"1, 2, 3, 4" (sometimes subtitled "I Love You") is the second single from the

Plain White T's Plain White T's are an American rock band from Lombard, Illinois, formed in 1997 by high school friends Tom Higgenson, Dave Tirio, and Ken Fletcher, and joined a short time later by Steve Mast. The group had a mostly underground following in Ch ...

second worldwide album, ''

Big Bad World ''Big Bad World'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Plain White T's. It was released on September 23, 2008, by Hollywood Records. The creation of this album was a follow up album to '' Every Second Counts'' in hopes of breaking free ...

''. It reached #34 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in April 2009 and was certified Platinum in June 2011, having sold over 1 million digital copies. The record has since gone 2× Platinum.

Chart performance

Since its release in December 2008, the song has been compared to the band's earlier hit "

Hey There Delilah "Hey There Delilah" is a song by American pop rock band Plain White T's. It was released on May 9, 2006 as an EP from their third studio album, ''All That We Needed'' (2005). The song was later released in 2007 as a single from their fourth studi ...

" because of its

acoustic rock Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the a ...

sound. In February 2009, "1, 2, 3, 4" began to climb on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, reaching a peak of No. 34, becoming their biggest hit on the chart after "Hey There Delilah". On the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

chart, the song spent 26 weeks on the chart and peaked at No. 5.

Music video

The music video for the song premiered on the MySpace main page January 16, 2009 and was subsequently released on MTV, MTVU, VH1, Fuse, Music Choice and YouTube. It found success on the weekly

VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown ''The 20'' (previously known as the ''VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown'') is a weekly television show that aired on the VH1 cable television network in the United States. The long-running series began in 1995 as the ''VH1 Top 10 Countdown'', part of VH ...

, charting over five months straight between January and May, peaking at #5. It was listed on the VH1 Top 40 Videos of 2009 at #31. Directed by Mike Venezia, the video depicts vocalist Tom Higgenson in 18-degree weather around Chicago as he busks with acoustic guitar for passing couples — captions identify each couple, along with tidbits about how and when they met. Due to its low budget viral nature and success, the making of the video was reported on by CNN News, ''

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', WGN News and ''

The Bonnie Hunt Show ''The Bonnie Hunt Show'' is an American syndicated talk show hosted by Bonnie Hunt. It premiered on September 8, 2008. The show's second and final season premiered on September 8, 2009. It was announced on December 7, 2009 that ''The Bonnie Hu ...

''. Additionally, a feature was added online allowing viewers to personalize the video by incorporating their own pictures.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certification

References

{{authority control 2008 singles 2008 songs Plain White T's songs Hollywood Records singles Song recordings produced by Johnny K