munson, the band released three more albums (Are You Shakespearienced?, 1988, Gark Records; Across the Universe, 1990, A&M Records; Lulu, 1991, A&M Records) and one EP (Volt, 1992, Twin Tone). Since Trip Shakespeare's breakup in 1992, Wilson has continued to collaborate with his brother, including the release of two live albums (Minneapolis 2010 and Minneapolis 2013).

• Illustration — Wilson with Semisonic After Trip Shakespeare's breakup in 1992, Wilson and Munson joined with drummer Jacob Slichter to form Pleasure, a trio that was later renamed Semisonic. Semisonic released one EP, three full-length albums, and one live album. The band's first album, Great Divide, received critical acclaim. David Fricke wrote in a year-end Rolling Stone article on the notable albums of 1996, "Great Divide is that rare '96 beast, a record of simple but sparkling modern pop, rattling with power-trio vitality." It was their 1998 release, Feeling Strangely Fine, however, that brought the band to widespread national and then international attention and success. Powered by Wilson's songs "Closing Time", which was a number-one hit on the Modern Rock charts for thirteen weeks in the spring and summer of 1998, the follow-up single "Singing in My Sleep", and "Secret Smile", a breakthrough hit for the band internationally, Feeling Strangely Fine attained platinum sales status in the U.S. and U.K. "Closing Time" received a 1999 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song and has become an enduring pop-culture reference point for the late 1990s. It was a focal point of the plot and soundtrack of the 2011 film Friends with Benefits. Semisonic's third album, All About Chemistry, was released in 2001, and featured Wilson's song "Chemistry", the album's first single, and also included "One True Love", a song Wilson co-wrote with Carole King. Semisonic stopped touring in August 2001 but continued to perform on occasion. Slichter's memoir, So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star, provides a detailed account of the band's adventures and misadventures in the music business. On June 26, 2020, Semisonic released their first single in nearly 20 years, "You're Not Alone," followed by an EP of the same name on September 18, 2020.

Wilson's solo debut, Free Life, was released in 2007 by American Recordings. Produced with Rick Rubin, Free Life was recorded in Minneapolis and Los Angeles and includes performances by Tracy Bonham, Sheryl Crow, Jason Lader, Gary Louris, Natalie Maines, Benmont Tench, and a number of Minneapolis-based musicians including multi-instrumentalist and frequent Semisonic sideman Ken Chastain, Eric Fawcett, John Hermanson, Joanna James, Mason Jennings, Steve Rhoem, Joe Savage, as well as Wilson's Semisonic bandmates Munson and Slichter. Free Life helped establish Wilson's reputation as a songwriter, with The A.V. Club writing, "the star of the show here is Wilson's remarkable instinct for creating gorgeous songs, and his unabashed, obvious joy in doing so. For anyone worried that songcraft is an endangered species, Free Life should ease those fears." The song Breathless became a big hit in Greece (and other Balkan countries) and Dan Wilson performed it at the 2009 MAD Video Music Awards.

• Illustration — Wilson performing in 2008 Wilson's second solo album, Love Without Fear, was released on April 15, 2014 and includes performances by Sara Bareilles, Missy Higgins, Lissie, Natalie Maines, Blake Mills, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins. The first recording from Love Without Fear, "Disappearing" (with a cover of Neil Young's "Out on the Weekend" included as a b-side) was released on November 7, 2013 and was the debut release of the new singles label, Canvasclub. In describing the album, Wilson said, "The songs are about being left alone, not wanting to lose someone, about desperately wishing for connection and togetherness. The sound of the record lives at the intersection of Americana and Beatles- influenced rock and roll. A little bit of twang and a lot of cinematic emotion." The album received largely favourable reviews emphasizing Wilson's reputation as a songwriter. "Dan Wilson's career is proof positive that smart, elegant songwriting has a place in music... [Love Without Fear] is a lovely amalgamation of chamber rock, gentle country, gooey '70s pop and snappy soul."

