Cee Lo Green’s ‘ You’ finally reaches No. 1 on Billboard Top 40, breaks a record
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It may have taken a while, but Cee Lo Green’s unprintable anthem otherwise known as “[Forget] You,” has finally blown up to the top of the mainstream pop charts.
On Thursday, the song rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40 list in its 25th chart week. That makes this the longest journey to the pop chart peak in the Nielsen BDS-based radio airplay ranking’s 18-year history, according to Billboard.
The song surpasses the 23-week climb to No. 1 for Pink’s “U + Ur Hand,” which made its marathon run in 2006-07. The Mainstream Top 40 charting of “[Forget] You” is actually 30 weeks, dating to its debut on the Sep. 25 chart survey. Originally, the song reached its peak at No. 18 in October in a nine-week chart stay through Nov. 20.
Oddly enough, some key celebrity endorsements in recent months helped turn a catchy song championing a dirty word into A-rated, mainstream material.
In recent months, the song’s been trumpeted by celebrities such as William Shatner and Gwyneth Paltrow, who covered the song on “Lopez Tonight” and “Glee,” respectively. Then, of course, there was the Paltrow-Green duet at the Grammys (who can forget that peacock outfit?).
In addition, the song reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 last week and has sold 3.7 million downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
-- Nate Jackson
