“Uptown Funk” landed 14th week at #1

Uptown Funk! Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars

Writer(s): Jeff Bhasker, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson (see lyrics here) Released: November 10, 2014 First Charted: November 16, 2014 Peak: 114 US, 112 BA, 113 DG, 112 ST, 16 RR, 5 AC, 11 A40, 17 UK, 115 CN, 16 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 3.0 UK, 20.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 5.0 radio, 5743.0 video, 1755.85 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Mark Ronson had released three albums under his name and landed four top ten hits in the UK. He’d never hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. as a solo artist, although he had produced hits such as Bruno Mars’ #1 “Locked Out of Heaven” (2012) and Amy Winehouse’s top-ten “Rehab” (2006), which won Grammys for Song and Record of the Year. For his fourth solo album, Uptown Special, Ronson tapped Mars for lead vocals and landed not just the hit of his career, but one of the biggest #1 hits of all-time. On the Hot 100, only Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” (1995) spent more weeks at #1 (16). In Canada, only the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” (2009) spent more weeks at #1 (16). WK The song was one of only four to top the Hot 100 and the UK charts for at least seven weeks on both charts. The others were Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” (1991), Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” (1992), and Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (2007). SF The song also set a worldwide record for highest number of streams in one week (15 million). WK The song grew out of a lick Mars and his band played on tour, but took over half a year to complete. SF They went with deliberately over-the-top lyrics, such as “gotta kiss myself I’m so pretty,” a line adapted from an interview with boxer Larry Holmes, who kissed his arms after saying how much he loved himself, and boxer Muhammad Ali, who boasted “I’m so pretty.” SF Mars and Ronson co-wrote the song with Jeff Bhasker, with whom they’d also collaborated on “Locked Out of Heaven.” Bhasker had also produced Kanye West, Drake, and Alicia Keys. SF The song gave Mars his sixth #1 and eleventh top 5 hit on the Hot 100, passing Katy Perry and Rihanna (both with 10) for the most of the 2010s. WK The song also featured Sharon Jones’ Dap-Kings on horns. Ronson previously used the group on Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black and in his solo work. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Mark Ronson SF Songfacts.com WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 7/24/2023.

OutKast hit #1 with the Song of the Decade, “Hey Ya!”

Hey Ya! OutKast

Writer(s): André 3000 (see lyrics here) Released: September 9, 2003 First Charted: September 19, 2003 Peak: 19 US, 17 RR, 19 BA, 13 A40, 9 RB, 16 MR, 3 UK, 15 CN, 12 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 2.4 UK, 14.03 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.7 radio, 775.74 video, 1647.96 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Although obsolete, the Polaroid camera will maintain a place in pop music history, thanks to singer André 3000’s call to “shake it like a Polaroid picture.” That catchphrase and others like the response to “What’s cooler than cool?” with “Ice cold,” made the song iconic. However, it is the song’s rallying call for every demographic to flood the dance floor that makes it, as quoted on Consequence of Sound, “the decade’s ‘Teen Spirit,’ man.” CS As PopEater.com said, “you could see yourself partying to in college just as easily as you could watch your parents sweat to it in spin class.” PE Like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Hey Ya!” was the moment when a masterful artist “made a record that sounded like everything on the radio and nothing anyone had heard before.” PE “Married to the sound of some mid-’60s dance craze that never was, ‘Hey Ya’ exemplified something very few tunes of the time had; a sense of fun.” PE Its merge of genres suggested “the walls between rock and R&B and hip-hop were about to topple.” PE The song “featured rap lines fed through a vocoder and re-recorded up to 30 times” NME and engineer Rabeka Tuinei was the lone voice behind the “ladies” cheering halfway through the song. RS500 On top of that, Dre told Rolling Stone that its guitar chords, the first he ever learned, were inspired by the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, the Smiths. RS500 There was also an “equally brilliant paradigm-smashing video” PE aping the Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show Add a clever viral video with A Charlie Brown Christmas footage spliced to match the song, and you’ve got the decade’s signature hit. Resources: CS Consequence of Sound (2010) COS Top 50 Songs of the Decade NME NME.com (11/11/09). 100 Tracks of the Decade PF Pitchfork.com (8/19/09) The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s PD PopDose.com (11/24/09) The Best Songs of the Decade PE PopEater.com (11/24/09) The Top Pop Songs of the Decade – 2000s RS500 Rolling Stone (12/04). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” Related Links: Last updated 7/6/2025.