Barbie Girl
Encyclopedia
"Barbie Girl" is a song
by the Danish
-Norwegian
dance-pop
group Aqua
, who released the song in 1997 as their third single
overall, and the first United Kingdom
release. The song is included on the album Aquarium and was written by Claus Norreen
and Søren Nystrøm Rasted after the group saw an exhibit on kitsch
culture.
The song topped the charts worldwide, particularly in European countries such as the UK, where it was a number-one hit for three weeks. It was also on top of the charts in Australia for the same length of time, and debuted and peaked at No. 7 on the US Billboard
Hot 100
on 6 September 1997 and It remains Aqua's biggest hit single in the US to date, and their only one to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100
.
and Ken
, the doll
s made by Mattel
. Both the song and its music video feature Lene Nystrøm as Barbie and René Dif
as Ken. As such, the lyrics drew the ire of Barbie's corporate owners, and a lawsuit was filed by Mattel.
The song was voted the fourth "Best Number One of All Time" in a VH1
poll, and was featured in spot #32 on VH1's "Most Awesomely Bad Songs... Ever" countdown. In an unrelated VH1 countdown, VH1
's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders, it was featured at #88. In 2007, Rolling Stone
named "Barbie Girl" as one of the 20 Most Annoying Songs. Also in 2007, MuchMoreMusic
featured the song at #27 on the list of the 50 Guilty Pleasures. In 2009, Same Difference
voted it #2 in their Ultimate Cheese-Fest Top 20 on 4Music
. Five years before, Blender
magazine voted it at #33, as one of the 50 Worst Songs Ever. Most recently, in September 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio
ranked the song at #5 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating that "Paris Hilton
was 16 years old when this [song] came out. We're not blaming Aqua Girls entirely. We're just saying..." Despite the criticism, "Barbie Girl" has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide.
sued the band, saying they violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a "Blonde
Bimbo
." They alleged the song had violated their copyright
s and trademark
s of Barbie, and that its lyrics had tarnished the reputation of their trademark and impinged on their marketing plan. Aqua claimed that Mattel injected their own meanings into the song's lyrics and MCA
Records was not about to let their hit single be suppressed without a fight. They contested Mattel's claims and countersued for defamation after Mattel had likened MCA to a bank robber.
The lawsuit filed by Mattel was dismissed by the lower courts, and this dismissal was upheld, though Mattel took their case up to the Supreme Court of the United States
(Mattel's appeal was later rejected). In 2002, a Court of Appeals ruled the song was protected as a parody
under the trademark doctrine of nominative use
and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
; the judge Alex Kozinski
also threw out the defamation lawsuit that Aqua's record company filed against Mattel, concluding his ruling: "The parties are advised to chill." The case was dismissed, and in the process, it garnered lots of media attention for the song and the band. In 2009, Mattel released a series of advertisements and a promotional music video of the song, with modified lyrics, as part of a new marketing strategy brought in to revive sales.
ian singer Kelly Key
(in Portuguese
, titled "Sou a Barbie Girl" ["I'm the Barbie Girl"] as her tenth single on 15 April 2005 ; the CD maxi contains four version of the song : radio edit, extended version, DJ Malboro mix and club remix), Samanda (2007, peaked at #26 in the UK singles Chart), Rob Mayth (2006, released as single ; in summer 2006, German Euro house project Bangbros played live the remix of this version in an DJ set), Andrea featuring Sergio (Eurobeat
cover for Super Eurobeat Vol. 199 ~Collaboration of Eurobeat~
), Electric Chairs (2001, melancholy and down-tempo version). Other covers have been performed by bands Home Grown
, My Favorite Band (MFB) and Mars Moles. The song has also been covered by Jessica Jung
, a Korean-American singer from the popular girl group
Girls' Generation
in their first Asia Tour. An Easy listening
version also exists by Axel Boys Quartet
(1999) which was featured in a Dior
television ad.
There are also many parodies of the song, notable made by The Dog House (a "gay
" version in which Barbie is insulted behind her back by Garrett and Raoul with gratuitous words because they pine for Ken, however the conclusion of the song sees Barbie approach the pair who proceed to assault
her and run off. This song is featured on their 2000
album
, How Many People Must Get Dissed?), German duo Lynne & Tessa
(a lip-synched internet video of the song, May 2006), British Indian
comedy
sketch
show
Goodness Gracious Me
(titled "Punjabi Girl" both in the radio
series and later on television), Ome Henk
(Dutch song "Neem Een Ander in de Maling (Barbie Girl)", WPLJ
(entitled "Jersey Girl", using stereotypes of Jersey girls as the basis for the whole song).
