Katy Perry hit #1 with “California Gurls”

California Gurls Katy Perry with Snoop Dogg

Writer(s): Katy Perry/Lukasz Gottwald/Max Martin/Benjamin Levin/Bonnie McKee/Calvin Broadus (see lyrics here) Released: May 11, 2010 First Charted: May 16, 2010 Peak: 16 US, 13 BA, 15 DG, 17 RR, 7 AC, 19 A40, 12 UK, 19 CA, 14 AU, 6 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 1.2 UK, 13.07 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 748.91 video, 659.0 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Katy Perry hit the big time when she reached #1 with “I Kissed a Girl” from her 2008 album One of the Boys. Despite several follow-up hits, including the top-five “Hot N Cold” there were some who considered her just another pop flash-in-the-pan. However, her next album, Teenage Dream, proved she wasn’t a fluke when its lead single, “California Gurls” debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week ending May 29, 2010 and was #1 within four weeks. The song spent six weeks atop the charts and within two months sold over two million digital downloads. The song was written in response to Jay-Z’s New York tribute song “Empire State of Mind.” Perry told Rolling Stone “it’s been a minute since we’ve had a California song and especially from a girl’s perspective.” WK She was also interested in doing an “homage to the Beach Boys,” SF which apparently succeeded considering MTV News’ James Montgomery assessment of it as “a big, bright, decidedly beach-friendly pop tune.” WK To add to the California vibe, Perry tapped rapper Snoop Dogg as a guest artist, saying “Snoop is as West Coast as it gets.” SF As for the spelling of the title, Perry’s manager was a huge Big Star fan and suggested misspelling the title as an ode to the group’s “September Gurls.” The song was followed to the top by “Teenage Dream”, “Firework”, “E.T.,” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” making her only the second artist overall to top the charts with five songs from one album. The first was Michael Jackson with five #1 songs from his 1987 album Bad. BB She also set a new record for consecutive weeks (66) in the top 10, beating the previous mark of 48 weeks by Ace of Base in 1993-94. BB Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Max Martin DMDB page for parent album Teenage Dream DMDB encyclopedia entry for Snoop Dogg Billboard.com (8/17/2011). “Katy Perry Makes Hot 100 History: Ties Michael Jackson’s Record” Entertainment Weekly (5/6/2011). “Katy Perry spent every week of the last year in the Hot 100 top 10 – what did you do?” SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 7/28/2023.