Hung Up

Madonna Hung up Single CD cover "Hung Up" is a pop song written by American singer-songwriter Madonna, Stuart Price, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and produced by Madonna and Price. The song was released in October 2005, the first single to be lifted from Madonna's tenth studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor.

After the disappointing critical and commercial reaction to her previous album, American Life and the forty-third most successful song in music history. The song is the seventh most successful single by a female artist and thirteenth best-selling single in , (widely considered the nadir of her career), it was ironic that Madonna should return with not only her biggest selling single ever, but also one of the most successful singles of all time, reaching number one in a record-breaking 45 countries. "Hung Up" is easily, worldwide, the most successful and highest-selling single of Madonna's career, shifting 8,698,000 units . According to the United World Chart, it is the 5th most successful song since 1999Europe

Song information

"Hung Up" was inspired by the 1970s disco era, in particular ABBA, Giorgio Moroder and Saturday Night Fever. A sample of ABBA's 1979 hit "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" featuring a flute hook forms the basis of the song. Madonna is only the second artist the Swedish band has allowed to sample its music, as ABBA songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus have a strict "no sample" policy.

According to Madonna, she approached Andersson and Ulvaeus by sending her "emissary to Stockholm with a letter and the record imploring them, telling them how much I worship their music; telling them it was a homage to them, which is all true". Andersson and Ulvaeus quickly gave their permission. They stated, "'Hung Up' is really good. If it wasn't any good we would not have said yes. It is a wonderful track - 100% solid pop music." Andersson and Ulvaeus asked for co-writer credits and a percentage of the profits,

Madonna also samples herself in the song, with references to her previous recordings in the lyrics, including "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Love Song" (her 1989 duet with Prince). She commented at the time of the song's release that the new breed of female pop stars had been copying her for years, "so I thought it was about time I copied myself!"

On September 6, 2005, two thirteen-second clips of the song leaked onto the Internet. By October 13, 2005, the entire track had leaked, prompting Madonna's label to release it to radio the same day, a week ahead of schedule. It was officially made available as a download (via Apple iTunes) on October 17, 2005, before the U.S. maxi CD release date of November 17, 2005. "Hung Up" became Madonna's first single to be released digitally through online stores before a physical format was available.

Madonna had opened the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards, and the 2006 Grammy Awards with "Hung Up". She performed this song at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, and during her Confessions Tour, of which is available in DVD/CD. She also ended the London leg of Live Earth concert with "Hung Up".

It was awarded as "The Best Selling Single" in Greek Arion Music Awards by IFPI Greece. The song was used on the commercial for Motorola which also features Madonna in the commercial.

Music video

Originally the video for "Hung Up" was scheduled to be directed by photographer David LaChapelle. LaChapelle wanted the video to have a "documentary"-style look, much like that of his film Rize, of which five of the dancers in the "Hung Up" video appear. LaChapelle and Madonna butted heads over the issue and couldn't agree on a concept. This prompted the director to be removed from the project. The task of director then went to Johan Renck and filmed from October 8-10, 2005 at Pineapple Dance Studios, Great Guildford Street, the London Underground and Trocadero Centre, while other location scenes were shot in Los Angeles, California. Most of the dancers that appear in the video followed Madonna on tour and also appear in the music video for the follow up single, "Sorry". Another video was made, with only a slight difference. It showed Madonna going to a club, and it shows the sexy queen of pop taking off her clothes and having sex with a man.

Madonna stated that the video is an homage to the disco film Saturday Night Fever. Her scenes in the rehearsal studio are reminiscent of a scene in the movie when John Travolta's character Tony Manero approaches Karen Lynn Gorney's character Stephanie Mangano.

Madonna broke eight bones in a horseback-riding accident a few weeks before shooting the video for "Hung Up". She stated: "When I shot the video, none of the bones had gone together. Pharmaceuticals and my will got me through the shoot."

The video also contains several scenes of the physical discipline parkour. It premiered worldwide on October 27, 2005.

It was nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards and two MuchMusic Video Awards in 2006, but failed to win.

Director: Johan Renck
Producers: Lene Bausager, John Winter
Director of Photography: Gosta Reiland
Editor: Johan Söderberg
Production Company: RSA Films

Chart performance

"Hung Up" reached number one in 45 countries, Madonna's first international chart-topper since "Music" in 2000.

