Iggy Azalea hit #1 with “Fancy”

Fancy Iggy Azalea with Charli XCX

Writer(s): Amethyst Kelly/ Charlotte Aitchison/ George Astasio/ Jason Pebworth/ Jon Shave/ Kurtis McKenzie (see lyrics here) Released: February 17, 2014 First Charted: March 22, 2014 Peak: 17 US, 13 RR, 21 A40, 113 RB, 5 UK, 11 CN, 5 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.6 UK, 9.1 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1160.93 video, 711.89 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Fancy” was the fourth single from Australian rapper Iggy Azalea’s debut album – and the one which made her a star. It topped the charts in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand and went top ten in Australia, the United Kingdom, and other countries. The “electro hop” song was written by Azalea (real name Amethyst Kelly) and Charli XCX (real name Charlotte Aitchison) with the production teams known as “The Invisible Men” and “The Arcade.” When the song hit #1 in the U.S., Azalea was also a guest rapper on Ariana Grande’s “Problem,” the #2 hit. This made Azlaea only the sixth artist in history to hold down the top two slots and only the third female artist – after Ashanti and Mariah Carey – to have her first two Hot 100 hits in the top five simultaneously. Only Azalea and the Beatles had the distinction of having their first two Hot 100 singles at #1 and #2 simulatenously. WK The song also topped MTV and iTunes’ lists of best songs of 2014. WK MTV Buzzworthy’s Brad Stern said of the song, “Not since Fergie’s ‘Glamourous’ has there been such a spectactularly sass-filled ode to the glam life.” WK Idolator’s Mike Wass called it a “swag-drenched hip hop/pop delight” and Hip Hop DX’s Janice Llamoca said it was “a hip hop-slash-pop party anthem.” WK Hip Hop Wired’s Chris Tomas said Charli XCX “provides a very potent chorus that women will be chanting in their clubs, cars, and the like.” WK Not all reviews were glowing; About.com’s Bill Lamb said the song felt a “bit too recycled” and that the lyrics had been done better by Stefani nearly a decade earlier on “Luxurious.” WK The video was directed by Director X and featured Azalea and Charli XCX in the roles of Beverly Hills’ socialites Cher and Tai from the 1995 American comedy film Clueless starring Alicia Silverstone. Both the movie and the video used Los Angeles’ Grant High School as a filming location and outfits in the video were designed to match the film’s clothing with slight updates. The Huffington Post’s Chanel Parks offered props to Iggy for her “music video homage to our favorite movie of all time” WK and Paste magazine’s Taalur Ramsey praised the video as a combination of “a quintessential 90s culture moment with [Iggy’s] hip-hop vibes.” WK Entertainment Weekly named it the best video of 2014. WK Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Iggy Azalea DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Charli XCX SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Last updated 4/1/2024.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit #1 again with “Can’t Hold Us”

Can’t Hold Us Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Ray Dalton

Writer(s): Ben Haggerty, Ryan Lewis, Ray Dalton (see lyrics here) Released: August 16, 2011 First Charted: October 27, 2012 Peak: 15 US, 13 RR, 15 DG, 25 A40, 17 RB, 3 UK, 2 CN, 11 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 2.4 UK, 14.81 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.14 radio, 1331.34 video, 2286.41 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Rapper Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis teamed up in 2008 to become one of rap’s great success stories. The duo achieved every musician’s dream when they found superstardom with their independently self-produced, recorded, and released debut album, The Heist. It reached #2 on the Billboard album chart and sold five million copies. The album generated four top-20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100; two of those went all the way to #1. As is usually the case with these kinds of stories, though, it didn’t happen overnight. The Heist was recorded from 2009 to 2012, finally released in October 2012. It was the single “Thrift Shop,” released a little more than month before the album, which propelled the duo into the big time. However, the pair had already released three singles, dating back to January 2011, which would appear on the album. The first single, “Wings,” hit #40 on the R&B charts and eventually went platinum. “Can’t Hold Us” was released in August 2011, but didn’t take off until it was re-released in January 2013 as the follow-up to “Thrift Shop.” Then the song topped the charts – making them the first duo to hit #1 with their first two Billboard Hot 100 entries – WK and sold more than ten million copies in the U.S. It was named Spotify’s most-streamed song of 2013. WK The chorus of the song – sung by Ray Dalton – was the last component added to the song. He said, “It had no hook. There was just space; there weren’t even words…So when Ryan was testing my levels, I started humming them a melody, and that melody is what is now today the ‘Can’t Hold Us’ song.” SF The song was embraced by sports teams in the duo’s hometown of Seattle. It became the official touchdown song for the Seahawks during the 2012 season and the Mariners adopted it as the musical accompaniment anytime they hit a home run ath their stadium. WK Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 6/22/2023; last updated 4/1/2024.

 

Sir Mix-A-Lot “Baby Got Back” hit #1

Baby Got Back Sir Mix-A-Lot

Writer(s): Sir Mix-a-Lot (see lyrics here) First Charted: April 11, 1992 Peak: 15 US, 14 CB, 29 GR, 13 RR, 27 RB, 56 UK, 89 CN, 8 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 4.08 US, 0.2 UK, 4.31 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 60.0 video, 202.14 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Rapper Anthony Ray (stage name “Sir Mix-A-Lot”) was born in the Seattle area and became a DJ and regional rap star in the ‘80s before leaping into the mainstream with “Baby Got Back,” “a proudly horny and single-minded piece of music” SG that become “a sort of cultural flashpoint.” SG The inspiration from the song came from a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl. He said each of the models was “shaped like a stop sign, with big hair [and] straight-up-and-down bird legs.” SG He preferred women like Jennifer Lopez, who was a dancer on TV’s In Loving Color at the time. SF Producer Rick Rubin, who “made his name as a bare-bones rap producer,” SG started his own label, Def American, in 1988 and signed Sir Mix-A-Lot. Rubin saw potential in the “the joyously ridiculous” SG “Baby Got Back” as “a fast, uptempo club track…a real hit” SG even though the rapper didn’t see it as a single. Rubin accommodated the rapper by releasing “One Time’s Got No Case,” “a song about racist police harassment,” SG but when it failed, “Baby Got Back” was released as the second single. Rubin’s instincts proved correct as the song sailed into the stratosphere, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks. One could “make a case that ‘Baby Got Back’ is the biggest Miami bass hit of all time” SG but “as a producer, Sir Mix-A-Lot also understood house and techno.” SG The song “is hard and propulsive, but it’s also simple and weirdly accessible.” It “doesn’t really have a chorus. It doesn’t need one, since virtually everything that Mix-A-Lot says is a hook.” SG Of course, the video helped immensely as well. “It’s basically a live-action Bugs Bunny cartoon” SG that “makes an already funny song even funnier.” SG The fact that it was initially banned at MTV only added to the song’s popularity. SF Some saw the song as just a novelty hit, but it also became “a political statement” SG in which the rapper railed against conventional beauty standards and, as he said, “the lack of acceptance by Hollywood of the African-American body.” SF It touched off actual debate: “Was Mix-A-Lot objectifying women or was he celebrating them?” SG The short answer? Both. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Sir Mix-A-Lot SF Songfacts SG Stereogum (1/19/2022). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan First posted 6/21/2023.