Story of Song
“Wrecking Ball” was originally a song written for Beyoncé after the writer, Maureen Anne McDonald, had just gone through a terrible breakup and put her feelings into the lyrics. Although Miley Cyrus had no input in the actual writing of “Wrecking Ball”, because she was going through a break up with her boyfriend at the time, Liam Hemsworth, Miley was able to convey all the raw emotion she was feeling with the song itself. Cyrustold Elvis Duran and the Morning Show that: “The song is a pop ballad that everyone can relate to; everyone has felt that feeling at some point. If people can take their minds off the obvious and go into their imagination and see what the video really means, it is so vulnerable.”
Release date
August 25, 2013
Songwriter/s
Lukasz Gottwald – Maureen “Mozella” McDonald – Kiyanu Kim – Stephan Moccio – Sacha Skarbek – Henry Walter
Label
RCA
Chart Rankings
“Wrecking Ball” captured the number one spot in the United Kingdom at the same time that Miley’s song “Bangerz” also reached number one, making Miley the first artist in 2013 to earn a “chart double” in the country. The song became Miley’s first number one song in the US. It stayed at number one for the following week, but fell the next, returning nine weeks later to become the song having the largest gap between number ones in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Besides reaching number one in the UK and US, “Wrecking Ball” also reached number one in Brazil Hot Pop Songs, Canada, Hungary, Mexico Ingles Airplay, Scotland, and Spain. The song also reached top ten in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil (Billboard Brasil Hot 100), Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg Digital Songs, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and US Adult Top 40. “Wrecking Ball” earned 11x Platinum in Norway, 5x Platinum in the United States, 4x Platinum in Australia, 4x Platinum in Canada, 3x Platinum in Sweden, 2x Platinum in Italy and Venezuela, and Platinum in Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The song also reached Gold in Austria, Belgium and Denmark.
Artist’s age on release date
Miley Cyrus was 20 years old when “Wrecking Ball” was released
Cover Versions
British singer/songwriter James Arthur covered “Wrecking Ball” on Radio Hamburg in Germany and The Gregory Brothers sang a country version of the song. Alonzo Holt, American singer/songwriter, covered the song which actually peaked at number 97 on the UK Singles Chart and number 71 on the Irish Singles Chart. Rebecca Black, YouTube star, also released a cover, as well as Canadian singer Sarah Blackwood. YouTuber Patty Walters even ended up with a record deal after the release of his pop cover of “Wrecking Ball.” Other covers of the song were made by Boyce Avenue featuring Bea Miller on Apple & Spotify; Boyce Avenue featuring Diamond White on Apple and Spotify; James Arthur; Jasmine Thompson; Megan Nicole; Jannine Weigel; MattyBRaps featuring Athena Skye; Cimorelli; Future Sunsets Official; Eli Lieb; Sam Tsui & Kylee; Sarah Blackwood; Jenni and Emily; Our Last Night Band; Connie Talbot; Bri Heart; IceJJfish; chestersee; Ali Brustofski; Madi Lee; Tiffany Alvord; James Arthur; Daniel J.; Sabrina Vaz; Angelic; James U FJ ft Mara McOldfield; pellekofficial; Annisokay; and Drewsif Stalin.
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