"Downtown" is a song by American hip hop duo

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are an American hip hop duo from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2008 by Macklemore, a rapper,Trust, Gary (2013)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Can't Hold Us' Makes Hot 100 History, ''Billboard'', May 8, 2013. Retrieved January ...

featuring fellow American musicians Eric Nally of

Foxy Shazam Foxy Shazam is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio formed in 2004. , the band's lineup consists of lead vocalist Eric Nally, pianist Sky White, trumpeter and backing vocalist Alex Nauth, bassist Trigger Warning, guitarist Devin Williams ...

Melle Mel Melvin Glover (born May 15, 1961 in The Bronx), better known by his stage name Grandmaster Melle Mel (or simply Melle Mel) () is an American hip hop recording artist who was the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furio ...

Kool Moe Dee Mohandas Dewese (born August 8, 1962), better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, is an American rapper, writer and actor. Considered one of the forerunners of the new jack swing sound in hip hop, he gained fame in the 1980s as a member of one ...

, and Grandmaster Caz. The song was officially released on August 27, 2015, as the lead single from the duo's second studio album ''

This Unruly Mess I've Made ''This Unruly Mess I've Made'' is the second studio album by American hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. It was released on February 26, 2016, by Macklemore LLC and Alternative Distribution Alliance. Following the success of the duo's hit album ...

'' (2016). A music video for the song was uploaded to

Ryan Lewis Ryan Scott Lewis (born March 25, 1988) is an American record producer, DJ, videographer, photographer, graphic designer, music video director, rapper, and songwriter. Along with producing his own album, ''Instrumentals'', Lewis produced the alb ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel on the day of the song's release.

Background

On the song Macklemore said, "Ryan

ewis An electrical wiring interconnect system (EWIS) is the wiring system and components (such as bundle clamps, wire splices, etc.) for a complex system. The term originated in the aviation industry but was originally designated as Electrical Intercon ...

made a beat on the road called 'moping around,' I got the beat, I thought it said

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typ ...

." "Coincidentally we had both purchased mopeds for being on the road so we could go around, leave the venues that we were performing at, and I wrote a song about mopeds, which now a year and a half later is out in the world."

Critical reception

'' AXS'' described the song as a sequel to the duo's successful single "

Thrift Shop Thrift may refer to: * Frugality * A savings and loan association in the United States * Apache Thrift, a remote procedure call (RPC) framework * Thrift (plant), a plant in the genus ''Armeria'' * Syd Thrift (1929–2006), American baseball exe ...

", while ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' called it "a hip hop recreation of

Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical ...

and

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, R ...

's "

Uptown Funk "Uptown Funk" is a song by British record producer Mark Ronson from his fourth studio album, ''Uptown Special'' (2015), featuring American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. It was released as the album's lead single on 10 November 2014 via dow ...

"." It came at #18 on the annual Triple J Hottest 100 for 2015. However, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' named "Downtown" the sixth-worst song of 2015.

Chart performance

In the United States, "Downtown" debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart dated September 12, 2015 at number 94. Its chart debut was fueled by sales of 11,000 digital downloads in its first two days, along with 886,000 domestic streams during the same period, nearly all from views of the song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

. The next week, following its first full week of availability and a performance at the

2015 MTV Video Music Awards The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2015. The 32nd installment of the event was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by Miley Cyrus. Taylor Swift led the nominations with a total of ten, follo ...

, the song jumped to number 18 with the week's largest gain in digital download sales, having sold 95,000 copies and logged 5.7 million streams for the week. It has since peaked at number 12. As of November 2015, "Downtown" has sold 772,000 copies domestically. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis also performed the song live on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...

'' on September 9, 2015. In Australia, "Downtown" entered the Australian Singles Chart at number nine as the second highest debut on the week commencing September 7, 2015. The song rose to number two on the week commencing September 14, 2015. On the week commencing October 5, 2015, "Downtown" replaced

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

's "

What Do You Mean? "What Do You Mean?" is a song recorded by Canadian singer Justin Bieber for his fourth studio album ''Purpose'' (2015). The song was released on August 28, 2015, as the album's lead single by Def Jam. The song was produced by MdL and co-produced ...

" at number one after being blocked from the position for three weeks, becoming Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' fourth number one single in the country. It has since been certified triple platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing ...

(ARIA).

Music video

The official music video for the song was uploaded on August 27, 2015, to

channel. It was directed by Macklemore, Lewis, and Jason Koenig, and was filmed in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

. Ken Griffey Jr. is featured in the music video. As of March 2022, it has over 228,000,000 views on

In popular culture

Media

"Downtown" was used in the movie trailers for ''

Dirty Grandpa ''Dirty Grandpa'' is a 2016 American comedy film about a lawyer who drives his grandfather to Florida during spring break. The film was directed by Dan Mazer and written by John Phillips. It stars Robert De Niro and Zac Efron with Aubrey Plaza ...

'', along with the trailers for ''

The Secret Life of Pets ''The Secret Life of Pets'' is a 2016 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Yarrow Cheney (in his feature directorial ...

''. In July 2018, the

Seattle Police Department The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States, except for the campus of the University of Washington, which is under the responsibility of its own police department ...

created a music video set to "Downtown" as part of a lip-sync video competition between police departments across the United States that was popular at the time. This was used in 2018 film '' Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation'', the song was sung by a group of Fish Men in the film.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downtown (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis song) 2015 singles 2015 songs Macklemore songs Ryan Lewis songs Songs written by Macklemore Songs written by Ryan Lewis Number-one singles in Australia