"First Class" is a song by American rapper

Jack Harlow Jackman Thomas Harlow (born March 13, 1998) is an American rapper from Louisville, Kentucky. He started his career in 2015 and released several EPs and mixtapes before he was signed to Don Cannon and DJ Drama's record label Generation Now in 201 ...

, released through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

and Generation Now as the second single from Harlow's second album ''

Come Home the Kids Miss You ''Come Home the Kids Miss You'' is the second studio album by American rapper Jack Harlow. It was released on May 6, 2022 through Generation Now and Atlantic Records. The production was handled by multiple producers including Harlow himself, Phar ...

'' on April 8, 2022. The song was produced by

Rogét Chahayed Rogét Lutfi Chahayed (born May 31, 1988) is a Grammy-nominated American record producer and songwriter who Billboard has called "one of hip-hop and pop's most dependable hit machines." A conservatory-trained pianist who became a producer under ...

, BabeTruth, Charlie Handsome, Jasper Harris and Nickie Jon Pabón, and heavily samples the 2006 Fergie song " Glamorous", which features

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

and was produced by

Polow da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper. Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014 ...

. The song went viral on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

before its release. "First Class" debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Harlow's second song (and first solo song) to top the chart, after his collaboration with

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single " Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popula ...

on "

Industry Baby "Industry Baby" is a song by American rappers Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow, released on July 23, 2021, through Columbia Records. The song features co-production by American rapper and record producer Kanye West and production duo Take a Daytrip. I ...

" in 2021. It was also his first to debut atop the chart. The song also entered atop the charts in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, peaked at number two in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, South Africa, Switzerland and the UK, and within the top ten in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

Background

Harlow posted a snippet of the track on social media on April 1, 2022, captioning it in part "How 'bout this one next?" The snippet went viral on

, with users responding to the song's "summery vibes", with the clips featuring the song gaining a total of 28.8 million views before its official release.

Composition

The song sees Harlow rapping about his "journey to success" and also "spelling out what's in store for his traveling companion" over a soft piano melody, which leads into Harlow interpolating the chorus of Fergie's 2006 song " Glamorous". The track also contains a reference to ''

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

'' actor

Angus Cloud Conor Angus Cloud Hickey (born July 10, 1998) is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Fezco in the HBO television series ''Euphoria''. Life and career Cloud was born in Oakland, California, although much of his family resides in I ...

Music video

The video clip was made available along with the release of ''

'', at midnight on May 6, 2022. Parts of the video are in black and white and it features a cameo appearance from Brazilian singer

Anitta Anitta may refer to: * Anitta (king), Hittite king *Anitta (singer) Larissa de Macedo Machado (born March 30, 1993), known professionally as Anitta, is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and television host. She is regarded as one of biggest Brazi ...

Live performances

On May 15, Harlow performed "First Class" at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards. On June 26, Harlow performed "First Class" at the 2022 BET Awards alongside

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

, who released a freestyle to the song's instrumental a month earlier. On August 28, Harlow performed "First Class" at the

2022 MTV Video Music Awards The 2022 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey on August 28, 2022. The show was emceed by LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj, and Jack Harlow. Minaj was honored with the Video Vanguard Award, pr ...

, with Fergie joining him to perform "Glamorous", which Harlow sampled for "First Class".

Commercial performance

"First Class" debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the year's first hip hop song to reach the top. It earned the biggest streaming week of 2022 at the time, and the biggest opening week since

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

's "

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" featuring

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and

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...

in September 2021. The song spent three non-consecutive weeks at number one and also reached number one on the Radio Songs chart where it led for 4 consecutive weeks, becoming his first leader there. With three weeks atop the Hot 100, it is the longest running number one rap song in 2022. The song also peaked at number one on the

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

chart, as his second leader. The song ultimately peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart, making it the highest charting rap song of 2022 and at number 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs year-end chart. "First Class" debuted atop the Australian

ARIA Singles Chart 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 songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, becoming Harlow's first number one in the country. It also debuted at number one in New Zealand, making it Harlow's first solo number one and second overall chart-topping song after the

collaboration "

". "First Class" also debuted at number one on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

, making it Harlow's first number-one song on the chart. The song debuted and peaked at number two in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, South Africa , and also debuted within the top ten in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. "First Class" debuted at number two on the UK Singles chart and spent 5 consecutive weeks there, blocked from the top by

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor''. Following hi ...

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". It spent 9 weeks in the top ten.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Jack Harlow 2022 singles 2022 songs Atlantic Records singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles Jack Harlow songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Songs written by Fergie (singer) Songs written by Jack Harlow Songs written by Rogét Chahayed