Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” first charted

Good Luck, Babe! Chappell Roan

Writer(s): Chappell Roan, Justin Tranter, Dan Nigro (see lyrics here) Released: April 5, 2024 First Charted: April 17, 2024 Peak: 4 BB, 11 RR, 17 AC, 9 A40, 2 UK, 4 CN, 4 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.6 UK, 4.32 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 83.30 video, 1087.71 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Singer/songwriter Chappell Roan was born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz in 1998 in Willard, Missouri. Soon after uploading her song “Die Young” to YouTube in 2014, she was signed to Atlantic Records. She released the EP School Nights in 2017 and the single “Pink Pony Club” in 2020, the same year she was dropped by Atlantic. She started releasing songs independently in 2022 and the next year released her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The album went platinum and reached #2 in the U.S., charting six hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including the top 20 hit “Hot to Go!” However, most of that success came after the release of Roan’s freestanding single, “Good Luck, Babe!” became her first chart hit. The song reached the top 10 in multiple countries and went to #1 in Ireland and Poland. It received Grammy nominations for Song and Record of the Year. She said she wanted “to write a big anthemic pop song.” WK While she recorded a demo of the song during the making of the Princess album, it didn’t feel right yet so it was shelved until a few months later. The final result has been described as “soft rock with ‘80s new wave synths” WK and has been compared to Kate Bush and Cyndi Lauper. WK NPR’s Sheldon Pearce called it the best pop song of the year. WK Rolling Stone, NME, and The Guardian all named it the top song of 2024. Songfacts.com called the song “a breakup anthem with a twist.” SF Roan sings about a lesbian woman trying to deny her feelings for Roan and women in general. WK She said, “I needed to write a song about a common situation…within queer releationships – where someone is struggling to coming to terms with themselves. It’s a song about wishing well to someone who is avoidant of their true feelings.” SF Billboard’s Hannah Jocelyn celebrated “the song’s overt LGBTQ themes [that] represented a breakthrough for not just Roan’s career, but also a wider movement of young LGBTQ pop artists.” WK Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/3/2025.

 

Kate Bush hit #1 with “Running Up That Hill” 37 years after release

Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) Kate Bush

Writer(s): Kate Bush (see lyrics here) First Charted: August 5, 1985 Peak: 3 US, 14 BA, 13 ST, 28 CB, GR 36, 33 RR, 9 AC, 5 A40, 24 AA, 34 AR, 2 MR, 13 UK, 2 CN, 19 AU, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 2.05 UK, 2.75 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 265.68 video, 1018.47 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Running Up That Hill” was released as the lead single for Kate Bush’s fifth album, Hounds of Love. In her native UK, the song reached #3 on the charts, her fifth single to make the top 10. She’d had much less success in the United States where her only chart hit on the Billboard Hot 100 had been 1978’s “The Man with the Child in His Eyes” reaching #85. However, “Hill” gave Bush her solitary top 40 hit in the U.S., going to #30. The song wasn’t done, though. 37 years later, it was prominently featured in the Netflix TV series Stranger Things as the favorite song of the character Max. This renewed interest in the song and it reached new chart peaks around the globe, hitting #1 in the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries. In the United States the song climbed all the way to #4 and topped Billboard’s streaming and digital sales charts. The song was originally called “A Deal with God,” but representatives at EMI Records hesitated to release a song with the word “God” in it. Bush changed the title, but subtitled the song “A Deal with God” on the Hounds of Love album. Executives were also more interested in releasing “Cloudbursting” as the first single but Bush pushed for “Hill” because it was the first song she wrote for the album and she thought it better represented the album. WK Thematically, the “brutally truthful, painfully sensual song” AMG isn’t about religion, but the differences between men and women. Bush said, “If we could actually swap each others’ roles, if we could actually be in each other’s place for a while, I think we’d both be very surprised! And I think it would lead to a greater understanding.” WK She conceived the idea that “if they could make a deal with God to change places…they’d understand what it’s like to be the other person.” SF The “concept is a flip on the Faustian bargain where one makes a deal with the devil.” SF Resources: AMG All Music Guide review by Amy Hanson SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 6/15/2022; last updated 7/28/2023.

