Editing The Cardigans (section)

===Commercial success: 1995–2000===
The remainder of 1994 was spent touring Europe and recording ''[[Life (Cardigans album)|Life]]'', which was released worldwide in 1995. ''Life'' became an international success, selling more than a million copies and achieving [[Platinum album|platinum status]] in Japan. In 1996, ''Life'' was released under the label [[Minty Fresh]] in the US, but this release was essentially a compilation of tracks from ''Emmerdale'' and ''Life''.

After their success with ''Life'', The Cardigans signed with [[Mercury Records]], under which they released ''[[First Band on the Moon]]'' worldwide in 1996. "[[Lovefool]]" was a hit worldwide, particularly in the US and Japan, where the album reached platinum status in three weeks. The album also achieved [[music recording sales certification|gold sales status]] in the US. "Lovefool" was shown on [[MTV]] in the late 1990s as a music video with clips from the 1996 hit film ''[[Romeo + Juliet]]'' starring [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] and [[Claire Danes]]. It was also featured in the film ''[[Cruel Intentions]]'' (1999).

In 1997, the band played themselves in an episode of ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'' as the featured entertainment at their college  graduation party, hosted by [[Kelly Taylor]]'s dad. The band performed "[[Lovefool]]" and "[[Been It]]." Their song "[[Carnival (The Cardigans song)|Carnival]]" was featured in the 1997 film [[Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery]]. The band was also asked to submit the theme song for the [[James Bond]] film ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'' but rejected the request due to exhaustion that would be exacerbated by the potential added workload; Persson has called her decision to turn down the offer "one of my biggest mistakes."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/music-interviews/rock-n-roll-kill-braincells-put-cardigans-nina-persson-test-2415000|title=Does Rock 'N' Roll Kill Braincells? We put The Cardigans' Nina Persson to the test|first=Gary|last=Ryan|work=NME|date=1 December 2018|access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>

1998's ''[[Gran Turismo (album)|Gran Turismo]]'' was followed by a long hiatus during which the band members pursued solo side projects. The same year they also released a [[compilation album]] of rare [[B-side]]s, ''[[The Other Side of the Moon (album)|The Other Side of the Moon]]'' as a Japan-only release. The video of the song "My Favourite Game" was censored by MTV for showing reckless driving. Despite this, it went on to become their second global hit song. "My Favourite Game" was featured on the soundtrack of the [[PlayStation]] video game ''[[Gran Turismo 2]]'' in the intro movie on CD1. That year also saw their song "Deuce" appearing on ''[[The X-Files: The Album]]''. Their song "[[Erase/Rewind]]" was featured in the 1999 films ''[[Never Been Kissed]]'' and ''[[The Thirteenth Floor]]''. In 2018, German author Thorsten Nagelschmidt published a book titled ''Der Abfall der Herzen,'' a reference to the band's song "Junk of the Hearts" featured on ''Gran Turismo.''

In 1999, the Cardigans recorded a duet cover of [[Talking Heads]]' "[[Burning Down the House]]" with [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]] for his album ''[[Reload (Tom Jones album)|Reload]]''.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/>