Barbados-born singer Rihanna is responsible for one of the most popular dance tracks of the last decade. The star’s 2011 hit “We Found Love” ft. Calvin Harris spent 10 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States and is the top song of its genre in the country over the aforementioned period. “We Found Love” spent six weeks atop the charts in the United Kingdom and was also pretty big-time there, topped by only Clean Bandit’s “Rockabye” ft. Sean Paul and Anne Marie, and Calvin’s “One Kiss” with Dua Lipa.
The song ranks at No.12 in both the US and Canada on a table put together by Betway that looks into the top 20 songs from charts in 22 countries from the last decade. It ranks at No.14 in the UK.
This unique chart, shown below, was based on research that sought to determine the common factors that make a song successful in a particular country and culminated in a piece called The Pound of Music.
The factors taken into consideration include the key, time signature, genre, tempo, energy, and danceability. Where the last two are concerned, the Rihanna and Calvin Harris track ranked pretty highly. It posted a 77 out of 100 score for energy, fifth on said table in the category, and 73 out of 100 in the danceability column.
While the song was far from career-defining for Rihanna; she was already well-established in the music industry by the time it was released, it certainly gave her status a boost. Her “I Love The Way You Lie” with Eminem was already one of the hottest tracks the previous year.
For Harris, it was the song that saw to his successful transition to the US, with the DJ having already made a name for him in the UK. The collaboration with Rihanna brought about the longest chart-topper for both artists.
“We Found Love” remains as the longest-reigning No. 1 hit for both artists, and eventually served as a jumping-off point for Calvin Harris’ crossover success in the U.S,” Melina Matsoukas, who directed the music video (which has racked up 912 million views on YouTube) told billboard late last year. “It also proved that Rihanna had earned her place among the pop pantheon as an artist willing to shift her sound to go after untapped markets.”
“As a general rule, I usually don’t prognosticate future chart positions when listening to songs,” Rihanna’s vocal recorder Marcos Tovar said. “But with [‘We Found Love’] it was a bit more obvious that it was going to leave a mark.”
Despite his confidence in the song, Tovar didn’t expect it to make the mark it did.
“I certainly wouldn’t have guessed it would remain the biggest hit for them both.” he added. “I think the combination of great energy in the track, relatable, hopeful lyrics and a melody that’s eminently sing along-able is what has made it stand the test of time.”
“We Found Love” wasn’t solely responsible for Rihanna’s name appearing on the table. Her “Work” ft. Drake came in at No. 18 following Betway’s research. The Dancehall track, released in 2016, spent nine weeks atop the US Charts and brought in five awards, including the American Music Award for Favorite Song Soul/R&B and the BET Award for Best Collaboration.
The lowkey jam scored 53 out of 100 for energy, per Betway data, and registered a score of 77 in the danceability category.
In a more recent venture, the artist launched playlists with her Fenty Beauty brand on Apple Music for the summer, with something on there for just about everyone.
“FENTY launches on Apple Music this week with a series of summer playlists to lift your spirits and soothe your soul curated by friends and family,” the announcement from the brand’s Instagram page reads. “Dutch Moroccan/ Egyptian model Imaan Hammam shares her globally influenced good vibes playlist of old and new Afrobeat, Hip Hop and Dancehall tracks on #FENTYplaylists. Press play on Summer!”
