Dr. Luke: Top 50 Songs

Dr. Luke Top 50 Songs

American songwriter and record producer born Lukasz Gottwald in Providence, RI on 9/26/1973. Often worked with Max Martin. Wrote and produced singles for Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, and Ke$ha; the latter alleged sexual assault and abuse by Gottwald. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 50 Songs These are the top 50 songs co-written and/or produced by Dr. Luke. Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. The song’s chart peaks in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) are listed after the year of the song’s release. DMDB Top 1%: 1. Ke$ha “Tik Tok” (2009) #1 US, 4 UK 2. Katy Perry “Roar” (2013) #1 US, 1 UK 3. Katy Perry with Snoop Dogg “California Gurls” (2010) #1 US, 1 UK 4. Katy Perry “I Kissed a Girl” (2008) #1 US, 1 UK 5. Katy Perry with Juicy J “Dark Horse” (2013) #1 US, 4 UK 6. Miley Cyrus “Party in the U.S.A.” (2009) #2 US, 11 UK 7. Flo Rida & Ke$ha “Right Round” (2009) #1 US, 1 UK 8. Maroon 5 “Sugar” (2014) #2 US, 7 UK 9. Pitbull & Ke$ha “Timber” (2013) #1 US, 1 UK 10. Kelly Clarkson “Since U Been Gone” (2004) #2 US, 5 UK 11. Miley Cyrus “Wrecking Ball” (2013) #1 US, 1 UK 12. Taio Cruz “Dynamite” (2010) #2 US, 1 UK DMDB Top 2%: 13. Katy Perry “Hot N Cold” (2008) #3 US, 4 UK 14. Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” (2007) #1 US, 2 UK 15. Katy Perry & Kanye West “E.T.” (2010) #1 US, 3 UK 16. Doja Cat “Say So” (2019) #1 US, 2 UK 17. Katy Perry “Teenage Dream” (2010) #1 US, 2 UK DMDB Top 5%: 18. Katy Perry “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” (2010) #1 US, 9 UK 19. Flo Rida “Good Feeling” (2011) #3 US, 1 UK 20. Doja Cat & SZA “Kiss Me More” (2021) #3 US, 3 UK 21. Kelly Clarkson “My Life Would Suck Without You” (2009) #1 US, 1 UK 22. Doja Cat “Woman” (2021) #7 US, 13 UK 23. Katy Perry “Wide Awake” (2012) #2 US, 9 UK 24. Jessie J & B.o.B. “Price Tag” (2011) #23 US, 1 UK 25. Katy Perry “Part of Me” (2012) #1 US, 1 UK 26. Doja Cat “Need to Know” (2021) #8 US, 11 UK 27. Pink “U + Ur Hand” (2006) #9 US, 10 UK 28. Ke$ha “We R Who We R” (2010) #1 US, 1 UK 29. Britney Spears “Circus” (2008) #3 US, 13 UK 30. Doja Cat & The Weeknd “You Right” (2021) #11 US, 9 UK 31. Pink “Who Knew” (2006) #9 US, 5 UK 32. Kelly Clarkson “Behind These Hazel Eyes” (2004) #6 US, 9 UK 33. Katy Perry “The One That Got Away” (2010) <#3 US, 18 UK DMDB Top 10%: 34. Nicki Minaj “Super Freaky Girl” (2022) #1 US, 10 UK 35. Latto “Big Energy” (2021) #3 US, 21 UK 36. Rihanna “Where Have You Been” (2010) #5 US, 6 UK 37. Pitbull & Ne-Yo “Time of Our Lives” (2014) #9 US, 51 UK 38. Saweetie & Doja Cat “Best Friend” (2021) #14 US, 35 UK 39. Jessie J “Domino” (2011) #6 US, 1 UK 40. Rock City with Adam Levine “Locked Away” (2015) #6 US, 2 UK 41. Britney Spears with Nicki Minaj & Ke$ha “Till the World Ends” (2011) #3 US, 21 UK 42. Ke$ha “Die Young” (2012) #2 US, 7 UK 43. Ke$ha “Blow” (2010) #7 US, 7 UK 44. Ke$ha “Take It Off” (2010) #8 US, 15 UK DMDB Top 20%: 45. Britney Spears “Hold It Against Me” (2011) #1 US, 6 UK 46. Nicki Minaj with Drake, Lil Wayne, & Chris Brown “Only” (2014) #12 US, 35 UK 47. Avril Lavigne “Keep Holding On” (2006) #17 US, -- UK 48. Katy Perry “Unconditionally” (2013) #14 US, 25 UK 49. Karmin “Brokenhearted” (2012) #16 US, 6 UK 50. Rihanna “You Da One” (2011) #14 US, 16 UK Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Dr. Luke Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 7/27/2023; last updated 8/9/2023.

Miley Cyrus “Party in the U.S.A” released

Party in the U.S.A. Miley Cyrus

Writer(s): Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, Jessica Cornish, Claude Kelly (see lyrics here) Released: August 4, 2009 First Charted: August 9, 2009 Peak: 2 US, 16 DG, 11 RR, 13 A40, 11 UK, 3 CN, 6 AU, 21 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 12.0 US, 1.2 UK, 14.54 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.3 radio, 950.71 video, 1254.57 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Miley Cyrus, the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, was born in 1992 in Franklin, Tennessee. She became a child star in the Disney TV show Hannah Montana (2006-2011). During that time, she charted as Hannah Montana, reaching #1 on the album chart three times and reaching a #10 peak on the Billboard Hot 100 with “He Could Be the One.” In 2007, she released an album under her own name. That album, Meet Miley Cyrus, and its follow-up, Breakout, gave her two more chart-topping albums as well as two more top-ten hits with “See You Again” and “7 Things.” However, in 2009 she reached her highest peak with “Party in the U.S.A.,” a twelve-time platinum smash from her EP The Time of Our Lives. The song debuted and peaked at #2 behind the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.” The song was written and produced by Dr. Luke with Jessie J and Claude Kelly. It was originally intended for Jessie J, but she thought “its cheerful tone was at odds with the darker, edgy material she preferred.” WK It was given to Miley instead. The lyrics initially reflected on Jessie J’s move from the UK to Los Angeles, but were reworked to reflect Miley’s move from Nashville to Hollywood. WK Cyrus has said she also preferred songs with more of an edge and that “Party in the U.S.A.” was not the best reflection of her musically. WK The song references Jay-Z and Britney Spears and, coincidentally, the three artists were back-to-back-to-back on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated October 31, 2009. “Party in the U.S.A.” was #3 while Jay-Z was at #4 with “Run This Town” and Spears was at #5 with “3.” SF Miley said at the time of her song’s release that she’d never even heard a Jay-Z song. The Guardian’s Michael Hann called it “a cute pop song” and said “that manufactured pop need not be a bad thing – if the manufacturing is good enough.” WK Erik Ernst of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the song was “ridiculously catchy.” WK Yahoo! Music’s Jaime Gill called it a “breezily brilliant hit” WK and AllMusic.com’s Heather Phares described it as “a brothy party anthem.” WK The video was shot as an homage to the movie Grease and included tributes to Miley’s parents and their courting days. The drive-in featured in the video was named Corral Drive-in after the Kentucky drive-in her parents went to when they were first dating. In the video, Miley is featured in a 1979 black Pontiac Trans Am, the car her mom used to drive. SF Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/27/2023.