"Don't Stop the Music" is a dance-pop song performed by Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna from her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad. It was the third single from the album in most of Europe, the second single in Germany and Spain and the fourth single in the rest of the world. It was first sent to radio on December 27, 2006, in America and physically released on September 7, 2007, in Germany and elsewhere on later dates. It had many electronic dance music remixes by many European disc jockeys like The Wideboys, Bob Sinclar, and Jody Den Broeder. The song was written by Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Tawanna Dabney, and samples Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". The up-tempo song has prominent dance music characteristics with influences of techno and house and is lyrically about having fun on the dancefloor.

"Don't Stop the Music" was well-received by many critics for its combination of techno and house music. The song is one of Rihanna's most critically acclaimed and best selling singles. It garnered high commercial outcomes for Rihanna in several countries, hitting the top five in eighteen countries, including Australia, Belgium, France, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. The song reached its highest international peak in eleven countries at number one including Australia, Belgium, France, Finland and Germany.

The music video for the song features Rihanna performing in the club behind a candy store. It was directed by Taj and Rihanna, her first music video that was co-directed, along with "Disturbia". In 2008, the song received a Grammy nomination in the Best Dance Recording category but lost to Justin Timberlake's "Love Stoned". On June 23, 2010, the song reached sales of over three million downloads, becoming Rihanna's third song as a lead artist to do so.^[2]

1 Composition
2 Critical reception
3 Chart performance
4 Music video
5 Impact
6 Track listing and formats
- 6.1 Don't Stop the Music
- 6.2 Don't Stop the Music: Remixes
7 Charts and certifications
8 Radio and release history
9 Jamie Cullum version
10 References

Composition

"Don't Stop the Music" is a moderately fast dance groove composed in the key of F-sharp minor with 120 beats per minute.^[3] The tempo is set in common time.^[3] The song both interpolates from and directly samples the "African chant" section of Michael Jackson's 1983 hit "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". That section, in turn, was an interpolation of the 1972 song "Soul Makossa" by Manu Dibango. In 2009, Dibango filed a case against Rihanna and Michael Jackson for interpolating "Soul Makossa" without his consent (Dibango had previously sued Jackson directly for "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", a case that had been settled out of court).^[4]

Critical reception

Many critics praised "Don't Stop the Music" for Rihanna's slick transition into dance music combining influences of techno and house music. Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times: "In 'Don't Stop the Music,' produced by StarGate, she finds the exuberance in a rather severe techno beat".^[5] Tom Breihan of Pitchfork Media says "Stargate is responsible for the best track here, 'Don't Stop the Music', an amazing bit of synth-bass Euroclub insanity; halfway through, sampled mamasay-mamasas from Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Startin' Something' [sic] come in and seamlessly blur into the track's overpowering beat."^[6] Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters claims "the Michael Jackson-sampling 'Don’t Stop the Music' ... inspires the type of tail feather shaking you can only produce when you're chanting, 'Ma ma say, ma ma sah, ma ma koo sah', from 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin''."^[7] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine calls "Don't Stop The Music" "most closely related to that 2006 smash ["SOS"], a track that borrows heavily from a song that itself borrowed heavily from something else (this time it's Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'' which took its 'Mama-se, mama-sa, ma-ma-coo-sa' refrain from Manu Dibango's 'Soul Makoosa'[sic])."^[8]

Nick Levine of Digital Spy: "'Don't Stop The Music', the album's fourth single, finds Rihanna reaping the benefits of this beat-happy approach. A big, chunky floor-filler built around a looped sample of the 'mama-se, mama-sa, mama-ku-sa's from Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'', it hands her an unmissable opportunity to sound sexy while wiggling her hips seductively. The whole thing works so brilliantly that, almost unwittingly, it's the best single to bear a 'Jackson, M.' writing credit since 'Blood On The Dancefloor'."^[9] Bill Lamb of About.com gave "Don't Stop the Music" four out of five stars, praising its "thumping house beat," "room-filling Stargate production," and "clever inclusion of [a] classic Michael Jackson line" while mentioning that "its repetitive nature as dance music may not work as well on radio".^[10]

Chart performance

"Don't Stop the Music" has achieved considerable success in several European countries. It reached a peak of number-one in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland and France which became Rihanna's first number-one single.^[11] In Italy, it is Rihanna's highest charting song to date, having reached number-two. It had also reached number-six in Ireland, before its official release in February 2008. It was a massive hit in Spain where it reached number-one in Spain's top 40 (Los 40) and enjoyed heavy club and radio play. In addition, it has been successful in Canada, where it has reached number-two on the Canadian Hot 100,^[11] becoming her second top five single from Good Girl Gone Bad, while in Greece it peaked at number-three in Greek IFPI Singles Chart and it is her most successful single to date. As of February 2011, it has sold 3,125,000 in U.S.A alone.^[12]

Rihanna performing "Don't Stop the Music" in Zurich, during her Last Girl on Earth Tour, 2010.

