"Stereo Love" is a song recorded by

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n DJ

Edward Maya Eduard Marian Ilie (; born 29 June 1986), better known by his stage name Edward Maya, is a Romanian DJ, musician, composer, record producer, performer, singer and songwriter, most famous for his 2009 smash hit single " Stereo Love". Career In an ...

with Moldovan-Romanian musician

Vika Jigulina Vika Jigulina (born Victoria Corneva; February 18, 1986) is a Moldovan-born record producer, singer, and DJ of Bulgarian and Russian descent. Life and career Victoria Corneva was born in Cahul, Moldavian SSR (Moldova). She is Bulgarian thr ...

, released as their debut single in 2009 from Maya's album, ''The Stereo Love Show''. The refrain is from " Bayatılar", composed by

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

i musician

Eldar Mansurov Eldar Bahram oglu Mansurov ( az, Eldar Bəhram oğlu Mansurov / , ; born February 28, 1952) is an Azerbaijani musician, composer and songwriter. He is the son of musician Bahram Mansurov. His younger brother Elkhan Mansurov is also a musici ...

. It became a worldwide hit in

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s and rose to the top of eleven national music charts and was

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

eight-times Platinum in Norway, seven-times Platinum in Sweden, and Gold or higher in ten additional countries. The song and the music video were both included on the compilation ''

NRJ Music Awards 2010 ''NRJ Music Awards 2010'' is a 2009 compilation album by NRJ. Every year the French music station publishes a compilation of the best songs of the year. This album contains 42 French and international songs that have enjoyed some success in Franc ...

''. The music video was filmed in

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; el, Μύκονος ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants according to the ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, as Maya stated in an interview that Greece "was a place that I fell in love with". The song won the Top Dance Song Award at the 2011 ''Billboard'' Music Awards.

Composition

"Stereo Love" is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

with a moderate

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 127

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

. It is set in the key of

C minor C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major. The C natural minor scale is: : Cha ...

with a simple

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

of Cm–A–E–Gm. The song is most notable for featuring a riff played with an

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

by Maya. Lyrically, the song speaks of a passionate love between two people that is now dying, and their struggle to rekindle that flame.

Copyright controversy

In the autumn of 2009, during his stay in

i composer

contacted the Romanian Office for Copyright claiming the refrain of "Stereo Love" was a copy of a tune from his popular 1989 composition " Bayatılar". In the video clip, the composer of "Stereo Love" was indicated as "anonymous". Both the Office and Edward Maya later confirmed that Mansurov's work was in fact used in the making of "Stereo Love". Maya commented by saying he was "fascinated" by the accordion version of "Bayatılar" he had come across on the Internet earlier in 2009 and claimed he had tried to contact the author but failed due to his busy schedule. On 19 January 2010, Edward Maya arrived in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, Azerbaijan, where he signed an agreement with Eldar Mansurov affirming their co-authorship of "Stereo Love". The keyboard riff of this song was also used as a theme to "Zalim", a ubiquitous song written by the Turkish singer and songwriter

Sezen Aksu Sezen Aksu (; born Fatma Sezen Yıldırım; 13 July 1954) is a Turkish pop music singer, songwriter and producer who has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Queen of Turkish Pop" and "''Minik Serçe''" ("Little Spa ...

, first recorded and released in 1995 by her former bassist and backing vocalist

Levent Yüksel Levent Uğur Yüksel (born October 21, 1964) is a Turkish pop singer and multi instrumentalist. He has been active in live music industry since 1993. Life Yüksel's interest in arts and music started in an early age. He started to play violin at ...

which was a hit that year, and then in 1996 by Sezen Aksu herself.

Chart performance

On the issue date 17 October 2009, the song debuted at number 12 on the French Digital Singles Chart. It became number one on 22 November 2009, with more than 6,142 copies sold. It reached its highest-weekly sales on 3 January 2010 with 9,763 sales. The song remained at number one for a total of eight-consecutive weeks. On the issue date 22 November 2009, "Stereo Love" debuted at number 2 on the French Physical Singles Chart and became number one on 27 December 2009. In Belgium, the single entered at number 40 on 28 November 2009 and reached a peak of number 2 eleven weeks later. In the Netherlands, it was ranked for two weeks atop, eleven weeks in the top 10 and 17 weeks in the top 40. In Switzerland, the single debuted at number 3 and peaked at number 2. It began at the number-one spot in the French-speaking part of Switzerland (Romandy), where it stayed 5 weeks. In the UK, the song entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number 4. In

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the first week of release, the unofficial DJ Team version proved to be more popular (number 8 on the IRMA chart) than

's (number 17); however, on 21 May 2010 the former dropped three places to number 11 while the latter jumped eleven positions to number 6 just before reaching a week later the top of the chart where it has been for four-consecutive weeks. Outside of Europe, "Stereo Love" also enjoyed success in the Middle East, US, and Canada. It debuted on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 93 on the week ending 23 October 2010 and peaked at number 16. In 2011, it peaked at number 11 on the

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

chart. In the United States, the single entered the ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Airplay chart at number 23 in the 17 April 2010 issue. During its second week it slipped to number 25, but in its fourth week saw a major move in the 8 May 2010 issue, moving from number 25 to number 8, the biggest-jump ever on the chart, and ultimately reaching the number one position three times. The single was released by Ultra Music, the same label that also scored another top 10 hit in 2010 with another song, "

Hot Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places * Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand **Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...

