Love Song (Sara Bareilles song)

"Love Song"
Single by Sara Bareilles
from the album Little Voice
Released	June 19, 2007 (as a single)
Format	CD single, digital download
Recorded	2007
Genre	Power pop
Length	4:18 (album version) 3:53 (radio edit)
Label	SME
Writer(s)	Sara Bareilles
Producer	Eric Rosse
Certification	4× Platinum (RIAA certification)
Sara Bareilles singles chronology
"Love Song" (2007) "Bottle It Up" (2008)

"Love Song" is Sara Bareilles' first single, released in 2007 on SME Records. She has stated during live performances that it was actually written in response to her record label's request that she write a "marketable love song", rather than about an actual person. It was nominated for 2009 Grammy Awards in the categories Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

It remains Bareilles' biggest hit single in the USA to date, and remained on the Billboard Hot 100 for 54 weeks, becoming one of few songs that managed to spend a whole year on the chart. It also spent many, many weeks atop the Hot Adult Pop Songs and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts, ending up #1 at the year-end tally of both charts.

Inspiration

Sara Bareilles was inspired to write Love Song after initially failing to produce what Epic deemed commercially successful hits; one such critic suggested that she needed to write "a marketable love song." Bareilles has since affirmed that that critic's statement imbued her with the drive and anger necessary to write "Love Song," proving that she could indeed write a hit, and that she had no double standards.

Music video

Sara Bareilles in the music video

Directed by Josh Forbes, the music video features a miniature Bareilles playing the piano inside a coin-operated jukebox that plays love songs. A steady stream of men and women enter the booth and insert coins to hear Bareilles play, observing her through a pinhole as she plays the same song day after day. The lyrics express her growing frustration as she declares that she is "not going to write you a love song today," whereupon Bareilles grabs the next coin that rolls inside, and uses it to jam the gears. The next morning, the owner of the booth (who was seen at the beginning of the video) enters; he notices that the jukebox has gone dark, and appears amazed when he discovers Bareilles inside the jukebox. He retrieves the jammed coin from the gears and hands it to Bareilles.

The music video features the Album Version of the song.

The video also features English actor Adam Campbell as the owner of the booth.

Chart performance

Featured initially as the free iTunes song of the week on June 16, 2007, the song debuted a few months later at #100 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. After her appearance in a Rhapsody TV commercial, in which she performs the song, "Love Song" rocketed from #72 to #16 on the Hot 100 and #32 to #5 on the Hot Digital Songs chart. It has gone on to sell more than 1.3 million copies.

In the first week of 2008, the song cracked the top ten on the Hot 100, jumping to #9, where it stayed for four non-consecutive weeks before peaking at #4. The single was recently certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA. As of February 2011, the single was sold 4,144,000 times. The song debuted on the UK Singles Chart at #30 and also peaked at #4. The song debuted at #100 on the Canadian Hot 100 the week of January 31, 2008, and reached #1 on the chart the week of March 29, 2008. In Australia, "Love Song" peaked at #4 in its ninth week on the country's chart. It is a growing hit in New Zealand, where it has reached #7 on the Top 40 singles chart but held the #1 position on the Radio Airplay chart for six weeks. It was the most played song of 2008 on New Zealand radio. In Spain, the song debuted at #33 and has so far peaked at #13.^{[citation needed]}

The song is listed at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart of 2008. It also topped both the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks and Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks charts in 2008.

Chart (2007-08)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	4
Austrian Singles Chart	18
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)	10
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)	12
Canadian Hot 100	1
Danish Singles Chart	9
Dutch Top 40	5
Eurochart Hot 100	7
German Singles Chart	13
Irish Singles Chart	5
Italian Singles Chart	11
New Zealand Singles Chart	7
Swedish Singles Chart	17
Swiss Singles Chart	16
UK Singles Chart	4
US Billboard Hot 100	4
US Billboard Pop Songs	1
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)	1
US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)	1
US Pop Songs (Billboard)	1

Year-End charts

Chart (2008)	Position
US Billboard Hot 100	7
US Billboard Pop 100	12
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)	14
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)	1
US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)	1
UK Singles Chart	55
New Zealand Singles Chart	6
Australian Singles Chart	8
Canadian Hot 100	4

Chart (2009)	Position
Hungarian Singles Chart	149

Release history

"Love Song" has appeared on the international soundtrack of the Brazilian soap opera Beleza Pura. It has been covered twice: pop-punk band Four Year Strong recorded a version of the song for the compilation album Punk Goes Pop 2, and "Love Song" was also covered on the album Kidz Bop 14. The song was used in the trailer for All About Steve.

See also

• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2008 (Canada)
• List of Mainstream Top 40 number-one hits of 2008 (U.S.)
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 2008 (U.S.)
• List of Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks number-one singles of 2008