"Uptown Girl" is a song written and performed by the American musician

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

. The lyrics describe a

working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

man" attempting to woo a

wealthy Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...

" uptown girl". It was released on September 29, 1983, on his ninth studio album, ''

An Innocent Man ''An Innocent Man'' is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on August 8, 1983. The concept album is a tribute to the American popular music of Joel's adolescent years with Joel paying homage to a number of ...

'' (1983). The 12" EP has the tracks "

My Life My Life may refer to: Autobiographies * ''Mein Leben'' (Wagner) (''My Life''), by Richard Wagner, 1870 * ''My Life'' (Clinton autobiography), by Bill Clinton, 2004 * ''My Life'' (Meir autobiography), by Golda Meir, 1973 * ''My Life'' (Mosley a ...

", " Just the Way You Are" and "

It's Still Rock and Roll to Me "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" is a song written and performed by Billy Joel, from the hit album '' Glass Houses''. Released in 1980, the song peaked at number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts for two weeks, from July 19 through August 1, ...

" (catalogue number TA3775), whereas some 7" single versions featured "Careless Talk" as a B-side. "Uptown Girl" peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks from November 12 to December 10, 1983. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom for five weeks, his only number-one hit in the country. It was the second biggest-selling single of 1983 in the United Kingdom behind only

Culture Club Culture Club are an English pop band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), Mikey Craig (bass guitar) and formerly included Jon Moss (drums and percussion). Emerging in the New ...

's "

Karma Chameleon "Karma Chameleon" is a song by English band Culture Club, featured on the group's 1983 album ''Colour by Numbers''. The single was released in the United Kingdom in September 1983 and became the second Culture Club single to reach the top of th ...

", which Joel had knocked off the number-one position on November 1, 1983. The song was the 19th biggest-selling single of the 1980s in the United Kingdom, selling 975,000 copies. It has sold over 1.06 million copies as of 2017.

Inspiration

According to an interview with

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

, Joel had originally titled the song "Uptown Girls", and it was conceived on an occasion when he was surrounded by

Christie Brinkley Christie Lee Brinkley (née Hudson; born February 2, 1954) is an American model, actress, and entrepreneur. Brinkley gained worldwide fame with her appearances in ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues'', ultimately appearing on an unprecedented ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

, and his then-girlfriend

Elle Macpherson Eleanor Nancy Macpherson (; née Gow; born ) is an Australian model, businesswoman, television host, and actress. She is known for her record five cover appearances for the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' beginning in the 1980s, leading ...

. According to numerous interviews with Joel, the song was initially written about his relationship with Macpherson, but it ended up also becoming about his soon-to-be wife, Brinkley, both women being two of the most famous

supermodels A supermodel, also spelled super-model or super model, is a highly paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in ''haute couture'' and commercial modeling. The term ''supermodel'' became prominent in the po ...

of the 1980s. Joel said that the song was inspired by the music of

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons The Four Seasons are an American rock and pop band formed in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey. Since 1970, they have also been known at times as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The band evolved out of a previous band called The Four Lovers, with ...

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "sounding uncannily like

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. ...

, Joel plays out the city uptown-downtown caste system, longing for a seemingly unavailable 'white- bread' lovely."

Music video

The video depicts Joel and his backup singers working as auto mechanics. Brinkley arrives in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce as Joel and the mechanics dance with her. A poster of Brinkley can be seen in the garage as well as on a billboard above the garage advertising "Uptown Cosmetics". At the end of the video Joel and Brinkley ride off on a motorcycle.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Personnel

– Baldwin SF-10 acoustic piano, lead and backing vocals * David Brown – lead electric guitar * Russell Javors – rhythm electric guitar *

Doug Stegmeyer Douglas Alan Stegmeyer (December 23, 1951 – August 25, 1995) was an American musician who was best known as the bassist and back-up vocalist for Billy Joel. Stegmeyer also performed as bassist for Debbie Gibson and Hall & Oates. Biography ...

– bass guitar *

Liberty DeVitto Liberatori "Liberty" DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his work as a drummer for New York singer-songwriter Billy Joel's recording and touring band. He has also been a session drummer on recordings of ...

– drums *

Mark Rivera Mark Rivera (born May 24, 1953) is an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director and corporate entertainment provider who is mostly known for his work with Billy Joel. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor and b ...

