"Somebody Like You" is a song co-written and recorded by Australian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

. It was released in July 2002 as the first single from his third studio album, '' Golden Road'' (2002). The song became Urban's second number-one hit on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart, spending six weeks at that position. The song also peaked at number 23 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached number three in Canada. In December 2009, ''Billboard'' named the song as the number-one country song of the 2000s decade. In 2003, the song was remixed for the film ''

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ''How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'' is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Donald Petrie, from a script by Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, and Burr Steers, and starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. Loosely based on the picture book of t ...

''.

Content

"Somebody Like You" is set in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

in the key of

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

. The verses use a chord pattern of E-A-E-B-A-E, with a pattern of E-A-E-A-Cm-Fm⁷ on the chorus, and the lead vocal ranges from E to G.

Commercial performance

"Somebody Like You" reached number one on the ''

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

) chart dated for the week of 19 October 2002, holding that position for six weeks and spending 41 weeks on that chart. It also reached number 23 on the all-genre ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. In December 2009, ''Billboard'' ranked "Somebody Like You" as the number-one country song for the 2000s decade. The song was certified double platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America 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/o ...

(RIAA) on 31 July 2019. As of September 2015, the song has sold 1.05 million copies in the US. Outside the US, "Somebody Like You" peaked at number three on the

Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian music charts are a collection of record charts reflecting the music consumption of people in Canada. '' RPM'' and '' Billboard'' are the biggest publications to have published Canada's official charts for decades. However, the first ...

and was certified triple platinum in Australia in 2023.

Music video

The song's

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 to

Country Music Television Country Music Television, often abbreviated to CMT, is an American pay TV network that launched on March 5, 1983. It is currently owned by Paramount Global through the MTV Entertainment Group unit of its networks division. CMT was the first na ...

(CMT) on 7 August 2002. It was directed by

Trey Fanjoy Trey Fanjoy is an American music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV. She is the first woman to win the Country Music Ass ...

, who also directed the video for Keith Urban's late 2000/early 2001 single " But for the Grace of God".

Track listings

Canadian CD single (2002) # "Somebody Like You" – 3:53 # "If You Wanna Stay" – 4:27 European CD single (2005) # "Somebody Like You" – 3:57 # "

You Look Good in My Shirt In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...

" – 3:47 # "You Are Not Alone Tonight" (acoustic) – 3:40 # "Somebody Like You" (''Sessions @

AOL AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

'' performance) – 3:45

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from the '' Golden Road'' liner notes. *

– lead vocals, background vocals, electric guitar, ganjo,

EBow The EBow is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It was invented by the American guitarist Greg Heet in 1969 and introduced in 1976. The EBow uses a pickup and a magnetic feedback circuit to ...

cardboard box Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, primarily used for packaging goods and materials. Specialists in industry seldom use the term cardboard because it does not denote a specific material. The term ''cardboard'' may refer to a ...

* Tim Akers – keyboards *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac (born December 20, 1968) is an American session guitarist and producer. He is also a popular YouTube personality with over 100,000 subscribers. He is a five-time winner of Music Row's Top Ten Album All-Stars award in the guitar categ ...

– electric guitar *

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer, studio guitarist, and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004 ...

– electric guitar *

Chris McHugh Chris McHugh (born 1964) is an American musician from Camden, NJ. He began his career as the drummer of Christian rock band White Heart from 1986 to 1989. McHugh toured and played as a session drummer with artists such as Aaron Neville, Pe ...

– drums, percussion *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular ...

– bass guitar * Russell Terrell – background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control 2002 singles 2002 songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Keith Urban songs Music videos directed by Trey Fanjoy Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Songs written by John Shanks Songs written by Keith Urban