You're the One That I Want

"You're the One That I Want"
Single by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
from the album Grease OST
B-side	"Alone At The Drive-In Movie (Instrumental)"
Released	1978
Genre	Pop rock
Length	2:49
Label	RSO
Writer(s)	John Farrar
Producer	John Farrar
Certification	Platinum (U.S.)
Olivia Newton-John single chronology
"Jolene" (1978) "You're the One That I Want" (1978) "Summer Nights" (1978)
John Travolta chronology "Razzamatazz" (1977) "You're the One That I Want" (1978) "Summer Nights" (1978)

"You're the One That I Want" is a song written by John Farrar for the 1978 film version of the musical Grease. It was performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

The single was a huge international hit, reaching no.1 in several countries. It was the only single from the Grease soundtrack to top both the US and UK pop charts. It reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for one week in June 1978, where it sold over 2 million copies.^{[citation needed]} It also topped the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks in the summer of 1978 and, as of 2008, is still the sixth best-selling single ever in the UK where it has sold over 2,015,000 copies. A re-released version of the single reached #4 in the UK in 1998, the twentieth anniversary of the film's debut.

Charts

Chart (1978)	Peak position
Australian Kent Music Report	1
Austrian Singles Chart	1
Canadian Singles Chart	1
Dutch Top 40	1
Eurochart Hot 100	1
German Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	1
Japanese Oricon Singles Chart	25
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1
Norwegian VG-lista Singles Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	23
UK Singles Chart	1
Chart (1998)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	32
Irish Singles Chart	15
UK Singles Chart	4

Preceded by "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single June 10, 1978	Succeeded by "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb
Preceded by "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M	UK Singles Chart number-one single 17 June 1978 - 12 August 1978	Succeeded by "Three Times a Lady" by The Commodores
Preceded by "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M. "Substitute" by Clout	Irish Singles Chart number-one single 24 June 1978 - 12 August 1978 26 August 1978	Succeeded by "Substitute" by Clout" Three Times a Lady" by Commodores
Preceded by "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M	Australian Kent Music Report number-one single June 26, 1978 - July 10, 1978 August 21, 1978 - October 9, 1978	Succeeded by "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M. "Are You Old Enough?" by Dragon
Preceded by "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M.	Dutch Top 40 number-one single July 1, 1978 - August 26, 1978	Succeeded by "You're the Greatest Lover" by Luv'

Notable cover versions

"You're the One That I Want"
Single by Craig McLachlan and Deborah Gibson
from the album Grease - Original London Cast Recording
Released	1993
Length	3:27
Label	Epic
Writer(s)	John Farrar
Deborah Gibson single chronology
"Free Me" (1993) "You're the One That I Want" (1993) "For Better or Worse" (1995)

In 1993, Epic Records released a soundtrack album in the UK, Grease - Original London Cast Recording, and "You're the One That I Want" was recorded as a duet by Craig McLachlan and Deborah Gibson (Epic UK 659 522, released July 1993). In part due to a routine promotional push, this cover version scored big on the UK singles charts, peaking at number thirteen.

Other cover versions and appearances in other media include:

• The song serves as the source of the title of the American reality TV show Grease: You're the One that I Want!.

• British comedians Arthur Mullard and Hylda Baker (both in their seventies at the time) also released a version of the song in 1978. This version is perhaps best remembered for an infamously bad live performance on the TV show Top of the Pops; both Mullard and Baker sang out of tune, fluffed the lyrics and seemed utterly bemused. Their version reached no.22 in the UK, but in stark contrast to the usual positive effect of a TOTP appearance, the record's sales plummeted after the broadcast.

• Also in 1978, the German comedians Dieter Hallervorden and Helga Feddersen released a parody under the title Du, die Wanne ist voll. The song reached position number four in the German charts. Du, die Wanne ist voll literally means You, the bathtub is full and the joke consists of using German words that sound similar to the English ones.

• In 1979, The Shadows did an instrumental version of the song on the album String of Hits.

• In the early 1980s singer Lesley Gore covered the song on her album The Canvas Can Do Miracles. In her rendition she altered the line "cause I need a man" to "cause I need a friend".

• In 1982, Alvin and the Chipmunks featuring Charlene the Chipette covered the song for their The Chipmunks Go Hollywood album.

• In 1993, Sandy & Junior released a Portuguese version of the song, titled "Tô ligado em você".

• Tenacious D performed the song live as an acoustic duet with actor Andy Serkis (in character as his Lord of the Rings role Gollum).

• The song has also been remixed by British recording label and remix production team Almighty Records.

• The song has also been remixed with The Next Episode, a 2000 single by rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and is entitled "You're The One That I Want In The Next Episode".

• The Beautiful South also released an unusually arranged cover of the song, which featured on their Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs album.

• In 2003, Westlife covered the song live.

• American pop singers Chris Trousdale and Nikki Cleary covered the song with slightly altered lyrics.

• In 2007, McFly covered the song in the album Over the Rainbow, which also contains cover versions by other artists.

• A cover of the song was used for the video games Karaoke Revolution and Karaoke Revolution Volume 3.

• A memorable interpretation of the song was featured on Late Show With David Letterman, sung by the show's announcer Alan Kalter as part of his segment "Alan Kalter: Tackling the Tough Issues".

• Also, Johnny Vegas and his 'stage-mother' performed this song in the British sitcom, Benidorm, on a karaoke night.

• A version of this was sung by Heather Graham in the Bollywood film The Guru.

• In 1986 the tune was heard in Flight of the Navigator, which was directed by Randal Kleiser, who had also directed Grease.

• In 1995, Noel Edmonds and Vicki Michelle did a cover on the popular light entertainment show "Noel's House Party"

• Glee has covered it twice.

• In an episode of That '70s Show Jackie Burkhart daydreamed that she and Steven Hyde did a cover of this song from Grease.

• Joe McElderry and Lucie Jones of The X Factor covered the song. It can be found on Youtube.

• A 2005 cover of the song performed by Pauline Croze on her self-titled album.

• Angus & Julia Stone performed an acoustic version of the song for Radar Radio in Australia.

• In The Goodiesepisode Saturday Night Grease Tim and Graeme sings that song.

See also

• Grease: You're the One that I Want! – a reality game show where contestants competed to star on a Broadway-style revival of the musical
• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1978 (U.S.)