Wilson's third solo studio album, Re-Covered, was released on August 4, 2017. The album is a collection of reinterpretations of songs Wilson wrote for other artists, both big hits and "songs that I always wished were big hits, but weren't." The album includes "Someone Like You" (written with Adele), "Not Ready To Make Nice" (written with Dixie Chicks), "Home" (written with Dierks Bentley and Brett Beavers), and "When The Stars Come Out" (written with Chris Stapleton).

In September 2018 Wilson announced that he would begin releasing new music that Fall. Rather than organizing the new songs into an album, he would instead release them over time as monthly singles. According to Wilson, "I fell in love with the idea of just letting songs out into the world when they happen." "I don't have anything against making an album. If I do 15 or 20 of these I would love the idea of packaging them together and calling it an album. I think that'd be fantastic, but I don't really have that in my mind. I'm just trying to be free."

Wilson's discoveries as a solo artist and collaborator with other artists are the subject of "Words and Music by Dan Wilson", solo concerts in which he performs some of his songs and describes the songs' various inspirations or the insights that occasioned their composition. "Words and Music by Dan Wilson" has come to Hotel Cafe, Room 5 and Largo in Los Angeles, Joe's Pub and City Winery in New York, World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, Jammin' Java in DC, Rams Head in Annapolis, The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Schubas Tavern in Chicago, Berklee College of Music's Red Room at Cafe 939 in Boston, and the Red Barn concert series in Northfield, MN. Wilson has also presented Words & Music workshops at the 2012 ASCAP expo, UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music, and USC's Thornton School of Music. Wilson's thoughts about songwriting and the creative process are also captured in his series, Words & Music in Six Seconds, which was originally launched on Vine and is now regularly posted on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. From American Songwriter, "In his short videos, Wilson provides insightful quips about common songwriting insecurities, methodology, personal writing quirks, and various other tips for writing your best." In November 2020, he released the Words + Music in 6 Seconds deck, a collection of cards written and designed by Wilson based on his Instagram series.

Wilson co-wrote six of the songs on the Dixie Chicks multiple-Grammy-winning album Taking the Long Way, including the title song and "Not Ready to Make Nice", which earned Wilson and the Dixie Chicks the 2007 Grammy for Song of the Year. In the 2006 film Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, Wilson speaks on camera about his experience as a co-writer on this album, especially in regard to helping the Dixie Chicks make an artistic response to their rejection by radio and a large swath of their fans in the wake of the band's statements about President Bush and the Iraq War. One of the songs he co-wrote for this album, "Easy Silence", appears on Free Life, with Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines singing harmonies.

Wilson co-wrote three of the songs on Adele's multiple-Grammy-winning 21, "Don't You Remember", "One and Only", and, most notably, "Someone Like You", which became a number one hit in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand was a top ten hit around the globe. As a producer of this track, on which he also played piano, Wilson shared in the 2012 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In an interview with American Songwriter, Wilson recounted the writing and recording of "Someone Like You": • The recording on the album was intended as a demo. I was thinking, "Oh, they're going to make a big version of this, strings and angelic choirs, like a big Chrissie Hynde power-ballad." But by the end of the first day, the demo was sounding lovely, and very affecting, but it was only half-written, there were no words on the second verse or the bridge as I remember. Adele came to the studio the next day and said, "I played it for my manager and me Mum." I was a little nervous about this because I don't like people to hear works-in-progress. I asked her what they thought of the song. "My manager loves it and me Mum cried." "Someone Like You" won the 2012 Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance, and as she accepted the award, Adele said, "I want to thank Dan Wilson, who wrote this song with me. My life changed when I wrote this song and I felt it before anyone even heard it." In April 2013, "Someone Like You" became the most downloaded single of all time in the UK, and in 2015 was voted the UK's third favourite UK number one single of the last 60 years.

Wilson is married to Diane Espaldon. Wilson and his wife were contemporaries at Harvard University, where he studied visual arts and she studied government. Wilson's wife subsequently earned a M.A. from School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. Together, they have one biological daughter, Corazon ("Coco") (b. 1997), who was born prematurely and has disabilities and for whom "Closing Time" was written before her birth, and Lily (b. 2007), who was adopted at age two from the Philippines.

