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Saturday Night (Whigfield song)

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"Saturday Night"
Song

"Saturday Night" is a song performed by Danish Eurodance artist Whigfield. It was first released in November 1993 in Spain through Prodisc.[1] It was later re-released in 1994 in Europe and experienced worldwide success. The song was written by Italian producers Larry Pignagnoli and Davide Riva, and it was produced by Pignagnoli.

"Saturday Night" went straight to number one in the UK Singles Chart - dethroning Wet Wet Wet's 15-week chart-topper "Love Is All Around", despite that single increasing its sales from 65,000 the previous week to 104,000. As of October 2015, it has sold a total of 1.18 million copies in the UK.[2]

Background

Italian producer Larry Pignagnoli had already had success with Spagna in the late 1980s and early 1990s before he produced "Saturday Night" with Danish former model Sannie Carlson, aka Whigfield. The track was first released in Italy in January 1994[3] and then became a huge hit with United Kingdom holidaymakers on the continent at the end of the year, leading to a huge demand for the track back in the United Kingdom. The single wasn't released in North America until February 1995.

Chart performance

"Saturday Night" was released in the United Kingdom on September 5, 1994, and went straight to number one - dethroning Wet Wet Wet's 15 week chart-topper "Love Is All Around", despite that single increasing its sales from 65,000 the previous week to 104,000, when "Saturday Night" entered at number 1 with sales of 150,000. Whigfield was the first act to début at number one in the United Kingdom charts with their début single.[4]

It stayed at number one for a total of four weeks selling 680,000 in the process, and has sold a total of 1.18 million copies.[2] "Saturday Night" is also the 15th biggest-selling single by a female artist in the United Kingdom.[5]

Music video

The official music video features numerous different scenes of Whigfield standing in front of a mirror, getting ready to go out on Saturday night.

Associated dance routine

There is a dance routine which is commonly performed to the song (particularly at parties and nightclubs in the United Kingdom),[6] the origins of which are uncertain.[7] There is a suggestion from some sources that it was begun as an aerobic routine by a gym instructor created to the song at a holiday resort and followed the song back to UK.[7][8] The dance does not appear in the music video for the song, however it was performed by backing dancers during Whigfield's performance on Top of the Pops on 16 September 1994.[9]

Whigfield stated in an interview with Justin Myers for The Official Charts Company, 'I remember I did some promotion in this place north of Madrid and when I was doing the track [I] saw everybody doing this thing and they all jumped at the same time. I hadn’t even known about the dance until then... I still remember the dance, but I didn’t do it. I thought it was kind of nice that it was just the people doing it.'[7]

Controversy

Two claims of plagiarism were made. It was alleged that the track ripped off both "Rub a Dub Dub" by the Equals and "Fog on the Tyne" by Lindisfarne. Both claims were dismissed.[4]

A version of the track was used in the popular game "The Amazing Adventures of Harry Haddock" for the Amiga A500, available on issue 142 of the magazine Amiga Action.[10]

Track listings

Charts and certifications

Chart successions

Preceded by UK Singles Chart number-one single
September 17, 1994 - October 8, 1994 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Irish (IRMA) number-one single
September 23, 1994 - October 14, 1994 		Succeeded by
Preceded by German number-one single
October 21, 1994 - October 28, 1994 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet
 Eurochart Hot 100 number-one single
October 22, 1994 - October 29, 1994 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Let the Dream Come True" by DJ Bobo
 Swiss number-one single
November 6, 1994 		Succeeded by
"Always" by Bon Jovi
Preceded by Canadian RPM Dance/Urban number-one single
November 14, 1994 - November 21, 1994 		Succeeded by

Release history

Country Release date
Spain 29 November 1993 (1993-11-29)
Germany 24 January 1994 (1994-01-24)
Rest of Europe 21 May 1994 (1994-05-21)
United Kingdom 5 September 1994 (1994-09-05)
United States February 1995 (1995-02)

References

  1. ^ Balls, David (30 March 2009). "Whatever happened to... Whigfield?". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Myers, Justin (24 October 2015). "Quiz: Who sold more?". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Whigfield Biography". OLDIES.com. 1970-04-11. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
  4. ^ a b 1000 UK Number One Singles by Jon Kutner & Spencer Leigh, page 400
  5. ^ "Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Singles Of All Time By Female Artists". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
  6. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/bust_a_move/clips_2.shtml
  7. ^ a b c http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/number-1-today-in-1994-we-interview-chart-record-breaker-whigfield__6067/
  8. ^ http://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A844986
  9. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S-qpHo7H7s
  10. ^ "Amiga Action 69 (April 1995) Coverdisks - Amiga Magazine Rack". abime.net.
  11. ^ "Whigfield – Saturday Night" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  12. ^ "Whigfield – Saturday Night" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  13. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  14. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  15. ^ Billboard October 29, 1994. Billboard. Retrieved 2010-12-01. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "Whigfield – Saturday Night" (in French). Les classement single.
  17. ^ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved April 10, 2008)
  18. ^ Italian Single Chart Hit parade Italia (Retrieved May 30, 2008)
  19. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Whigfield" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  20. ^ "Whigfield – Saturday Night". VG-lista.
  21. ^ "Billboard". google.ca.
  22. ^ "Whigfield – Saturday Night". Singles Top 100.
  23. ^ "Whigfield – Saturday Night". Swiss Singles Chart.
  24. ^ "Whigfield: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  25. ^ Billboard AllMusic. (Retrieved September 10, 2008)
  26. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  27. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  28. ^ 1994 French Singles Chart Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved January 30, 2009)
  29. ^ "Single top 100 over 1994" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  30. ^ 1994 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved September 10, 2008)
  31. ^ UK Top 40 Singles of 1994 Wikipedia.org (Retrieved July 12, 2010)
  32. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  33. ^ 1995 French Singles Chart Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved January 30, 2009)
  34. ^ French certifications Disqueenfrance.com (Retrieved January 17, 2009)
  35. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Whigfield; 'Saturday+Night')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved January 17, 2009.
  36. ^ Norwegian certifications Ifpi.no (Retrieved January 17, 2009)
  37. ^ UK certifications Bpi.co.uk (Retrieved January 17, 2009)
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