Walker signed with MER Musikk under Sony Music Sweden and released his next single, "Faded", a remastered vocal version of "Fade". It was released on 8 December 2015 and featured uncredited Naustdal pop singer, Iselin Solheim.[16] The single topped the year-end charts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, iTunes charts in 33 countries, as well as entering top 10 in Spotify Global Chart. The music video on YouTube has over 3.4 billion views and 26 million likes,[17] placing it among the most-liked videos on the platform. It has over 1.7 billion plays on Spotify,[18] and is also one of the Top 10 Most Shazamed tracks of 2016.[19] The single also received official remixes from Tiësto,[20] Dash Berlin, and Hardwell. He later released an acoustic "restrung" version of the song, with all the EDM elements taken out.[21]
On August 17, 2019, Alan Walker announced his intention to release a remake to the track Eurodancer by Swedish DJ and producer DJ Mangoo from 2000, together with K-391 and Tungevaag.[61] On August 30, 2019, the song Play was released as the final result. The vocals were contributed by Norwegian singer Torine. On the website p74y.com, people could then download the audio files of the song and produce their own version of the song. K-391, Tungevaag, and Alan Walker each selected one interpretation from the results, reworked it, and released it as part of an official remix EP.[62]
On May 15, 2020, Walker released a remix of Hans Zimmer's "Time".[66] Walker had previously been gifted a signed copy of the score for "Time," and the two musicians first met in April 2019 in Barcelona during one of the dates of the "World of Hans Zimmer - A Symphonic Celebration" tour. This meeting led to talks about a possible collaboration, which finally saw the light of day. Walker said of the collaboration, "Everyone who knows me knows that I am a big Hans Zimmer fan. His work has played a huge role in my musical journey. Especially Time, which is my favorite song of all time. I am bowled over that my version of this song is the first ever official remix release of a Hans Zimmer work. I am so grateful for this opportunity!" he said.[67]
The repetition of the phrase "I'm faded" reinforces a sense of feeling lost and detached from reality. It suggests a state of emotional numbness or being consumed by the absence of the person being addressed in the song.