• 2025 "ventura" • 2025 "laurel" • 2025 "good night, deervale, moorpark, tujunga" • 2022 "Dancing On The Moon" • 2022 "On The Floor" - Perfume Genius cover • 2021 "Under The Circumstances" • 2020 "Try Love" • 2020 "The Real Question" • 2020 "Red Light" • 2020 "Superfan" • 2020 "Eventually" • 2019 "Last December" • 2019 "Sunshine" • 2019 "Too Much ii" • 2019 "A Modest Proposal" • 2019 "The Rules" • 2019 "Fly Safe" • 2018 "Are You Lonely Tonight, Mrs. Claus?" • 2018 "Christmassy" • 2018 "Uncanny Valley" • 2018 "We Ain't Telling" • 2017 "What a Year for a New Year" • 2016 "Yoko" • 2015 "The Hottest Christmas Eve Ever" • 2014 "Love Without Fear" • 2014 "A Song Can Be About Anything" • 2013 "Disappearing" • 2011 "Soft Picasso" • 2009 "Breathless" • 2007 "Cry"

• 2025 good night, los angeles • 2022 Dancing On The Moon EP • 2017 Re-Covered • 2014 Love Without Fear • 2008 Be Free EP digital release • 2007 Free Life

• 2009 Dan Wilson Live at the Pantages – A 2-CD document of Dan Wilson's concert at Minneapolis' Pantages Theater on December 13, 2008. • 2008 Live at the Electric Fetus • 2001 DW Live @ the CCC • 1998 Dan Wilson Live @ Bryant Lake Bowl

• 2026 Don't Give Up Yet (Single) • 2023 Little Bit of Sun (LP) • 2023 "Little Bit of Sun","Grow Your Own", "The Rope", & "Out of the Dirt" (singles) • 2020 You're Not Alone (EP) • 2018 Feeling Strangely Fine (20th Anniversary Reissue) • 2003 One Night at First Avenue (live) • 2001 All About Chemistry • 1998 Feeling Strangely Fine • 1996 Great Divide • 1995 Pleasure EP (EP) • 1993 Pleasure

• 2013 Dan & Matt Wilson Minneapolis 2013 • 2010 Dan & Matt Wilson Minneapolis 2010

• 1992 Volt (EP) • 1991 Lulu • 1990 Across the Universe • 1989 Are You Shakespearienced? • 1986 Applehead Man

• 1983 Kiss Away The Tears (7")

• 2013 Absolutely Cuckoo: Minnesota Covers the 69 Love Songs – "The Things We Did and Didn't Do" • 2011 Minnesota Remembers Vic Chesnutt – "Soft Picasso" • 2006 For New Orleans – "I Can't Hold You" • 2002 For the Kids – "Willie the King" • 2002 Maybe This Christmas – "What a Year for a New Year"