In the United States, "Hung Up" debuted at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 — one of the highest debuts of 2005 — due to strong digital downloads. It became Madonna's 36th Top 10 single when it reached #7, tying her with Elvis Presley's record of 36 Top 10 hits. Its success was also significant as her previous three singles failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100. "Hung Up" went on to become her biggest single since "Die Another Day" in late 2002.

In the UK, "Hung Up" debuted at number-one, where it remained for three weeks, Madonna's 11th number one single there. It remained in the chart for 29 weeks, her longest run on the singles chart. It spent what was at the time a record seven weeks at number-one on the UK Download Chart. Upon the 2008 release of 4 Minutes, Madonna's first single from her 11th studio album Hard Candy, Hung Up re-entered the UK Charts at #183.

"Hung Up" also reached number-one in Australia (one week, and the tenth chart-topper of her career), Canada (fifteen weeks, her longest stay atop the singles chart), South Africa (two weeks) and France (five weeks), becoming one of her biggest selling songs in the French market to date. In Italy, "Hung Up" spent 14 consecutive weeks at the top of the chart.

Its worldwide popularity was displayed on the United World Chart, where it spent 15 consecutive weeks at number-one, selling over 5 million copies (9.625.000 points inclusive of airplay) before its follow-up single "Sorry" replaced it at the top. This marked the first time that the same artist had occupied the number-one and number two positions. In the EURO 200 (European Union Top 200) the single remained at number one for fifteen weeks also.

In Latin America, "Hung Up" topped the chart for eight weeks in a row, and spent 15 weeks in the Top 10. It was also Madonna's first number one on the Latin American chart.

In Russia, "Hung Up" became Madonna's first number one single and the second song by an American artist to reach number-one (the first being Cher with her 2001 hit single "The Music's No Good Without You"). It is also the longest chart run at number-one for a song performed in a language other than Russian.

In Romania, the song debuted at #65 reaching No.1 after only 7 weeks, and stayed in the top spot for 9 consecutive weeks. It's also her first #1 since Die Another Day.

"Hung Up" is arguably the biggest hit single of Madonna's career. In March 2007, the United World Chart ranked "Hung Up" as the 43rd most successful song in music history. Referring to that same list, "Hung Up" is also the seventh most successful song released by a solo female musician, the third most successful single of the 21st Century thus far and the second biggest selling dance single of all time, after Cher's single, "Believe".

Charts

It was the first English language song to top the Latin America Top 40 since the creation of the chart in May 2004.

World record

Chart (2005)	Peak position
Argentine Top 40 Singles Chart	1 (3)
Austrian Top 40 Singles Chart	1 (6)
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart	1 (3)
Belgian (Wallonia) Ultratop 40 Singles Chart	1 (9)
Brazilian Hot 100 Singles Chart	1
Canadian Top 50 Singles Chart	1 (15)
Czech IFPI Singles Chart	1
Danish Singles Chart	1
Dutch Singles Chart	1 (4)
European Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart	1 (12)
Finnish Singles Chart	1 (2)
French Top 100 Singles Chart	1 (5)
Germany Top 100 Singles Chart	1 (9)
Greek IFPI Singles Chart	1
Hong Kong Foreign Singles Chart	1
Hungarian Airplay Chart	1
Israeli Singles Chart	1
Italian FIMI Singles Chart	1 (14)
Irish Top 50 Singles Chart	2
Japanese Oricon Weekly International Singles	1

Chart (2006)	Peak position
Japanese Oricon Weekly Singles Chart	59
Latin American Top 40 Airplay Chart	1 (8)
Latvian Top 50 Airplay Chart	1 (4)
México Top 100 Singles Chart Chart	2
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	2
Netherlands Top 40 Singles Chart	1 (7)
Norwegian Singles Chart	1 (5)
Polish Airplay Chart	1
Portuguese Airplay Chart	1
Romanian Singles Chart	1 (9)
Russia Top 100 Airplay Hit Detection Chart	1 (4)
South African Singles Chart	1 (2)
Spanish Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	1 (5)
Swiss Singles Chart	1 (7)
Slovakia IFPI Air Play Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1 (3)
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	7
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay	1 (9)
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	1 (4)
United World Chart	1 (15)

Due to the single's worldwide success, it currently holds the record of reaching the number-one position in the most countries for a single. This record was listed in the 2007 edition of "Guinness Book of World Records". "Hung Up" is also the second biggest-selling dance single of all time. With this song, Madonna achieved her 25th gold single, surpassing the Beatles for the most gold singles of all time.

