"Party Rock Anthem" is a song by American electronic dance music duo

LMFAO LMFAO (an initialism for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off) was an American electronic dance music duo consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu (rapper), Sky Blu. Redfoo is the youngest son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and Nancy Leiviska. Sky Blu ...

. The song features British singer Lauren Bennett and American producer GoonRock. It was released as the first single from their second and final studio album '' Sorry for Party Rocking'' in 2011. The single would later peak at number one in 51 countries by late summer of 2011 having the top spot in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. It also reached the top five in Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland and Sweden. It is the best-selling single of all time in Australia. Worldwide, it was the third best-selling digital single of 2011 with sales of 9.7 million copies. It is the third best-selling digital song in US history. "Party Rock Anthem" is currently ranked ''Billboard'' seventh most successful song of all time. As of 2025, it is one of the 100 most viewed videos on

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, with over 2 billion views. "Party Rock Anthem" is a mostly electronic composition. After the song was featured in the 2012 action comedy film ''

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,'' the film won the MTV Movie Award for Best Music. The song also won the "Favorite Song" award at the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards.

Composition

"Party Rock Anthem" is composed in the key of

F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp ...

at a tempo of 130

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. It follows a chord progression of Fm-E♭-D♭and has a vocal range from D♭3-A♭4.

Music video

Background

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was released on March 9, 2011, and was produced by the two members of LMFAO, Redfoo and Sky Blu, with the assistance of Shinzo Ai. It was choreographed by, and featured, Quest Crew members Hokuto Konishi, Victor Kim, Ryan Conferido, Steve Terada, Aris Paracuelles, Brian Hirano, and Ryan Feng. The video is a parody of the 2002 horror film ''

28 Days Later ''28 Days Later'' (sometimes stylised with ellipsis as ''28 Days Later...'') is a 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland. It stars Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who awakens from a coma to d ...

''. Lauren Bennett, featured in the song, also appeared in the music video. Director Mickey Finnegan described the concept: "There's been an epidemic, the world has gone crazy, as soon as the song came out, everyone got possessed and all they want to do is to shuffle, everyone is a shuffler." The video features the dancers performing the Melbourne Shuffle, which quickly gained popularity in the

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Video

The music video takes place after the " Sorry for Party Rocking" video. The video's opening caption says that Redfoo and Sky Blu fell into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

due to excessive party rocking and that their single was released the next day. After the caption "28 DAYS LATER" is seen, Redfoo and Sky Blu are shown in a deserted hospital, waking up from comas in a style similar to that of Cillian Murphy's character in the film ''

''. Redfoo and Sky Blu exit the hospital into a deserted street full of litter and abandoned cars. They spot a man with a turtle backpack "shuffling" to their own song before they are quickly grabbed by another man in a dress shirt ( Malcolm Goodwin), a parody of Louis from '' Left 4 Dead'', who hides them behind a car and explains to them that ever since their single came out, everyone around the world simply "shuffle" all day long. Mid-conversation, the song begins to play in the street, and the man quickly hands Redfoo and Sky Blu some Beats by Dr. Dre earphones for the purpose of muting the song. Redfoo and Sky Blu insert the earpieces and are told to play along with the song. Soon, the street is filled with "shufflers", including label mate Colette Carr, all dancing to the song. When another young man tries to escape from a building, he is surrounded by the dancers in a style indicative of a zombie horde, before re-emerging with stylish new clothes and shuffling, having been "infected". Frightened after observing the fate of the other man, Redfoo and Sky Blu begin to dance along with the others, pretending to be infected, too. After the line "No led in our zeppelin", the shot cuts directly to the front of the hospital, which appears similar to the cover of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

's 1975 album '' Physical Graffiti''. This is a nod to the English rock band, whom the duo has cited as a musical influence. Halfway through the video, the previously infected young man dances toward Redfoo and Sky Blu, who look terrified. The video fades to black but quickly opens to a new shot (which pays homage to

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's Thriller), in which it becomes apparent that they, too, have become infected, as they sing "Every day I'm shufflin" and dance with the rest of the infected dancers. For the song's second half, which features Lauren Bennett, the video cuts between the original scene and a nighttime scene at the same location featuring LMFAO, Bennett, the song's co-producer GoonRock, and several background dancers. The music video for LMFAO's 2012 single " Sorry for Party Rocking" is a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

to the "Party Rock Anthem" video, taking place immediately prior.

Filming location

The outdoor scenes of the music video were filmed at Warner Brothers Studios "New York Street" backlot, a five-acre site containing the facades of buildings on individual 'streets', recreating eight different areas of the city.

Awards

The video won the "Best Video" award at the 7th annual edition of the '' TRL Awards''.

Chart and sales performance

The song reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the duo's first number-one hit in the US; it remained there for six consecutive weeks. "Rock" spent a total of 29 non-consecutive weeks inside the Hot 100's top 10 being the first song to spend over 25 weeks since

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado, formed in 2002. The lineup currently consists of Ryan Tedder (lead vocals, piano), Zach Filkins (guitar, viola), Drew Brown (musician), Drew Brown (guitar), Brent Kutzle ( ...