• Year — Artist — Credit — Title • 2026 — Orville Peck — Writer — "Too Little, Too Late" • Semisonic — Producer/Writer — "Don't Give Up Yet" • Sierra Spirit — Producer/Writer — "Rodeo Clown" • "Can't Be Friends" • "Walls" • "Devil's Tower" • August Ponthier — Writer — "Everywhere Isn't Texas" • Michael Marcagi — Writer — "Anna Lee" • 2025 — Ruel — Producer/Writer — "Wild Guess" • "Even Angels Won't" • Writer — "Destroyer" • Benny G — Writer — "An Hour or So" • Florence Road — Producer — "Storm Warnings" • Hohnen Ford — Producer/Writer — "Tomorrow's Tomorrow" • Sierra Spirit — Producer/Writer — "Lift A Finger" • Fujii Kaze — Writer — "Casket Girl" • Florence Road — Producer/Writer — "Hand Me Downs" • Kathleen Edwards — Writer — "Billionaire" • Jessie Murph — Writer — "Ain't But A Thing" • Michael Marcagi — Writer — "Humbling" • Joe Jonas — Writer — "You Got The Right" • Ben Goldsmith — Producer/Writer — "More Than I Got" • Ax and the Hatchetmen — Writer — "Stay Honestly" • 2024 — Michael Marcagi — Writer — "Keep Me Honest" • Elmiene — Producer/Writer — "The Deported" • "Promise Me A Rose" • Phantogram — Writer — "Running Through Colors" • "Feedback Invisible" • James Bay — Writer — "Some People" • Bastille — Writer — "Leonard & Marianne" • Ben Goldsmith — Writer — "Easy" • Phantogram — Writer — "Come Alive" • Phantogram — Writer — "Happy Again" • Phantogram — Writer — "All A Mystery" • Laufey — Producer/Writer — "Trouble" • Meklit — Producer/Writer — "Antidote" • "Ethio Blue" • "Digging for Love" • "Hagere Ethiopia" • "Here to Imagine" • "Birdsong" • Jon Batiste — Producer/Writer — "It Never Went Away" • 2023 — Jon Batiste — Producer/Writer — "Butterfly" • Daniel Seavey — Writer — "Fall into You" • Chris Stapleton — Writer — "White Horse" • Claud — Producer/Writer — "A Good Thing" • Laufey — Producer/Writer — "Promise" • Celine Dion — Producer/Writer — "Love Again" • Ricky Montgomery — Writer — "Eraser" • "Truth or Dare" • "In Your Pocket" • Milck — Writer — "Metamorphosis" • Manchester Orchestra — Writer — "Lose You Again" • Meet Me at the Altar — Writer — "T.M.I." • Joy Oladokun — Producer/Writer — "Changes" • 2022 — Meghan Trainor — Writer — "Superwoman" • Hrishikesh Hirway — Producer — "Still Dreaming" • Noah Cyrus — Writer — "Unfinished" • Nina Nesbitt — Producer/Writer — "Colours of You" • Cuco — Producer/Writer — "Sweet Dissociation" • Madison Cunningham — Writer — "In From Japan" • Christina Perri — Writer — "Fever" • Vance Joy — Producer/Writer — "This One" • August Ponthier — Producer/Writer — "Late Bloomer" • John Mark Nelson — Writer — "Don't Look Back" • Tenille Townes — Producer/Writer — "The Sound Of Being Alone" • Alec Benjamin — Writer — "Shadow Of Mine" • "Speakers" • "Deniro" • Chastity Brown — Writer — "Wonderment" • 2021 — Leon Bridges — Writer — "Summer Rain" • Taylor Swift — Producer/Writer — "Treacherous (Taylor's Version)" • "Come Back...Be Here (Taylor's Version)" • Mitski — Writer — "The Only Heartbreaker" • Ricky Montgomery — Writer — "Sorry For Me" • Joshua Speers — Producer/Writer — "The Handoff" • Joshua Speers — Producer/Writer — "Don't Stop Loving Me" feat. SKAAR • Tom Morello — Writer — "Driving To Texas" feat. Phantogram • Joshua Speers — Producer — "Thirteen" • August Ponthier — Producer/Writer — "Tornado Country" • Joshua Speers — Writer — "Just Kids" • Tom Morello — Writer — "Mary Celeste" • Leon Bridges — Writer — "Motorbike" • Amy Shark — Producer/Writer — "You'll Never Meet Anyone Like Me Again" • Teddy Geiger — Writer — "Love Somebody" • Priscilla Ahn — Writer — "Waiting" • 2020 — Andrea Russett — Writer — "Darkest Hour" • LANY — Writer — "Nobody Else" • Joshua Speers — Writer — "Thunder Blanket" • JoJo — Writer — "In Your Room" • Briston Maroney — Writer — "Deep Sea Diver" • Ricky Reed — Writer — "Better" feat. Leon Bridges and Kiana Ledé • Amy Allen — Producer/Writer — "Queen of Silver Linings" • The Chicks — Writer — "March March" • Leon Bridges — Writer — "Sweeter" • Alec Benjamin — Writer — "Six Feet Apart" • Phantogram — Writer — "Glowing" • "Gaunt Kids" • "Love Me Now" • Gunnar Gehl — Writer — "For Your Love" • 2019 — | Yoshi Flower — | Writer — "More" • |Celine Dion — | Producer/Writer — "Lovers Never Die" • |Harper Finn — | Writer — "Good for Me" • |JoJo — | Writer — "Sabotage" feat. Chika • |Mondo Cozmo — | Writer — "Come On" • |Donna Missal — | Writer — "You Burned Me" • |Leon Bridges — | Producer/Writer — "That Was Yesterday" • |Noah Kahan — | Writer — "Busyhead" • |James Bay — | Producer/Writer — "Bad" - single • | Rhye — | Producer/Writer — "Needed" - single • Mike Posner — Writer — "Song About You" - lead single • "Move On" - single • 2018 — Alec Benjamin — Writer — "Water Fountain" • "Gotta Be a Reason" • | John Legend — | Writer — "Waiting for Christmas" • | Lukas Graham — | Writer — "You're Not the Only One (Redemption Song)" • | Josh Groban — | Writer — "You Have No Idea" • | Steve Perry — | Writer — "No More Cryin'" • | Jason Mraz — | Producer/Writer — "Love Is Still the Answer" • Brett Dennen — Producer/Writer — "Here's Looking at You Kid" - single • "Be Somebody" • "People I Love" • "Live in the Moment" • "Baker's Globe Mallow" • | Ben Rector — | Writer — "Sometimes" • | Missy Higgins — | Producer/Writer — "How Was I to Know" • | LeAnn Rimes & Stevie Nicks — | Writer — "Borrowed" • | Leon Bridges — | Writer — "Shy" • | Phantogram — | Writer — "Someday" - single • | Jeremy Messersmith — | Writer — "Once You Get to Know Us" • Brett Dennen — | Producer — "Already Gone" - single • Producer/Writer — "Let's..." • "Home Away from Home" • "Good Vibration" • "Jenny and Jill" • Vance Joy — Writer — "Like Gold" • "We're Going Home" - single • 2017 — | Meg Mac — | Writer — "Brooklyn Apartment (It's Louder Than the TV and the Radio)" • | Bishop Briggs — | Producer/Writer — "Dream" - lead single • | Niall Horan — | Writer — "Since We're Alone" • | Noah Cyrus — | Producer/Writer — "Almost Famous" • | Chase & Status — | Writer — "Crawling" • | Halsey — | Writer — "Alone" • | Preservation Hall Jazz Band — | Writer — "One Hundred Fires" • | Cold War Kids — | Writer — "Free to Breathe" • | K. Flay — | Writer — "Black Wave" • Meklit — Producer/Writer — "Memories of the Future" (ft. Preservation Hall Horns) • "This Was Made Here" • Producer — "I Want to Sing for Them All" (ft. Andrew Bird) • "Supernova" • "You Are My Luck" (ft. Preservation Hall Horns) • "Yerakeh Yeresal" (ft. Andrew Bird) • "You Got Me" (ft. Preservation Hall Horns) • "Yesterday Is a Tizita" • "Human Animal" • "Sweet or Salty" • "Birthday Song" (ft. Preservation Hall Horns) • | Aquilo — | Writer — "Almost Over" • 2016 — Sean Watkins — Writer — "Keep Your Promises II" • Brooke Fraser — Writer — "Let's Be Human" • Phantogram — Writer / Co-producer — "You Don't Get Me High Anymore" - lead single • "Same Old Blues" - single • Writer / Additional production — "You're Mine" • "Cruel World" • Writer — "Funeral Pyre" • "Answer" • "Run Run Blood" • "Destroyer" • "Calling All" • The Head and the Heart — Writer — "Turn It Around" • Dierks Bentley — Writer — "Why Do I Feel" • Sara Watkins — Writer — "Say So" • "Like New Year's Day" • The Twilight Hours — Writer — "Anymore" • "Help