Funkytown

Did You Know?

• The song is in 4/4 time with a key of C major.
• Cynthia Johnson's website states she was never asked to perform in a video for "Funkytown".

Chart performance

In the US, "Funkytown" first appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 29, 1980, and held the number-one spot for four weeks between May 31 and June 21. It also reached the top of the Disco Top 60 chart four separate times and sat at number two on the Hot Soul Singles chart for four weeks. The Recording Industry Association of America certified it Gold on May 23, 1980, and Platinum on July 17. Billboard named it the eighth biggest single of 1980. This remains Lipps Inc.'s only Top 40 hit in America. Abroad, it hit number one in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and West Germany, and peaked at number two in Finland, Sweden, and the UK.

Legacy and impact

In 1997, DJ John Acquaviva listed "Funkytown" among his top ten tracks, praising its bassline. VH1 ranked it number 64 on its "100 Greatest Dance Songs" in October 2000. In 2003, English music journalist Paul Morley included it in his list of "Greatest Pop Single of All Time". Entertainment Weekly ranked it number 94 on "The 100 Greatest Summer Songs" in 2009, describing it as a one-hit wonder that belonged to the tail end of the disco era and presaged techno-pop. That same year, VH1 ranked it number 37 on its "100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 1980s". In 2018, Time Out ranked it number 44 on "The 100 best party songs", noting its simple, repetitive yearning and a killer ten-note synth riff, and that Cynthia Johnson's vocoderized voice was a precursor to Auto-Tune. ThoughtCo. ranked it number seven on its "25 Best Dance Pop Songs of All Time" in 2018.

Pseudo Echo version

In 1986, Australian new wave band Pseudo Echo covered "Funkytown" as "Funky Town" on their album Love an Adventure. It peaked at number one for seven weeks in Australia and six weeks in New Zealand, and reached the top 10 in Canada, South Africa, Sweden, the UK, and the US. The US 7-inch single included "Lies Are Nothing" as the B-side, and a 12-inch maxi single featured a Dance Mix.