Worldwide sales

Country	Sales
Australia (Platinum)	70,000 (singles sales only)
Denmark (Platinum)	24,000 (digital sales)
France (Diamond)	700,000 (singles sales + digital sales)
Germany (3 x Gold)	450,000 (singles sales)
Greece (Gold)	7,500 (singles sales)
Italy (2 x Platinum)	160,000 (digital sales: 120,000; maxi-singles sales: 40,000)
Japan (2 x Platinum)	500,000 (digital sales), 7,000 (maxi-singles sales)
Sweden (2 x Platinum)	40,000 (singles sales)
U.S.(Platinum)	1,005,255 (digital sales: 962,255; maxi-singles sales: 43,000)
UK (Gold)	428,500 (singles sales + digital sales)

Preceded by "And She Said..." by Lucas Prata	Billboard Hot Dance Airplay number-one single October 30-December 31, 2005	Succeeded by "Don't Forget About Us" by Mariah Carey
Preceded by "Cool" by Gwen Stefani	Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single November 19-December 10, 2005	Succeeded by "I've Got a Life (It's the Only Thing That's Mine)" by Eurythmics
Preceded by "Popcorn" by Crazy Frog	French Singles Chart number-one single (first run) November 12, 2005 - December 3, 2005	Succeeded by "Santiano" by Star Academy 5
Preceded by "Santiano" by Star Academy 5	French Singles Chart number-one single (second run) December 31, 2005	Succeeded by "La Camisa Negra" by Juanes
Preceded by "You Raise Me Up" by Westlife	UK Singles Chart number-one single November 13, 2005 - November 27, 2005	Succeeded by "Stickwitu" by Pussycat Dolls
Preceded by "Gold Digger" by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx	Australia ARIA Singles Chart number-one single November 20, 2005	Succeeded by "My Humps" by Black Eyed Peas
Preceded by "Tripping" by Robbie Williams	Eurochart Hot 200 Singles number-one single November 20, 2005 - March 11, 2006	Succeeded by "Sorry" by Madonna
Preceded by "Don't Cha" by The Pussycat Dolls	Romanian Singles Chart number-one single December 12, 2005 - February 26, 2006	Succeeded by "Jokero" by Akcent
Preceded by "Tripping" by Robbie Williams	United World Chart number-one single November 26, 2005 - March 4, 2006	Succeeded by "Sorry" by Madonna
Preceded by "Alive" by Melissa O'Neil	Canadian Singles Chart number-one single December 3, 2005 - December 10, 2005	Succeeded by "Alive" by Melissa O'Neil
Preceded by "No" by Shakira	Latin America Top 40 number-one single December 18, 2005 - February 5, 2006	Succeeded by "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt
Preceded by "Don't Cha" by The Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes	Norwegian VG-lista number-one single (first run) November 16, 2005 - December 14, 2005	Succeeded by "Lift Me" by Madrugada and Ane Brun
Preceded by "Lift Me" by Madrugada and Ane Brun	Norwegian VG-lista number-one single (second run) January 25, 2006 - February 1, 2006	Succeeded by "Enhjørning" by Dum Dum Boys

Official versions

Original versions

Album Version #1 (Continuous Album Version) — 5:36
Album Version #2 (Fade/Unmixed Album Version) — 5:43
Radio Version #1 (Promo/Digital Sales & US Maxi CD — Instrumental Fade Out) — 3:23
Radio Version #2 (European Maxi CD — Vocal Fade Out) — 3:23
Album Instrumental (Withdrawn Promo) — 5:36
Promo Tour Studio Version — 4:56
Hung Up/Lucky Star Confessions Tour Rehearsal — 10:10
Hung Up/Feel Good Inc. (feat. Gorillaz & De La Soul) Grammy Awards Medley Rehearsal — 7:51