Olivia Rodrigo “Good 4 U” debuted at #1

Good 4 U Olivia Rodrigo

Writer(s): Olivia Rodrigo, Dan Nigro, Hayley Williams, Josh Farro (see lyrics here) Released: May 14, 2021 First Charted: May 29, 2021 Peak: 11 BB, 13 BA, 18 ST, 16 RR, 12 AC, 11 A40, 15 UK, 16 CN, 14 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 2.4 UK, 14.09 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 568.19 video, 2270.51 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Olivia Rodrigo was born in 2003 in California. She celebrated her 18th birthday with the #1 song “Drivers License,” the lead single from her debut album Sour. The second single, “Déjà Vu,” reached #3 and then third single, “Good 4 U,” had Rodrigo back on top. While “Drivers License” spent more weeks at #1 (8), “Good 4 U” ended up being the bigger seller, getting certified seven times platinum compared to six times for “License.” “Good 4 U” reached #1 in twenty three countries and in the top 10 in more than 20 territories. WK Hayley Williams and Josh Farro are credited as co-writers because their Paramore song “Misery Business” inspired the chorus. WK The magazine NME named it their song of the year, calling it “a masterclass in songwriting.” SF The song has been described as “an upbeat song blending rock, pop, punk, emo, and alternative styles.” WK Rodrigo said she came up with the hook for the song in the shower. She didn’t want her debut album to be all “sad piano songs” but didn’t want happy “I’m in love” pop songs either because that wasn’t how she felt at the time. She said “Good 4 U” “was really satisfying because the song is upbeat and high energy and people can dance to it, but I didn’t have to sacrifice being honest and authentic in order to write it.” SF “Good 4 U” fit the bill, serving as a “messy breakup song” SF in which Rodrigo “confronts her ex who has moved on very quickly from the relationship…using plentiful sarcastic remarks.” WK The video features Rodrigo as a cheerleader on the revenge. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Music Video. Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/18/2024; last updated 10/13/2024.

50 years ago: The Rolling Stones hit #1 in the UK with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”

Jumpin’ Jack Flash The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Mick Jaggers, Keith Richards (see lyrics here) First Charted: May 24, 1968 Peak: 3 US, 11 CB, 11 GR, 2 HR, 1 CL, 12 UK, 5 CN, 2 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.25 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 21.09 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were both busted for drugs in 1967 and the Stones’ album Their Satanic Majestices Request proved the band were “ill-suited to psychedela.” KL The band were also transitioning from producer Andrew Oldham to Jimmy Miller. They “needed a great, gutsy single to re-establish themselves.” KL Keyboardist/bassist Bill Wyman said, “It had been nearly 18 months since we had a US or UK top three single. Our reputation was now based on anything but the music.” KL The band’s “confidence returned with the powerful single” KL “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “a decisive return to form.” TB Some saw it as “the band’s return to their blues roots.” WK Rolling Stone magazine called it “supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London.” WK Guitarist Brian Jones saw it as a return to their “funky, essential essence.” WK NME said, “The Stones have a unique flair for taking a basically simple formula and turning it into a miniature epic.” KL Interestingly, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” has been hailed as the song that “marked a transition to guitar rock.” SF Danny Garcia, the director of the documentary Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones, said, “During the ‘60s the band evolved from an R&B band to a pop band to a psychedelic band until they found their sound with ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ in ’68.” SF There are two very different accounts of how the song was birthed. Wyman says the song was based on a piano riff he developed at rehearsals and then he expanded it with drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Brian Jones. TB However, another story says Jagger and Richards were at the latter’s country house in Redlands, jamming at six in the morning after being up all night. The gardener walked by the window and Jagger asked who it was. Richards replied, “Oh, that’s Jack – that’s jumpin’ Jack.” SS Jagger has said the song is “about having a hard time and getting out,” specifically that it was a metaphor for getting away from acid. WK The song marked the band’s seventh trip to the top of the UK chart and it marked their eleventh trip to the top 10 in the U.S. It became one of their most popular songs; they’ve played it over 1,100 times in concert. WK Songfacts.com even claims it is their most-performed song. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Rolling Stones KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 140. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York, NY; New American Library. Page 225. SF Songfacts SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 407. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 73. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 100. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/10/2021; last updated 3/31/2023.