Kygo’s Remake of Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson’s ‘Say Say Say’ Scores on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart
Written by djfrosty on April 13, 2023
Kygo commands a top 20 debut on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated April 15) with “Say Say Say,” featuring the track’s original superstar artists, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson. The update arrives at No. 16 with 905,000 official streams and 400 downloads sold in the United States March 31-April 6, according to Luminate.
The song is Kygo’s fourth officially sanctioned reproduction of a famous original (and his third with deceased acts) to impact the chart. It follows “Higher Love” with Whitney Houston (No. 2, July 2019), “What’s Love Got to Do With It” with Tina Turner (No. 7, August 2020), and “Hot Stuff” with Donna Summer (No. 9, October 2020).
“It’s no secret that I love working with iconic vocals from the ’80s, and ‘Say Say Say’ was one that I really wanted to work on,” Kygo recently told Billboard.
The official remake of “Say” makes for Norwegian DJ/producer Kygo’s 62nd career appearance on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, the second-most of all acts since the chart began in January 2013; David Guetta leads with 75. It also marks McCartney’s first appearance and Jackson’s second, after remixes of “Thriller” (by Steve Aoki, among others), titled “Thriller 2017,” ascended to No. 30 in November 2017.
Concurrently, “Say” starts on Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales (No. 12), as well as Norway Songs (No. 17). The original classic spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1983-January 1984.
Additionally on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Bebe Rexha rolls in with the week’s highest debut, “Call on Me,” at No. 13. The track, from Rexha’s album Bebe, due April 28, rang up 1.1 million streams in its first frame.
Meanwhile, Rexha’s monster collab with David Guetta, “I’m Good (Blue),” leads the list for a 29th week. Only four songs have ruled for longer terms: Marshmello and Bastille’s “Happier” (69 weeks; 2018-20), Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” (36; 2021-22) and Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey’s “The Middle” (33; 2018).
Shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay survey, Zara Larsson lands her fifth top 10 with “Can’t Tame Her” (12-8). The poppy original, remixed by VIZE, DJ Smallz, Nightcore and others, is collecting core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel, KMVQ-HD2 San Francisco and Channel Q, among other outlets. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)