Tik Tok – 2009
“Tik Tok” (stylized as “TiK ToK”) is the debut single by American recording artist Kesha. The song was produced by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco and co-written by Kesha, Dr. Luke and Blanco. It was released on August 7, 2009 as the lead single from Kesha’s debut studio album, Animal. The opening line of the song came from an experience where Kesha woke up surrounded by beautiful women, to which she imagined Diddy being in a similar scenario. The experience triggered the writing of the song which she later brought to her producer, Dr. Luke, who was then contacted by Diddy in hopes of a collaboration; he came to the studio the same day and recorded his lines and the song was completed.
According to Kesha, the song’s lyrics are representative of her and based on her life; the song has a carefree message and talks about not letting anything bring you down. The song is an electropop song with dance-pop elements that uses a minimalist video-game beat interspersed with handclaps and synths. The song’s verses use a rap-sing vocal style while the chorus is sung; throughout the song the use of Auto-Tune is prominent. Musically, the song has been compared to the works of Lady Gaga, Uffie, and Fergie.
The song achieved commercial success by topping the charts in eleven countries. In the United States, the song broke the record for the biggest single-week sum of all time for a female artist selling 610,000 digital downloads in one week. “Tik Tok” was certified 5× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold over six million copies in the United States. The song was the best-selling single worldwide in 2010, selling 12.8 million copies in that year alone, and by 2012, 14 million copies were sold, making it the third best-selling single in the digital history, after “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, and “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas. The song was listed 56th on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of All-time.
Track listing
US single
“Tik Tok” – 3:20
Germany/UK single
“Tik Tok” – 3:20
“Tik Tok” (Tom Neville’s Crunk & Med Mix) – 6:53
UK EP
“Tik Tok” – 3:20
“Tik Tok” (Fred Falke Club Remix) – 6:42
“Tik Tok” (Chuck Buckett’s Verucca Salt Remix Remix) – 4:55
“Tik Tok” (Tom Neville’s Crunk & Med Mix) – 6:53
“Tik Tok” (Untold Remix) – 5:01