Me Find the Way" • Weezer — Writer — "California Kids" • Andrew Bird — Writer — "Are You Serious" • Rita Wilson — Producer/Writer — "Crying, Crying" • Brian Fallon — Writer — "Steve McQueen" • Nada Surf — Writer — "Rushing" • "Victory's Yours" • Foxes — Producer/Writer — "Devil Side" • Panic! at the Disco — Writer — "Emperor's New Clothes" • |Anthony Wilson — Writer — "Your Footprints" • 2015 — Florence + The Machine — Producer/Writer — "Conductor" • Harry Connick, Jr. — Writer — "You Have No Idea" • D.A. Wallach — Writer — "Feel" • Phases — Writer — "Spark" • Chris Stapleton — Writer — "When the Stars Come Out" • My Morning Jacket — Writer — "Big Decisions" • Rae Morris — Writer — "Unguarded" • 2014 — Brooke Fraser — Writer — "Magical Machine" • Spoon — Writer — "New York Kiss" • Alex Clare — Producer/Writer — "Three Hearts" • Birdy — Producer/Writer — "Tee Shirt" • "Best Shot" • The Secret Sisters — Writer — "Iuka" • 2013 — Gin Wigmore — Writer — "If Only" • James Blunt — Producer/Writer — "Next Time I'm Seventeen" • LeAnn Rimes — Writer — "I Do Now" • Romeo Testa — Writer — "With You" • Writer — "I'm So Down" • Birdy — Producer/Writer — "All You Never Say" • Writer / Additional production — "Maybe" • Writer — "All About You" • John Legend — Writer — "You & I (Nobody in the World)" • Preservation Hall Jazz Band — Writer — "I Think I Love You" • "Rattlin' Bones" • LeAnn Rimes — Writer — "Borrowed" • Natalie Maines — Writer — "Free Life" • Missy Higgins — Producer — "We Ride" • Colbie Caillat & Gavin Degraw — Producer — "We Both Know" • 2012 — Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons — Writer — "Never Meant to Love You" • Jack Carty — Writer — "The Length of Canada" • The Webb Sisters — Writer — "Missing Person" • Taylor Swift — Co-Producer/Writer — "Treacherous" • "Come Back...Be Here" • Pink — Producer/Writer — "The Great Escape" • Nas — Producer/Writer — "Roses" • Sara Watkins — Writer — "When It Pleases You" • Elizaveta — Writer — "Goodbye Song" • Audra Mae — Writer — "My Friend the Devil" • Missy Higgins — Writer — "Everyone's Waiting" • "Set Me on Fire" • Paloma Faith — Writer — "When You're Gone" • Dierks Bentley — Writer — "Home" • Gin Wigmore — Writer — "Poison" • "Roll It All" • 2011 — Mike Viola — Writer — "Get You Back" • Adele — Producer/Writer — "Someone Like You" - single • Writer — "One and Only" • "Don't You Remember" • James Morrison — Writer — "The Awakening" • "In My Dreams" • Mike Doughty — Writer — "Na Na Nothing" • "Holiday (What Do You Want)" • The Downtown Fiction — Writer — "Hurt Me So Good" • Nicole Atkins — Writer — "Heavy Boots" • Gabe Dixon — Writer — "My Favorite" • 2010 — Josh Groban — Writer — "Hidden Away" • "Higher Window" - single • "Bells of NYC" • "War at Home" • "If I Walk Away" - single • "Love Only Knows" • Keith Urban — Writer — "Big Promises" • Weezer — Writer — "Ruling Me" • Griffin House — Producer/Writer / Mixing — "If You Want" • Writer — "Coming Down the Road" • The Bravery — Producer/Writer — "Ours" • KT Tunstall — Producer/Writer — "Boy" • Storyhill — Producer / Mixing engineer — "Avalon" • "Better Angels" • "Well of Sorrow" • "Caught in a Mess" • "Cover Your Tracks" • "World Go Round" • "Getaway" • "A Town Talks" • "Dangerous Weapon" • "Pieces of Love" • Rachael Yamagata — Producer/Writer / Mixing — "You Take My Troubles Away" • 2009 — Gin Wigmore — Writer — "Hey Ho" • James Morrison — Writer — "Once When I Was Little" • Bic Runga — Writer — "Change of Heart" • Parachute — Writer — "Blame It on Me" • Ballas Hough Band — Writer — "Turnin' Me On" • "She Was the One" • 2008 — Jason Mraz — Writer — "Details in the Fabric" • Absentstar — Writer — "For the Moment" • "If You Like It" • "Life Support" • Anberlin — Writer — "Retrace" • Carrie Rodriguez — Writer — "She Ain't Me" • Mike Doughty — Producer — "Fort Hood" • "I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep On Dancing" • "Put It Down" • "More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle" • "27 Jennifers" • "I Wrote a Song About Your Car" • "I Got the Drop on You" • "Wednesday (Contra la Puerta)" • "Like a Luminous Girl" • "Nectarine (Part One)" • "Navigating by the Stars at Night" • Jeremy Messersmith — Producer / Recording and mixing engineer — "The Silver City" • "Welcome to Suburbia" • "Dead End Job" • "Franklin Avenue" • "The Commuter" • "Miracles" • "Love You to Pieces" • "Breaking Down" • "Skyway" • "Virginia" • "Light Rail" • The New Standards — Producer / Mixing engineer — "Rock and Roll" • "Hey Ya" • "Such Great Heights" • "Watching the Detectives" • "Androgynous" • "Bring It On Home to Me" • "London Calling" • "Toxic" • "Maps" • "Is That All There Is?" • The Gabe Dixon Band — Writer — "All Will Be Well" • "Find My Way" • "Five More Hours" • 2007 — Dixie Chicks — Writer — "Not Ready to Make Nice" - single • "Easy Silence" • "Taking the Long Way" • "Lullaby" • "Voice Inside My Head" • "So Hard" • Storyhill — Producer/Writer / Recording and mixing engineer — "For a Song" • "Happy Man" • "Love Will Find You" • "Sacramento" • "Paradise Lost" • Producer / Recording and mixing engineer — "Give Up the Ghost" • "Ballad of Joe Snowboard" • "Highlight" • "Blazing Out of Sight • "Fallen" • "Room in My Heart" • James Morrison — Writer — "Movin' On" • Aly & AJ — Writer — "If I Could Have You Back" • Brooke Fraser — Writer — "Thief" • Absent Star — Producer — "Half Life" • "For God Sakes" • "Don't Lock Me Out" • "Life Support" • "A Year from Now" • "Everyone You Know" • "Give In to Me" • "If What You Mean Is Harm" • "Quietly Conceited" • "If You Like It" • "For the Moment" • "All Is Forgotten" • 2006 — Sean Watkins — Writer — "I'm Sorry" • "Runaway Girl" • Eliot Morris — Producer/Writer — "Balancing the World" • Lucie Silvas — Writer — "Passionate You" • Shaye — Writer — "I Can't Say" • 2005 — Jason Mraz — Writer — "Did You Get My Message" • "Song for a Friend" • Mike Doughty — Producer/Writer / Recording and mixing engineer — "Busting Up a Starbucks" • "American Car" • "Your Misfortune" • "I Hear the Bells" • "Tremendous Brunettes" • Producer / Recording and mixing engineer • "Unsingable Name" • "Madeline and Nine" • "White Lexus" • "Sunken-Eyed Girl" • "Grey Ghost" • "His Truth Is Marching On" • Glen Phillips — Writer — "True" • "Clear Eyed" • "Released" • Hope Partlow — Writer — "Let Me Try" • The New Standards — Producer / Recording and mixing engineer — "The Inchworm" • "The New Pollution" • "I Will Dare" • "All the Young Dudes" • "Man, Oh Man" • "Nature Boy" • "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" • "Town Crier" • "Love Is the Law" • "Oh Yeah" • "Dark End of the Street" • "My Ship" • "Song 2" • "September Song" • 2004 — Rachael Yamagata — Writer — "I Want You" • Graham Colton — Writer — "Don't Give Up on Me" • 2003 — Bleu — Writer — "Somethin's Gotta Give" • Epic Hero — Producer / Recording and mixing engineer — "Hello Hello" • "Tear Her Down" • "New Life" • "Stay Awake" • "End of the Line" • "High School" • "One in a Crowd" • "Angel" • "On My Own" • "Something Someone Someday" • "One Fine Day" • "Ease Your Mind" • 2000 — Evan and Jaron — Writer — "Ready or Not" • 1999 — Bic Runga — Producer/Writer — "Good Morning Baby"