Mattel in 2009-2010 used an edit of the song as the 'theme song' of Barbie.
In the Family Guy
episode "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey
," president Bill Clinton
is seen singing and dancing to "Barbie Girl" while playing Dance Dance Revolution
.
HBO comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David did a parody of the song called "Party Girl" in the episode "Life is Precious and God and the Bible".
The swedish artist Loke Nyberg (See Swedish Wikipedia article) did a new version of this song for the swedish radio show Morgonpasset (See Swedish Wikipedia article). He interprets the song as criticism of todays beauty ideals.
United Kingdom/U.S.
Europe
Australia and Canada
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
by the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
-Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
group Aqua
Aqua (band)
Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...
, who released the song in 1997 as their third single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
overall, and the first United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
release. The song is included on the album Aquarium and was written by Claus Norreen
Claus Norreen
Claus Norreen is a Danish musician and record producer known for being a part of the band Aqua, which sold around 33 million records.-Early life:...
and Søren Nystrøm Rasted after the group saw an exhibit on kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
culture.
The song topped the charts worldwide, particularly in European countries such as the UK, where it was a number-one hit for three weeks. It was also on top of the charts in Australia for the same length of time, and debuted and peaked at No. 7 on the US Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on 6 September 1997 and It remains Aqua's biggest hit single in the US to date, and their only one to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
History
The lyrics of the song are about BarbieBarbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
and Ken
Ken Carson
Ken is a Mattel toy doll introduced by Mattel in 1961 as the fictional boyfriend of toy doll Barbie introduced in 1959. Similar to his female counterpart, Ken had a fantastically fashionable line of clothing and accessories. In the Barbie mythos, Ken and Barbie met on the set of a TV commercial in...
, the doll
Doll
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
s made by Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
. Both the song and its music video feature Lene Nystrøm as Barbie and René Dif
René Dif
René Dif is a musician and actor, best known as the male vocalist in the Danish pop-dance group Aqua.-Biography:...
as Ken. As such, the lyrics drew the ire of Barbie's corporate owners, and a lawsuit was filed by Mattel.
The song was voted the fourth "Best Number One of All Time" in a VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
poll, and was featured in spot #32 on VH1's "Most Awesomely Bad Songs... Ever" countdown. In an unrelated VH1 countdown, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders, it was featured at #88. In 2007, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
named "Barbie Girl" as one of the 20 Most Annoying Songs. Also in 2007, MuchMoreMusic
MuchMoreMusic
MuchMore is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media, based at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, Ontario....
featured the song at #27 on the list of the 50 Guilty Pleasures. In 2009, Same Difference
Same Difference
Same Difference can refer to:* Same Difference, a British singing duo* Same Difference , an album by Swedish death metal band Entombed* Same Difference , a show which aired on Channel 4...
voted it #2 in their Ultimate Cheese-Fest Top 20 on 4Music
4Music
4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland - its web component can be found at with its own and pages. It is the only channel within the Box Television Network to be branded under Channel 4 and...
. Five years before, Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
magazine voted it at #33, as one of the 50 Worst Songs Ever. Most recently, in September 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio
AOL Radio
AOL Radio powered by Slacker, , is an online radio service available only in the United States.- Roots :...
ranked the song at #5 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating that "Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
was 16 years old when this [song] came out. We're not blaming Aqua Girls entirely. We're just saying..." Despite the criticism, "Barbie Girl" has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide.
Music video
The music video, which was played repeatedly on MTV, was directed by Peder Pedersen and Peter Stenbæk.Mattel's lawsuit
MattelMattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
sued the band, saying they violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a "Blonde
Dumb blonde
The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical perception of blond-haired women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable...
Bimbo
Bimbo
Bimbo, in its popular English language usage, describes a woman who is physically attractive but is perceived to have a low intelligence or poor education. The term can also be used to describe a woman who acts in a sexually promiscuous manner...
." They alleged the song had violated their copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
s and trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
s of Barbie, and that its lyrics had tarnished the reputation of their trademark and impinged on their marketing plan. Aqua claimed that Mattel injected their own meanings into the song's lyrics and MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
Records was not about to let their hit single be suppressed without a fight. They contested Mattel's claims and countersued for defamation after Mattel had likened MCA to a bank robber.
