"Love Song" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter

Sara Bareilles Sara Beth Bareilles (, ; born December 7, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She has sold over three million albums and over 15 million singles in the United States. She has earned various awards and nominations including nin ...

, released in June 2007 via

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...

from her major-label debut album, '' Little Voice'' (2007). It was nominated for 2009 Grammy Awards in the categories Song of the Year and

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

. "Love Song" spent 19 weeks in the top ten and an overall 41 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number four there. Similarly, it peaked at number four on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and the Australian

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. It also reached number one on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record ...

, while topping the US

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...

airplay chart. It also spent many weeks atop the Hot Adult Pop Songs and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts, ending up number one at the year-end tally of both charts.

Background

Speaking of the song's origin in an interview with

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, Bareilles said of her label, "They had encouraged me to keep writing, and I just wasn't having any luck. ..I started to get really insecure about it, and then I got really pissed off at myself for caring what anybody thought. ..I went to a rehearsal space one day. I sat down and wrote something for me. And 'Love Song' basically wrote itself. It's totally honest, and I'm very lucky the label liked it as well." Later in 2011, she explained: "It was actually written for my record label. I had been turning in new music. I was getting the red light. I couldn't go into the studio yet because they were waiting for something. But I wouldn't ..nobody said what they were waiting for. So I kept turning in new songs, thinking like, 'Is this what you want? Is this what you want?' And it was always a big thumbs down, and I ended up writing 'Love Song' out of frustration." In 2014, she stated it was "very

tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scot ...

" and "nasty in a passive-aggressive way," confirming it was a response to the record label pressuring her to make safe, "radio friendly" songs.

Chart performance

Featured initially as the free iTunes song of the week on June 16, 2007, the song was a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little prom ...

, debuting a few months later at number 100 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. After her appearance in a Rhapsody TV commercial, in which she performs "Love Song", it rocketed from number 72 to number 16 on the Hot 100 and from number 32 to number five on the

Hot Digital Songs The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally starte ...

chart.Keys Rolls Into Holidays With No. 1 Hits
/ref> In the first week of 2008, the song cracked the top 10 on the Hot 100, jumping to number nine, where it stayed for four non-consecutive weeks before reaching a peak of number four. In spite of not reaching the top three, "Love Song" managed to spend 19 weeks in the top 10, in contrast with other songs that reached higher peak but did not maintain such longevity. The single was certified quadruple platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

for over four million in sales. As of April 2014, the single had sold 3,717,000 digital copies in the United States. The song was listed at number seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 year-end chart of 2008. It also topped both the ''Billboard''

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...

and Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks charts in 2008. The song debuted on the

at number 30 and later peaked at number four. The song debuted at number 100 on the

the week of January 31, 2008, and reached number one on the chart the week of March 29, 2008. In Australia, "Love Song" peaked at number four during its ninth week on the country's chart. In New Zealand, it reached number seven on the RIANZ Singles Chart.

Music video

Directed by Josh Forbes, the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

features a miniature Bareilles playing the piano inside a coin-operated jukebox that plays love songs. A steady stream of men and women enter the booth and insert coins to observe her through a pinhole as she plays the same song day after day. The lyrics express her growing frustration as she declares that she is "not gonna write you a love song today," whereupon Bareilles grabs the next coin that rolls inside, and uses it to jam the gears. The next morning, the owner of the booth (who was seen at the beginning of the video) enters; he notices that the jukebox has gone dark, and appears amazed when he discovers Bareilles inside the jukebox. He retrieves the jammed coin from the gears and hands it to Bareilles. The music video features the album version of the song. The video also features British actor Adam Campbell as the owner of the booth.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2007 debut singles 2007 songs Sara Bareilles songs Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles Songs written by Sara Bareilles Song recordings produced by Eric Rosse Epic Records singles