Although at the time it had not been released as a promotional single in the United States, it did reach number-one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. Although it was premiered on BET's 106 & Park along with "Shut Up and Drive", it was at the time scrapped for "Hate That I Love You". Several weeks after the video premiered on 106 & Park, and its peak atop Hot Dance Club Play, the single began to see a resurgence on radio, particularly on Top 40 stations. The following week, the song jumped fourteen spots to officially debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,^[11] despite the fact that a single release in the United States for the song had still not yet been announced. Furthermore, the song's fast-rising airplay has propelled its popularity, leading to a surge of digital downloads on iTunes from the digital album. Total downloads to date on Billboard's charts for "Don't Stop The Music" stand at over 3 million.^[2] The song, which entered the iTunes Top 100 Songs chart at number ninety-five on December 7, 2007, has climbed to number two as of January 21, 2008. This digital component has further helped the song on the Hot 100, where it has so far reached number three, becoming her seventh top ten and fourth top five single in the United States. The song was finally officially released in the U.S. in late 2007. The song is also seen by many as a pivotal point for the singer's career. Although she had already been a staple at the time of the song's surge in popularity, the song would mark the beginning of her massive chart reign in 2008. She went on to have the most sales of any artist in 2008.^[13]

In the week ending June 20, 2010, "Don't Stop The Music" topped the 3 million mark in paid downloads. It became Rihanna's fourth song as a lead and a featured artist to hit 3 million following "Disturbia", "Umbrella" (featuring Jay-Z) and "Live Your Life" (led by T.I) . She is the only artist with a grand total of four 3-million sellers.^[2] On December 30, 2007, the song entered the UK Singles Chart based upon digital sales alone and has peaked at number four. The single's popularity in the UK has exceeded that of the third Good Girl Gone Bad single "Hate That I Love You", which only managed a peak of number fifteen upon its physical release. "Don't Stop the Music" was officially released in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2008.^[11] It spend eight weeks on the top ten and forty-two weeks in the top 100.^[14] Despite only peaking at number four,^[11] "Don't Stop The Music" is Rihanna's second longest charting single in the UK, with forty-two weeks on in the top 100 it only surpassed by her huge number-one single "Umbrella" which has appeared on the same chart for seventy-one weeks.^[15] The single has sold over 150,000 copies in Germany and has been certified gold. On January 27, 2008, it was added to Australian radio playlists. It had an early entry peaking number fifty-three.

On February 11, 2008, "Don't Stop the Music" became the highest peaking digital single on the ARIA Singles Chart, soaring from number seven to number two^[11] with a massive boost in downloads, despite the fact that the single was released in late February 2008. On February 18, 2008, the song reached number-one,^[11] becoming the first number one song in ARIA Singles Chart history based on digital downloads alone, and her third Australian number one along with "Umbrella" and "SOS". It is widely believed the song's chart success in Australia (it held the pole position for four non-consecutive weeks, dethroning Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love" twice and was certified Platinum) was due to its use on the high-rating local version of So You Think You Can Dance and its popularity in clubs. "Don't Stop the Music" had similarly charted highly in the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart prior to its physical release. In Spain, the single was a massive hit. It even exceeded "Umbrella"s success achieving six times Platinum with sales over 240,000 units, and ending in the first position in the annual spanish singles chart 2008 published by PROMUSICAE. "Don't Stop the Music" became Rihanna's first number-one song on the Latin America Top 40 Airplay Chart, and her second top-two song, after "Umbrella" which peaked at number-two for 10 consecutive weeks. The song is also the first English song to reach the top position since "Beautiful Liar" by Beyoncé and Shakira in May 2007. Rihanna has also the distinction of being the fourth international artist to reach the top position, after Madonna, James Blunt and Beyoncé. In Mexico, Rihanna scored her second top ten hit and first number-one single, it also became the first non-Spanish number-one hit in over a year.^[16] The song also hit number one on the ARIA charts but was knocked off on March 23, 2008, by Flo Rida's "Low".

Music video

The music video for "Don't Stop the Music" was premiered on BET's 106 & Park on July 20, 2007. The video was filmed the day after the "Shut Up and Drive" video in club Radost in Prague (district Prague 2), Czech Republic. It was directed by Taj and Rihanna. The video opens with Rihanna and two of her friends coming out of a taxi, and they walk into a candy store telling a boy to be quiet. They sneak into the back of the candy store where there is a secret club. The verse begins with Rihanna singing in the bathroom while checking herself out and putting on makeup. After this she walks out of the bathroom and walks into the club where everyone is dancing, and the chorus begins. The rest of the video just shows Rihanna and her friends dancing in the club. The video was choreographed by Tina Landon. Nolan Padilla from the Jennifer Lopez reality television show DanceLife makes a guest appearance. It reached number 2 on MTV's TRL and number 1 on Yahoo! music Top 100 videos. As of May 2011 the video had been viewed over 143 millions times on YouTube.^[17]

Impact

The song was the opening song on Idol Gives Back on April 9, 2008, sung by the remaining contestants of American Idol as past So You Think You Can Dance finalists performed various dance routines. It was also featured on the D&G fashion show, on the Milan Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2007. The song has been used in week seven of Dancing with the Stars by Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas and in 2010 Olympic Gold Medalist Kim Yu-Na's 2008–2009 season exhibition program. The song is also part of the regular rotation on WGN-TV's annual telecast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.

Track listing and formats

"Don't Stop the Music" was released on CD and 12" vinyl commercially and as "Don't Stop the Music": Remixes" promotionally.