Party Rock Anthem

Story of Song

Producer/writer/singer Jamahl Listenbee, aka GoonRock, co-wrote ‘Party Rock Anthem’ and explained that this track was intended for rapper Flo Rida. When GoonRock told the story of this song, he said: “Even though it was for another artist, by the time we realized that it was going to be for us we really did sit and say ‘Let’s change the world.’ Now ‘change the world’ is probably too big for what this song is, it’s really just a feel good song that everybody can get into, but that’s what we said. ‘Let’s change the world. Let’s do something that will make everything crazy and make everyone feel good in the club. Let’s just do the best shit we can do.’ That energy is what we went into it with and it really carried through throughout the song. Every part was paid attention to. We wanted to take the listener on a ride. We wanted to do something great.”

LMFAO member Redfoo said that he and his nephew SkyBlu weren’t surprised that their track achieved such success. In an interview with Digital Spy, he explained: “We made a decision for that to be the first single from the album for the very reason that we thought it could be a number one song. It’s a song that is quite unique as it’s a party track that actually talks about how to party. It’s like an instruction to dance. We were excited about it when we first finished it, especially as it took over year to make.”

 Release date

Released January 25, 2011

Songwriter/s

Stefan Gordy – Skyler Gordy – Jamahl Listenbee – Peter Schroeder

Label

will.i.am – Cherrytree – Interscope – Panther

Chart Rankings

US -1

UK – 1

GERMANY  – 1

‘Party Rock Anthem’ was the second best selling single of 2011 worldwide. In Australia, it became the best selling single of all time with 15 times Platinum certification and topped the Australian Official Charts. In the US, the song was the duo’s first number 1 hit, and was downloaded over 7 million times by 2012. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts, the Mainstream Top 40 and the US Rhythmic charts. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it 8 times Platinum for sales over 8.1 million copies. In the UK, ‘Party Rock Anthem’ topped the Official Charts Company, sold over 1.2 million copies, and was certified Double Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).  The song topped the charts all around the world, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Slovakia, South Korea and Switzerland. In Brazil it peaked at number 3, in Finland and Italy it peaked at number 5; it also peaked in Norway at number 3 and in Poland at number 4.

This worldwide hit was certified 11 times Platinum in Canada, Quadruple Platinum in New Zealand,  and Triple Platinum in Sweden and Switzerland. In Italy it was certified Double Platinum, and in Belgium and Germany it was certified Platinum. In France it was certified Diamond, and in Japan it was certified Gold.

Artist’s age on release date

LMFAO duo had been active for 5 years, Lauren Bennett was 22 years old, and David Jamahl Listenbee, aka Goon Rock, was 36 years old when this song was released.

Cover Versions

Walk off the Earth – Tyler Ward – Frero Delavega – Dean Minerva (drum cover) – Fede Rabaquino – Marchingband TSV Lauf – Sacred Betrayal (Screamo cover) – Lindsey Stirling (violin cover) – Jeremy Davis (drum cover) – Ohio University Marching 110 – The Quest Crew (acoustic) – Other amateur artists covered this song on Youtube.