" by Romanian singer

Inna Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before meeting the Ro ...

, which also went all the way to number one, thus giving Ultra Music the distinction of having artists from the same country reach number one in the same year with debut singles on the same chart. It would become the number one Dance Airplay single of 2010 on the ''Billboard'' Year-End issue. As of September 2012, the song has sold 2,226,000 copies in the US. On the Italian FIMI chart the song peaked at number 4 for two non-consecutive weeks in April 2010 and spent 17 weeks within the top 10. "Stereo Love" is the longest-charting song in the history of the European Hot 100
accumulating 47 weeks
The official "Stereo Love" music video has received over 520 million

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, 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 ...

views, with other copies and forms of the song and video receiving several million views. The music video was also the most popular video uploaded on

Spinnin' Records Spinnin' Records is a Dutch electronic music record label founded in 1999 by Eelko van Kooten and Roger de Graaf. In September 2017, Warner Music Group acquired Spinnin' Records for over $100 million. Background Van Kooten is the son of former ...

' YouTube channel until 10 April 2014, when the views were surpassed by

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—201 ...

's music video for his song "

Animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

." The music video for "Stereo Love" was shot in the island of

, in Greece.

Track listings

*Digital single # "Stereo Love" – 4:07 # "Stereo Love" – 5:21 # "Stereo Love" – 3:04 # "Stereo Love" – 4:37 # "Stereo Love" – 2:52 # "Stereo Love" – 5:02 # "Stereo Love" – 5:03 # "Stereo Love" – 3:02 *Digital single: The Italian Remixes # "Stereo Love" – 2:52 # "Stereo Love" – 3:02 # "Stereo Love" – 5:02 # "Stereo Love" – 5:03 # "Stereo Love" – 4:37 # "Stereo Love" – 4:07 # "Stereo Love" – 5:21 *CD single # "Stereo Love" – 3:04 # "Stereo Love" – 2:52 # "Stereo Love" – 3:02 # "Stereo Love" – 4:07 *Other # "Stereo Love" – 4:10 # "Stereo Love" – 4:16 *Other version # "Stereo Love" – 6:44 # "Stereo Love" – 3:39 # "Stereo Love" – 3:50 # "Stereo Love" – 5:24 *Alfredo Nini version # "Stereo Love" – 4:11 # "Stereo Love" – 5:09 # "Stereo Love" – 5:08 *Timmy Trumpet & Wildstylez version # "Stereo Love" - 3:16 # "Stereo Love" - 4:10 # "Stereo Love" - 3:58 # "Stereo Love" - 4:56 *Official Remixes # "Stereo Love" - 2:36 # "Stereo Love" - 3:29 # "Stereo Love" - 3:37 # "Stereo Love" - 2:43

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Mia Martina version

Ultra Music hired Canadian singer

Mia Martina Martine Johnson, better known by her stage name Mia Martina, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is known for her hit singles "Stereo Love", "Burning", "Latin Moon" and " Beast". Martina has received Juno Awards nominations for "Stereo Love ...

to record an official remix of Maya's "Stereo Love". The rights to an official remix were acquired by Ultra Music from Romanian label Cat Music. As the writer and producer of the song, Maya is paid royalties every time all of the remixes are played and sold of the song, including the official remix featuring Martina. It was released to the United States on iTunes on 10 August 2010 and in the Canadian market in September 2010 from Martina's debut album, ''

Devotion Devotion or Devotions may refer to: Religion * Faith, confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept * Anglican devotions, private prayers and practices used by Anglican Christians * Buddhist devotion, commitment to religious observance * Cat ...

''. The music video was directed by Marc André Debruyne. The original version by Maya and Vika Jigulina was already a top 20 hit 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 ...

, peaking at number 19 before it was outpeaked by the version promoted with Mia Martina, reaching number 10.

Peak positions

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2009 songs 2009 debut singles 2010 singles CP Music Group singles Ultra Music singles Sony Music singles Spinnin' Records singles Edward Maya songs Eurodance songs Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Finland SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Norway Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Sampling controversies Songs written by Don Omar Songs written by Vika Jigulina Songs written by Edward Maya Song recordings produced by Edward Maya