“Meant to Be” became the longest-running #1 country song

Meant to Be Bebe Rexha with Florida Georgia Line

Writer(s): Bleta Rexha, Tyler Hubbard, Josh Miller, David Garcia (see lyrics here) Released: October 24, 2017 First Charted: November 11, 2017 Peak: 2 US, 15 BA, 3 AC, 12 A40, 150 CW, 11 UK, 7 CN, 2 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 1.2 UK, 13.35 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1026.83 video, 1267.38 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Bebe Rexha was signed to Warner Records in 2013. She received songwriting credits on Eminem’s “The Monster” as well as songs by Selena Gomez and Nick Jonas before becoming a name on her own. She released her first EP, I Don’t Wanna Grow Up, in 2015. Two EPs, All Your Fault Pt. 1 and All Your Fault Pt. 2 followed in 2017. The latter featured “Meant to Be,” her third top ten hit but first as the lead artist. It became the biggest country song of all time. On December 16, 2017, “Meant to Be” debuted atop the country charts, only the fourth song to do so. It was her first entry on the chart and made her the first female artist to debut at #1 on the country charts. It was the sixth time at the pinnacle for featured act Florida Georgia Line. On August 4, 2018, the song was still there, giving it more weeks on top (35) than any other in country music history, breaking the record previously set by Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road.” It went on to spend 50 total weeks at #1. The “piano-driven ballad has a feel-good message of whatever will be, will be.” SF Rexha wrote the song with members of Florida Georgia Line. She explained that Tyler Hubbard said, “You know what my wife just told me? She said, ‘If it’s meant to be, it’ll be that we write a hit or not.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s the song – let’s go!’” SF Hubbard said, “it was pretty organic. We ended up, last-minute, kinda out of the blue, getting together with her in LA…and wrote it kind of ona whim, late-night. The next thing you know, we just kinda hit gold, if you will. A really special song kinda fell out of the sky, as we call it. It doesn’t happen like that every time we get in a room to write.” SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bebe Rexha DMDB encyclopedia entry for Florida Georgia Line SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 11/3/2021; last updated 7/25/2023.

Top 50 Songs of 2017

Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Songs of 2017

These are the top 50 songs of the year based on their overall performance in Dave’s Music Database, which is determined by combining chart data, sales figures, streaming, video views, and aggregates from year-end lists. Check out “Top Songs and Albums of the Year” lists here. DMDB Top 1%: Ed Sheeran “Shape of You” Luis Fonsi with Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber “Despacito” Ed Sheeran with Beyoncé “Perfect” Maroon 5 with Cardi B “Girls Like You” Camila Cabello with Young Thug “Havana” Post Malone with 21 Savage “Rockstar” The Chainsmokers with Coldplay “Something Just Like This” Bebe Rexha with Florida Georgia Line “Meant to Be” Cardi B “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” Kendrick Lamar “Humble” DMDB Top 2%: Lizzo “Truth Hurts” Portugal.the Man “Feel It Still” Imagine Dragons “Thunder” Imagine Dragons “Believer” DJ Khaled with Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, & Lil Wayne “I’m the One” Sam Hunt “Body Like a Back Road” DMDB Top 5%: Dua Lipa “New Rules” Taylor Swift “Look What You Made Me Do” Charlie Puth “Attention” DJ Khaled with Rihanna & Bryson Tiller “Wild Thoughts” Lil Uzi Vert “XO Tour Llif3” Logic with Alessia Cara & Khalid “1-800-273-8255” Future “Mask Off” Harry Styles “Sign of the Times” Sam Smith “Too Good at Goodbyes” French Montana & Swae Lee “Unforgettable” NF “Let You Down” Ed Sheeran “Castle on the Hill” Taylor Swift “Delicate” Demi Lovato “Sorry Not Sorry” Imagine Dragons “Whatever It Takes” Camila Cabello “Never Be the Same” Zedd with Alessia Cara “Stay” Keala Settle & the Greatest Showman Cast “This Is Me” Julia Michaels “Issues” Måneskin “Beggin’” Brandi Carlile “The Joke” Kendrick Lamar “DNA” Lorde “Green Light” Khalid “Location” Khalid “Young, Dumb & Broke” G-Eazy with Halsey “Him & I” G-Eazy with A$AP Rocky & Cardi B “No Limit” Bazzi “Mine” Niall Horan “Slow Hands” U2 “You’re the Best Thing About Me” Arcade Fire “Everything Now” Beck “Up All Night” Kendrick Lamar with Zacari “Love” Taylor Swift “Ready for It?” Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top Songs and Albums by Year lists Dave’s Music Database: Songs of the Year lists First posted 12/26/2021; last updated 1/17/2023.

Eminem & Rihanna hit #1 with “The Monster”

The Monster Eminem & Rihanna

Writer(s): Marshall Mathers, Bebe Rexha, Robyn Fenty, Aaron Kleinstub, Jonathan Bellion, Bryan Fryzel, Maki Athanasiou (see lyrics here) Released: October 29, 2013 First Charted: November 3, 2013 Peak: 14 US, 16 BA, 13 DG, 11 ST, 14 RR, 22 A40, 113 RB, 11 UK, 13 CN, 13 AU, 13 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 1.31 UK, 10.78 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1033.48 video, 1053.31 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This was the thirteenth trip to the top of the charts for Rihanna and the fifth for Eminem. Three years earlier, the pair collaborated on the #1 hit “Love the Way You Lie.” They also worked together on “Love the Way You Lie (Part II)” that year and “Numb” in 2012. “The Monster” topped the charts in a dozen countries. Surprisingly, it was Eminem’s first time topping the R&B chart in the United States. It originated as a song by singer Bebe Rexha. She was working on her debut album and wrote the hook for “The Monster.” She was inspired by a quote saying “We stop looking for the monsters under our beds when we realize they’re inside us.” SF She then worked on the song in the studio with Jon Bellion, who came up with the melody. SF Once the song ended up in Eminem’s hands, he added his own verses. He knew he wanted to work with Rihanna again on the song because, as he told her, “I think that people look at us a little crazy.” SF It became a song finding “Eminem pondering the negative effects of his fame while Rihanna comes to grips with her inner demons.” WK Rexha hoped her vocals would be featured on the song, but she was replaced with Rihanna. As she said, “Nbody even told me. I just heard it on the radio.” SF However, she ultimately considered it a blessing because, she said, it “put me me in a position where people in the music business started knowing who I was and started respecting me.” SF Atlanta Black Star described “The Monster” as “an old school rap song…[that] blends genres with Eminem’s rap vocals, rock gutiars, and Rihanna’s pop-style singing of the chorus.” WK Critics like Idolator’s Mike Wass noted it wasn’t as powerful as “Love the Way You Lie” but that it was still “undeniably catchy and hook-filled enough for top 40 radio success.” WK Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/29/2023.