's " Apologize" in 2007–2008. The song spent 68 weeks in the chart, which at the time was the third-highest number of weeks in the chart for a song in ''Billboard'' Hot 100's history. It topped the seven million downloads mark in the United States in July 2012, becoming the second-fastest song in digital history to reach this plateau – reaching it in 68 weeks, just behind Adele's " Rolling in the Deep" which achieved it in 67 weeks – and the third-biggest selling digital single since

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began tracking digital sales in 2003. It has sold 8.1 million copies in the US as of October 2016 and over one million copies in the UK. It is the US's third all-time best-selling digital single. The song would be the second-best performance song of 2011 and the 29th-best performing song of 2012. "Party Rock Anthem" was the second-best performance song on the Hot 100 in the 2010s decade (behind

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

and

Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is known for his three-octave tenor vocal range, live performances, R ...

's 2015 hit " Uptown Funk", which spent 14 weeks at number one.) The song spent eleven weeks at number one in New Zealand and ten weeks in Australia. In New Zealand, it is the longest-running number-one single since Smashproof's hit single "

Brother A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...

" in 2009, with over 45,000 copies sold. In Australia, it is the longest-running number-one single since " I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)" by Sandi Thom in 2006 and was the best-selling single of 2011, being certified fifteen times platinum.

In popular media

Television, films and video games

"Party Rock Anthem" has been used in several TV series, such as in the first episode of '' Awkward'', in the season 3, episode 8 of ''

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'', in the season 5, episode 12 of ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series created and developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and based on the series of novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. It follows a group of students on Manhattan's ...

'', in season 1, episode 17 of The CW's ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

'', in the season 3 finale of '' Parenthood'', episode 5 of ''

2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized as ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitn ...

'', in season 4, episode 14 of '' Parks and Recreation'', in the eighth season of '' So You Think You Can Dance'', in the ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' episode " City Sushi" and the musical new year episode of '' Pepito Manaloto''. It was also used in the opening titles for the

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n reality

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, '' The Renovators''. There is a spoof of the song in the popular

web series ''

Annoying Orange ''Annoying Orange'' is an American comedy web series created by Dane Boedigheimer (known online as DaneBoe). Set in a world of anthropomorphic food, the series follows its titular protagonist, Orange, who always annoys others by telling c ...

'', in the episode titled "Party Rock". The song was also used in a

Bat Mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age, they a ...

sketch in a ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' episode hosted by

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his Breakthrough role, breakthrough with the sports comedy film ''She's the Man'' (2006) and t ...

, and in Australia's Got Talent 2011, sung by Timomatic. Quest Crew danced to it in the season 6 finale of '' America's Best Dance Crew''. In episode 8 of ''America's Best Dance Crews season 7, contestants 8 Flavahz danced to the song. It featured in the trailer for the 2011

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film '' Madea's Big Happy Family'' and is also heard in the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s '' Just Dance 3'' as well as being

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for Make the Party (Don't Stop) in '' Just Dance 4'', and ''

FIFA Street ''FIFA'' was a Association football, football video game franchise developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. As of 2011, the ''FIFA'' franchise has been localized into 18 languages and available in 51 countries. Listed ...

''. The video game '' Dance Central 2'' uses it on the DLC, which was released on February 28, 2012. In ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

'', the dance emote for the male Pandaren is based on this song's choreography. Party Rock Anthem is also featured in

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

's latest

Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...

arcade game release, '' Dance Dance Revolution A20''. The song was officially included in the "Interscope Mixtape Compilation" music pack for the VR rhythm game Beat Saber. The song was already being added as a custom song, but the Interscope pack contained the full-length song. In

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game and game platform developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in seven distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: '' Fortnite Battle Roy ...

's gamemode ''Fortnite Festival'' the song can be heard and played in its entirety.

The song has been used in several advertisements, such as the Kia Soul commercial featuring the Kia hamsters, the "2011 Sizzle Preview" commercial which promotes all of

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

's shows, and in a commercial for

Virgin America Virgin America Inc. was a low-cost airline headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame, California. It primarily focused on operating low-fare, higher-quality service between cities on the West Coast of the United States a ...

airlines. It also appeared in the 2011 Mofaya Summer promotion by

Vodacom Vodacom Group Limited is a South African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 130 million customers across Africa. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to ...

