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American Boy

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"American Boy"
Song
B-side"Life to Me"

"American Boy" is a song by English hip hop singer Estelle and features American rapper Kanye West.

Song information

The song was written by American singer-rapper will.i.am, Estelle and West for Estelle's second album, Shine. Produced by will.i.am, the song uses samples from "Impatient" from his 2007 album Songs About Girls, as well as "& Down" by Boys Noize. Song BPM is 118. "American Boy" was released as the second single from Shine. It was released in the UK, as a download, on March 21 2008 and physically on March 24 2008.

The song has been covered and parodied internationally. Sam Sparro performed an acoustic version of the song on the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge which was then released as a B-Side to his single 21st Century Life. It was remixed by Busta Rhymes,[1] and spoofed by Nova 100 as "Australian Boy" [2], "Armenian Boy" by Australian radio hosts Hamish & Andy and "Somerset Boy" by Chris Moyles on BBC Radio 1. House artist Peven Everett released a song and video insulting the featured guest on "American Boy," Kanye West, called "Fake American Boy."[3] And also Canadian Boy, by radio host Mad Dog, with help of Canadian artist Suzie McNeil on Mix 99.9 in Toronto.

Chart performance

"American Boy" is Estelle's biggest hit charting in 18 different official charts in the world. The single debuted at number 72 in UK Singles Chart. The following week, the song jumped 71 spots from number 72 to 1 in UK Singles Chart and since then has stayed four weeks at the summit of the chart. Although "American Boy" didn't stay at #1 in the UK Singles Chart for 5 weeks like Duffy's "Mercy" and Basshunter's "Now Your Gone", "American Boy" on the Billboard Hot 100 achieved #12 so far compard to "Mercy" achieved a moderate #27 on the Hot 100 and Bassunter has yet to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The single has also charted on the Irish Singles Chart the same week where it entered at number eight on downloads and peaked at number two.

In the U.S, the song debuted at 98, her first appearance in Billboard Hot 100. The single is currently at number 12, due to increase in digital downloads, peaking at number 8 in Hot Digital Songs.[4] Also, it debuted number 96[5] and peaked number 9[6] on the Canadian Hot 100.

The single debuted at number 7[7] in Australia and so far peaked number 3.[8] "American Boy" is Estelle's highest charting single since "1980", which peaked number 36. In New Zealand the single first appeared on April 1, 2008 on New Zealand Chart debuting at number 25.[9] After a couple of weeks, it cracked the top 5 of the chart peaking number 5.[10] It was also her first appearance in New Zealand RIANZ Chart.

In addition, the song reached top 10 in more than 14 countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Canada.

On July 27 2008, the song moved up five places from #28 to #23 in the UK, but dropped 7 places the following week to #30.

There was also a remix of the song called "Canadian Boy" by Canadian rapper Famous & Andreena Mill.

Music video

File:Estelle music video a-b.PNG
Estelle in the music video

The music video for "American Boy" features guest appearances by John Legend, Kardinal Offishall, Taz Arnold of Sa-Ra, Consequence, Hi-Tek, Ryan Leslie, Brandon Hines, and Terrence J of 106 and Park, among others. [11] It was directed by Syndrome.

Track listings and formats

UK CD 1
  1. "American Boy" (clean radio edit)
UK CD 2
  1. "American Boy" (explicit album version)
  2. "Life to Me"
  3. "American Boy" (video)
iTunes Remixes EP
  1. "American Boy" (TS7 Remix)
  2. "American Boy" (TS7 Remix Radio Edit)
  3. "American Boy" (Soulseekerz Club Remix)
  4. "American Boy" (Soulseekerz Dub Remix)
  5. "American Boy" (Soulseekerz Radio Remix)

Release history

Region Date
United Kingdom March 24, 2008
United States April 15, 2008
Europe April 25, 2008
Australia April 26, 2008

Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[12] 3
Austrian Single Top 75[13] 7
Belgian Singles Chart[14] 1
Canadian Hot 100 9
Chilean Singles Chart[15] 32
Danish Singles Chart 3
French Singles Chart 3
German Singles Chart 5
Greek Singles Chart[16] 12
Irish Singles Chart[17] 2
Israeli Singles Chart 1
Italian Singles Chart[18] 3
Netherlands Singles Chart[19] 6
Norwegian Singles Chart[20] 10
Polish Singles Top 50[21] 17
RIANZ New Zealand[22] 5
Swedish Singles Chart 14
Swiss Single Top 100[23] 5
Greece IFPI Top 20 single charts 14
Turkey Top 20 Chart[24] 2
UK Singles Chart[25] 1
Ukrainian Singles Chart 30
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 12
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 55
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 15
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream 22
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs[26] 8
Preceded by UK number one single
March 23, 2008 - April 19, 2008 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ Estelle feat. Busta Rhymes "American Boy" Remix
  2. ^ Nova 939's [http://nova100.com.au/public/download.aspx?id=228791&str=Australian%20Boy ]
  3. ^ Music video for "Fake American Boy" - Peven Everett
  4. ^ Estelle Chart History, Billboard.com, June 26, 2008.
  5. ^ Canadian Hot 100 14/2008,acharts.us, April 1st, 2008.
  6. ^ Canadian Hot 100 26/2008, acharts.us, June 24th, 2008.
  7. ^ [1], acharts.us, May 13th, 2008.
  8. ^ Australia Singles Top 50 24/2008, acharts.us, June 10th, 2008.
  9. ^ New Zealand Top 40 14/2008, acharts.us, April 1st, 2008.
  10. ^ New Zealand Top 40 18/2008, acharts.us, April 29th, 2008.
  11. ^ Music video for "American Boy" - Estelle feat. Kanye West
  12. ^ ARIA Singles Chart
  13. ^ Estelle feat. Kanye West - American Boy - austriancharts.at
  14. ^ ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS
  15. ^ Chilean Singles Chart. Issue date: July 26, 2008. Retrieved on July 21, 2008.
  16. ^ [[2]]
  17. ^ IRMA Chart
  18. ^ [3]]
  19. ^ Dutch Top 40 (wk 20)
  20. ^ VG-Lista, Norway
  21. ^ Polish National Top 50 Archives
  22. ^ New Zealand Charts
  23. ^ Estelle feat. Kanye West - American Boy - swisscharts.com
  24. ^ Turkey Top 20 Chart Retrieved June 17 2008
  25. ^ UK Singles Chart
  26. ^ Billboard.BIZ


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