The lawsuit filed by Mattel was dismissed by the lower courts, and this dismissal was upheld, though Mattel took their case up to the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
(Mattel's appeal was later rejected). In 2002, a Court of Appeals ruled the song was protected as a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
under the trademark doctrine of nominative use
Nominative use
Nominative use, also "nominative fair use", is a legal doctrine that provides an affirmative defense to trademark infringement as enunciated by the United States Ninth Circuit, by which a person may use the trademark of another as a reference to describe the other product, or to compare it to their...
and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
; the judge Alex Kozinski
Alex Kozinski
Alex Kozinski is Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, an essayist, and a judicial commentator.-Biography:...
also threw out the defamation lawsuit that Aqua's record company filed against Mattel, concluding his ruling: "The parties are advised to chill." The case was dismissed, and in the process, it garnered lots of media attention for the song and the band. In 2009, Mattel released a series of advertisements and a promotional music video of the song, with modified lyrics, as part of a new marketing strategy brought in to revive sales.
Cover versions and parodies
The song has been covered by several artists throughout years, including U.S. electric duo Velva Blu, BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian singer Kelly Key
Kelly Key
Kelly de Almeida Afonso , better known as Kelly Key, is a Brazilian singer.- Biography :Of Portuguese descent, Key released her first, self-titled album in 2001 at the age of 17. Her first single was the song "Escondido" in which she sang the suggestive lyics 'We went out to make out and to make...
(in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, titled "Sou a Barbie Girl" ["I'm the Barbie Girl"] as her tenth single on 15 April 2005 ; the CD maxi contains four version of the song : radio edit, extended version, DJ Malboro mix and club remix), Samanda (2007, peaked at #26 in the UK singles Chart), Rob Mayth (2006, released as single ; in summer 2006, German Euro house project Bangbros played live the remix of this version in an DJ set), Andrea featuring Sergio (Eurobeat
Eurobeat
Eurobeat is a form of italo-disco/hi-NRG music that developed in the late 1980s.In the United States, Eurobeat was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG and for a short while shared this term with the very early freestyle music hits....
cover for Super Eurobeat Vol. 199 ~Collaboration of Eurobeat~
Super Eurobeat
Super Eurobeat is a CD compilation series of Eurobeat music in Japan. The series itself is one of the longest running in the entire world. It has been running for over twenty years and consists of 214 volumes as of May 2011...
), Electric Chairs (2001, melancholy and down-tempo version). Other covers have been performed by bands Home Grown
Home Grown
Home Grown was an American rock band formed in 1994 in Orange County, California. They released three full-length albums and several EPs before disbanding in 2005. Their music is often characterized as pop punk, lyrically favoring humor and silly or satirical subjects.-Formation:Home Grown was...
, My Favorite Band (MFB) and Mars Moles. The song has also been covered by Jessica Jung
Jessica Jung
Jessica Jung , better known by her first name Jessica, is a Korean-American singer, dancer, actress and model. She was born in San Francisco, and is fluent in both Korean and English...
, a Korean-American singer from the popular girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
Girls' Generation
Girls' Generation
Girls' Generation is a nine-member South Korean electropop girl group formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2007. The nine members are: Taeyeon , Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun...
in their first Asia Tour. An Easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
version also exists by Axel Boys Quartet
Axel Boys Quartet
Axel Boys Quartet is an Easy listening group led by the Danish ex-TV-host Axel Boisen.They've made cover versions of numerous established hits like Me & My's "Dub-I-Dub" and Aqua's "Barbie Girl" . The former was featured as special bonus track on Dancemania's fourth issue, Dancemania 4, which sold...
(1999) which was featured in a Dior
Dior
Dior can mean:* Christian Dior SA, a French clothing retailer* In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth legendarium:**Dior Eluchíl, a Half-elven of the First Age**Dior , a Steward of GondorDior is a surname, and may refer to:...
television ad.
There are also many parodies of the song, notable made by The Dog House (a "gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
" version in which Barbie is insulted behind her back by Garrett and Raoul with gratuitous words because they pine for Ken, however the conclusion of the song sees Barbie approach the pair who proceed to assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
her and run off. This song is featured on their 2000
2000 in music
See also:* 2000 in music Record labels established in 2000-Events:*January – Gary Glitter is released from jail, two months before his sentence for sexual offences ends.*January 1**John Tavener is knighted in the New Year's Honours List....
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, How Many People Must Get Dissed?), German duo Lynne & Tessa
Lynne & Tessa
Lynne & Tessa are two young women from Frankfurt, Germany, who have released internet videos of themselves lip-synching to famous pop songs that, for a brief period during 2006-2007, brought them a considerable online following as well as local media attention....
(a lip-synched internet video of the song, May 2006), British Indian
British Indian
The term British Indian refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK...
comedy
Television comedy
Television comedy had a presence from the earliest days of broadcasting. Among the earliest BBC television programmes in the 1930s was Starlight, which offered a series of guests from the music hall era — singers and comedians amongst them...
sketch
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
show
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Goodness Gracious Me
Goodness Gracious Me (TV & radio)
Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English language sketch comedy show originally on BBC Radio 4 and later televised on BBC Two based on four British Indian actors: Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia...