South Africa. UK ISP

Plusnet Plusnet plc is a British internet service provider (ISP) providing broadband and landline services. The company was founded in 1997 in Sheffield, and became a public limited company (plc) in July 2004 when it was floated on the Alternative Inves ...

used a cover of "Party Rock Anthem" in an advertisement for their broadband and calls services in April 2012. It was also used for the 2012

Big Brother Australia ''Big Brother Australia'' (also known simply as ''Big Brother'') is an Australian Reality television#Reality competition or game shows, reality show based on the international ''Big Brother (franchise), Big Brother'' format created by John de ...

advert, and

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

has used it for their

Toyota Yaris The is a supermini/subcompact car sold by Toyota since 1999, replacing the Starlet and Tercel. Up to 2019, Toyota had used the Yaris nameplate on export versions of various Japanese-market models, with some markets receiving the same vehicl ...

advertisement,

Pertamina PT Pertamina (Persero) is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation, headquartered in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of ''Pertamin'' (established 1961) and ''Permina'' (established in 1957). In 2020, the ...

samples some tune in this song for Enduro Matic Motorcycle Oil commercial. In March 2024, Foxtel used the song in ads for their

Hubbl Hubbl, previously Streamotion, is an Australian over-the-top streaming subscription provider, wholly owned by Foxtel. The company has developed and operates the local streaming services Kayo Sports, Binge, Flash and Lifestyle, as well as ope ...

smart tv boxes, albeit with the lyrics changed to “Everybody’s Hubblin”.

Other

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

's marching band, The Marching 110, performed the song during the half-time of a game in October 2011. Their performance was uploaded onto YouTube and went viral. Canadian radio station HOT 103 from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

has played a version of the song with modified lyrics that refer to Winnipeg and local sports stars. The

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The Capitals compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NH ...

of the

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uses it for one of its goal songs when the Capitals score.

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

second baseman

Dan Uggla Daniel Cooley Uggla (born March 11, 1980) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, and Washington Nationals. In 2010, Uggla ...

uses it as his at-bat music. The song was used as the closing chart for the 2012 Jersey Surf Drum & Bugle Corps program. It was also used at the ''Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions'', with everyone on the tour learning the "shuffle". During the 2013 public unrest in Turkey, the song was used incorporating the neologism " chapulling", with the chorus being, "Every day I'm chapulling"; a video was made using the protest images uploaded onto YouTube. In Chile, Radio Rock & Pop placed it at number 106 on its list "Rock & Pop 20 Años 200 Canciones".

Track listings

*; Digital Download #"Party Rock Anthem" – 4:28 *CD single #"Party Rock Anthem" (Album Version) – 4:23 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Audiobot Remix) – 6:01 *;Digital radio edit #Party Rock Anthem (Radio Edit) – 3:53Google Play Music Store *;Remixes #"Party Rock Anthem" (Audiobot Remix) – 6:01 #"Party Rock Anthem" (

Wideboys The Wideboys are an English electronic music duo known for club remixes and for their own song "Sambuca", featuring Dennis G on vocals, which reached number 15 in the UK in October 2001. Another top 40 single, "Daddy-O" featuring Shaznay Lewis ...

Radio Edit) – 3:25 #"Party Rock Anthem" (

Club Mix) – 5:49 #"Party Rock Anthem" (

Benny Benassi Marco "Benny" Benassi (; born 13 July 1967) is an Italian DJ and music producer. He is widely seen as a pioneer of electro house, a genre brought into the mainstream by his 2002 summer club hit " Satisfaction". He started his career as DJ alon ...

Radio Edit) – 3:36 #"Party Rock Anthem" (

Club Mix) – 6:17 #"Party Rock Anthem" ( Christopher Lawrence Radio Edit) – 3:38 #"Party Rock Anthem" ( Christopher Lawrence Club Mix) – 7:11 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Arion Dubstep Remix) – 3:23 #"Party Rock Anthem" ( Russ Chimes Dub) – 6:25 #"Party Rock Anthem" (

Alesso Alessandro Renato Rodolfo Lindblad (born 7 July 1991), better known by his stage name Alesso (), is a Swedish DJ and record producer. He has worked with numerous artists, including Tove Lo, Theo Hutchcraft, Ryan Tedder, Hailee Steinfeld, Ca ...

Remix) – 5:49 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Avollo Remix) – 6:17 #"Party Rock Anthem" (DJ Enferno Remix) – 4:51 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Kim Fai Remix) – 6:53 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Cherry Cherry Boom Boom Bomber Refreak) - 4:02 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Millions Like Us Dubstep Remix) – 4:38 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Alyn's Goin Hard Remix) – 4:20 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Mt Parahaki Dubstep Remix) – 4:22 #"Party Rock Anthem" (DJ Bent Dutch Remix) – 5:54 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Curious Kontrol Dubstep Remix) - 5:34 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Beatwalker Dubstep Dub) - 4:22 #"Party Rock Anthem" (BuzZTech Dubstep Remix) - 4:12 #"Party Rock Anthem" (Team Dubstep Remix) - 3:56 #"Party Rock Anthem" (RetroVision Remix) - 2:42

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

References

External links

Official WebsiteOfficial LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem (YouTube)
* http://www.billboard.com/articles/list/2155531/the-hot-100-all-time-top-songs?list_page=9 * {{Authority control 2011 songs 2011 singles Alvin and the Chipmunks songs APRA Award winners Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles GoonRock songs Lauren Bennett songs LMFAO songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Denmark SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Scotland Number-one singles in Switzerland Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Song recordings produced by GoonRock UK singles chart number-one singles Songs written by Sky Blu (rapper) Songs written by Redfoo Electropop songs Cherrytree Records singles Interscope Records singles Songs about parties