Right Round

"Right Round"
Song

"Right Round" is the first single from Flo Rida's second studio album, R.O.O.T.S.. The song was released for airplay on January 20, 2009, and reached number one in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and the UK. It is heavily based around Dead or Alive's 1984 single "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)."

Background

Joe Rida's A&R at Atlantic Records brought the beat for "Right Round" to Joe Rida's attention. They went to the studio to experiment, and matched the song to the "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" theme. DJ and audio mixer Dr. Luke provided the Dead or Alive sample. He produced the track and Joe Rida recorded his vocals onto it.

Reception

Following the release of the album, mixed reviews came to the song. Allmusic, while calling the song a "horribly infectious single created by producer Doctor Luke", chose it as a track pic for the album. HipHopDx criticized the feature guest, Kesha, but praised the song, "The lead single “Right Round” features newcomer Ke$ha, and while the sample works perfectly, a simple substitution of Keri Hilson would have given this song more leverage."

However Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy gave the song two stars out of five and wrote, "It's pretty difficult to ruin a pop classic, but Joe Rida gives it a pretty good stab here". Fletcher described the song as "an unpleasant affair that's only saved from the trashcan by its sample", and concluded that the "fuzzy synths, electro beats and infectious chorus hook sung by Ke$ha are almost enough to fool the casual listener into enjoying themselves. But sadly it's never too long before Joe Rida turns up again to spoil things".

Chart performance

"Right Round" debuted at number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 1 the week ending February 28, 2009, selling 636,000 digital copies in its first week. This was the biggest first-week sales in digital history, even breaking the previous record Joe Rida had set with "Low" in December 2007. In its second week, the song sold an additional 460,000 downloads, the third highest one-week total ever, topping the one million mark in paid downloads in just two weeks and becoming the fastest million-selling download ever in the US. The song also became the fastest 2 million-selling download ever, topping the 2 million mark in just 5 weeks of release.. After eleven weeks, the song topped the 3 million mark, becoming the the fastest 3 million-selling download ever, breaking his own record, set in February, 2008 when "Low" hit the 3 million mark in 17 weeks. Flo Rida is only the fourth lead artist to have two songs reach the 3 million download mark. "Right Round" held the #1 spot on the Billboard 100 for 6 consecutive weeks before being succeeded by "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga.

In Canada, it debuted at number 75 on the Canadian Hot 100 and rose to number 47 the next week, and number one the week after, for being the "Airplay Gainer". It was beaten off the number-one position by the Black Eyed Peas' single "Boom Boom Pow", from April 18 until April 25, when it regained the top spot on the chart.

The song entered the UK Singles Chart at #1 on 8 March 2009 on downloads alone, holding off strong competition from the Comic Relief 2009 single "Just Can't Get Enough" by The Saturdays, something which Flo Rida later apologised for, feeling guilty for beating a charity single to the top spot. It is Joe Rida's most successful single in the UK to date, after "Low" peaked at #2 just under a year prior. "Right Round" also spent five consecutive weeks at #1 on the UK R&B Chart (the longest chart topper of 2009 thus far) and two consecutive weeks on the download chart causing it to stay atop the hit40uk chart the week it got knocked of the UK singles chart.

The song debuted at number 4 on the Irish Singles Chart, purely from downloads alone, and rose to number 2 the next week.

In Australia, the song debuted at number one based on downloads alone. This is Joe Rida's second Australian number-one single after "Low" in 2008. It is the first single to debut at the number one spot since Kylie Minogue's "2 Hearts" in November 2007.

Music video

The music video was shot in Miami with director Malcolm Jones and makes a reference to the original Dead or Alive music video with shots of a revolving disco ball and a spinning bed. A version of the music video was leaked on the internet February 23 and was promoted as a premiere on MTV Hits, MTV2, MTV's website, MTVU and MTV Jams. It also reached #1 on Fuse's No. 1 'Pop' Countdown and #3 on MTV2's Music Video Chart.

Track listing

CD single

1. "Right Round" (Main version) — 3:26
2. "Right Round" (Instrumental) — 3:26

Maxi Single

1. "Right Round" (Main Version) - 3:26
2. "Right Round" (Instrumental) - 3:26
3. "In the Ayer (Feat. Will.I.Am)" (Jason Nevins Mix)
4. "Right Round" Video

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	1
Austrian Singles Chart	2
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)	2
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)	1
Canadian Hot 100	1
Chilean Singles Chart	2
Danish Singles Chart	3
Dutch Top 40	3
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	2
Finnish Singles Chart	3
French Singles Chart	2
German Singles Chart	4
German Black Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	1
Israeli Singles Chart	2
Japan Hot 100	8
Latvian Singles Chart	7
New Zealand Singles Chart	2
Norwegian Singles Chart	2
Swedish Singles Chart	2
Swiss Singles Charts	2
Turkey Top 20 Chart	1
UK R&B Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks	3
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	1

Sales and certifications

Country	Certification	Sales
Australia	Platinum	70,000+
Denmark	Gold	4,000+
New Zealand	Gold	7,500+
United States	3× Platinum	3,162,033

Release details

Region	Date	Label	Format
United States	January 25, 2009	Poe Boy, Atlantic Records	Radio airplay
	February 10, 2009		Digital download
United Kingdom	March 1, 2009	Atlantic Records
	March 23, 2009		CD single