(titled "Punjabi Girl" both in the radio
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
series and later on television), Ome Henk
Ome Henk
Ome Henk , is the main character of a Dutch CD, DVD and comic series of the same name. The Ome Henk CDs consist of stories which depend on dialogue and sound effects, and songs, some of which are parodies....
(Dutch song "Neem Een Ander in de Maling (Barbie Girl)", WPLJ
WPLJ
WPLJ is a radio station in New York City owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media. WPLJ shares studio facilities with sister station WABC inside 2 Penn Plaza in midtown Manhattan, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building. The station currently plays a Hot Adult...
(entitled "Jersey Girl", using stereotypes of Jersey girls as the basis for the whole song).
Mattel in 2009-2010 used an edit of the song as the 'theme song' of Barbie.
In the Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
episode "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey
Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey
"Bill & Peter's Bogus Journey" is the thirteenth episode of season five of Family Guy; originally airing on March 11, 2007. The plot follows Peter deciding to become physically fit; however, Peter ends up in the hospital after attempting to impress former U.S. President Bill Clinton...
," president Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
is seen singing and dancing to "Barbie Girl" while playing Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
.
HBO comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David did a parody of the song called "Party Girl" in the episode "Life is Precious and God and the Bible".
The swedish artist Loke Nyberg (See Swedish Wikipedia article) did a new version of this song for the swedish radio show Morgonpasset (See Swedish Wikipedia article). He interprets the song as criticism of todays beauty ideals.
Track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Barbie Girl".United Kingdom/U.S.
- CD1
- "Barbie Girl" (Radio Edit) — 3:22
- "Barbie Girl" (Extended Version) — 5:12
- "Barbie Girl" (Perky Park Club Mix) — 6:23
- "Barbie Girl" (Spikes Anatomically Correct Dub) — 7:55
- CD2
- "Barbie Girl" (CD-ROM video)
- "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) — 3:22
- "Barbie Girl" (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 12" G-String mix) — 8:37
- "Barbie Girl" (Dirty Rotten Peroxide Radio mix) — 4:10
- 12" maxi 1
- "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Anatomically Correct dub) — 8:01
- "Barbie Girl" (extended version) — 5:17
- "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Plastic mix) — 8:47
- "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) — 3:16
- 12" maxi 2
- "Barbie Girl" (original extended mix) — 5:14
- "Barbie Girl" (Dirty Rotten G-String mix) — 8:37
- "Barbie Girl" (Dirty Rotten Peroxide mix) — 4:10
Europe
- CD single / Cassette
- "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) — 3:16
- "Barbie Girl" (extended version) — 5:14
- 12" maxi
- "Barbie Girl" (Perky Park club mix) — 6:13
- "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Anatomically Correct dub) — 7:55
Australia and Canada
- CD maxi
- "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) — 3:16
- "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Plastic mix) — 8:47
- "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Anatomically Correct dub) — 8:01
- "Barbie Girl" (extended version) — 5:14
Credits
- Written by Norreen, Nystrøm, Dif, Rasted
- Performed by Norreen, Rasted
- Vocals by G. Nystrøm, Dif
- Hair and make-up by Fjodor Øxenhave
- Styling by Aqua, Bjarne Lindgreen
- Artwork by Peter Stenbæk
- Photo by Robin Skoldborg
- Produced, arranged and mixed by Norreen, Jam, Delgado, Rasted
Release history
| Country | Release Date |
|---|---|
| Europe | |
| United Kingdom | |
| United States |
Peak positions
| Chart (1997) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... Singles Chart |
1 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 2 |
| Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart | 1 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 1 |
| Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
7 |
| Danish Singles Chart Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
2 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
1 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 | 1 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 3 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 1 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
1 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 1 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 7 |
| US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs... |
21 |
End of year charts
| End of year chart (1997) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 2 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 11 |
| Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart | 2 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 2 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 3 |
| French Singles Chart | 5 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 34 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 94 |
| End of year chart (1998) | Position |
| French Singles Chart | 33 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 19 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 3× Platinum | 1997 | 210,000 |
| Austria | Platinum | January 13, 1998 | 30,000 |
| France | Diamond | November 27, 2004 | 750,000 |
| Germany | Platinum | 1997 | 500,000 |
| Sweden | 3× Platinum | January 19, 1998 | 60,000 |
| Switzerland | Platinum | 1997 | 60,000 |
| UK | 2× Platinum | December 5, 1997 | 1,200,000 |