As a songwriter and producer, Wilson has collaborated with a number of artists. Two of these collaborations have earned him Grammy Awards. A number of artists have described Wilson's ability to help put their feelings and ideas into song. Speaking of her experience of working with him, Pink said, in an online interview, "He is brilliant, and he's a thoughtful songwriter. And he's a song crafter... like old-school. He crafts songs and he thinks about them. And I learned a lot from working with him." In describing her co-writing with Wilson, Adele said, "Dan had me on my hands and knees, crying my eyes out - there's just something about him that made me completely open up as a composer."

• 2023 American Symphony – "It Never Went Away" (Jon Batiste) • 2023 Love Again – "Love Again" (Celine Dion) • 2014 The Fault In Our Stars – "Tee Shirt" and "Best Shot" (Birdy) • 2013 Spark: A Burning Man Story – "We Ride" (Missy Higgins) • 2013 Safe Haven – "We Both Know" (Colbie Caillat & Gavin DeGraw) • 2010 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – "Ours" (The Bravery) • 2010 The Kid – "Boy" (KT Tunstall)

Wilson's career as a painter, illustrator, and calligrapher is less widely known, but his artwork has often intersected with his music career. He was represented by Thomas Barry Fine Arts in Minneapolis, and his works are included in numerous private and corporate collections. • Illustration — Illustrated Influences Wilson's paintings are featured on the artwork for two of Trip Shakespeare's albums, Are You Shakespearienced? and Lulu, as well as on the cover of his first solo album, Free Life. Wilson created all of the artwork for his 2014 album Love Without Fear. Most notably, a hand illustrated 24-page hardcover Deluxe Album Book/CD. The package includes Wilson's own calligraphy, sketches, and handwritten lyrics for each song on the album. The official lyric videos for his singles from the album, "Disappearing" and "A Song Can Be About Anything" are also made entirely from his own illustrations. At his "Words and Music by Dan Wilson" shows, audience members receive illuminated set lists that are hand illustrated by Wilson. One of these set lists was featured on NPR's blog All Songs Considered. Wilson's calligraphy and illustrations are featured in his Tumblr series, "DW's Sketchbook" and his musical cartoons have been featured in The Wall Street Journals Speakeasy Blog.

• 2019 Big Little Lies Season 2 Soundtrack – "That Was Yesterday" (Leon Bridges) • 2010 Dear John Soundtrack – "You Take My Troubles Away" (with Rachael Yamagata) • 2009 All About Steve Soundtrack – "Sugar" • 2001 Summer Catch – Semisonic's "Over My Head" • 1999 American Pie Soundtrack – "Good Morning Baby" • 1999 Together in Concert: Live, Bic Runga Featuring Dan Wilson • 1999 Friends Again – Semisonic's "Delicious" • 1999 10 Things I Hate About You – Semisonic's "FNT" • 1999 Never Been Kissed Soundtrack – Semisonic's "Never You Mind" • 1999 For the Love of the Game Soundtrack – Semisonic's "For the Love of the Game" • 1996 The Long Kiss Goodnight Soundtrack – Semisonic's "FNT"