– percussion, backing vocals Additional personnel * Mike Alexander – backing vocals * Tom Bahler – backing vocals *

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– backing vocals * Frank Floyd – backing vocals * Lani Groves – backing vocals * Ullanda McCullough – backing vocals * Ron Taylor – backing vocals * Terry Textor – backing vocals *

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– backing vocals

Legacy and impact

Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She gained recognition in the late 2010s with her lead roles on the Disney television programs ''Bizaardvark'' and '' High School Musical: The Music ...

mentioned the song and Joel in her hit single "

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", which became a Top 3 U.S. hit. Rodrigo made a surprise appearance at Joel's

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performance on August 24, 2022, singing "Deja Vu" with Joel on piano and "Uptown Girl" as a duet with Joel.

Westlife version

Irish

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

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covered the song for their third studio album, ''

World of Our Own ''World of Our Own'' is the third studio album recorded by Irish boy band Westlife. It was released through RCA Records on 12 November 2001. This is their third album release under RCA and Sony Music. It was also the band's third album to be re ...

''. It was released on March 5, 2001 as the lead single from the album and the 2001 ''Comic Relief'' charity single. The song was also released as the fifth single for the European Special Edition and Asian Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc of the group's second album, '' Coast to Coast'' (2000). The Westlife version is slightly shorter than the Billy Joel version because one of the verses was not repeated. The music video was a parody of the Billy Joel one, with the members of Westlife playing workers in a burger bar,

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Crispin Bonham-Carter Crispin Daniel Bonham-Carter (born 23 September 1969 in Colchester, Essex) is an English actor, theatre director, and educator. He was appointed Assistant Head at the Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, in 2019. His best known acting role is that o ...

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and

James Wilby James Jonathon Wilby (born 20 February 1958) is an English actor. Early life and education Wilby was born in Rangoon, Burma to a corporate executive father. He was educated at Terrington Hall School, North Yorkshire and Sedbergh School in Cu ...

play the snobby uptown customers and

Claudia Schiffer Claudia Maria Schiffer (; born 25 August 1970) is a German model and actress based in the United Kingdom. She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, attaining supermodel status. In her early career, she was compa ...

is in the Christie Brinkley role. "Uptown Girl" reached number one in Ireland, Mexico and the United Kingdom. It became the biggest selling single of 2001 and the tenth best-selling single of all-time in Ireland. In the United Kingdom, it was the sixth best selling single of 2001 and the 24th best-selling single of the decade in the UK charts, with sales of 756,215 copies. It became the band's biggest selling single (paid-for and combined sales categories) in the UK and also achieved the highest first week sales (292,318 copies) of any of their singles. It has since been certified Platinum by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

for shipments of 600,000 copies. By March 2017, the song had sold almost 800,000 copies in the country from physical and digital copies which make up 81% of the total units. As of January 2019, it has 920,000 total sales. It is also their second most streamed song in the United Kingdom of all-time. In 30 November 2021, it has 1.1 million total sales with 67% of it or 748,000 were physical sales. This makes the single as part of the

List of million-selling singles in the United Kingdom The definition of a million-selling single, as regarded by the Official Charts Company (OCC), has changed in line with new technology for music consumption. Originally only physical record sales were counted since the start of the UK Singles Ch ...

and the first one for the band. In Mexico, the song was the fourth best selling single of 2001.

Track listing

* United Kingdom ; CD1 # "Uptown Girl" (Radio Edit) – 3:06 # "Angel's Wings" (2001 Remix) – 4:14 # "Uptown Girl" (Video) – 3:14 ; CD2 # "Uptown Girl" (Radio Edit) – 3:06 # "Uptown Girl" (Extended Version) – 5:02 # "Behind the Scenes Footage & Band Messages" ; VHS # "Uptown Girl" (The Video) – 3:14 # "The Making of Uptown Girl" (Mini-Documentary) # "The Bits That Didn't Quite Go to Plan ..." ; DVD # "Uptown Girl" (The Video) – 3:14 # "The Making of Uptown Girl" (Mini-Documentary) # "The Bits That Didn't Quite Go to Plan ..." # "Comic Relief Weblink" # "Photo Gallery" * Japan # "Uptown Girl" (Radio Edit) – 3:06 # "Uptown Girl" (Extended Version) – 5:02 # "Angel's Wings" (Original Version) – 4:02 # "Close Your Eyes" – 4:32 # "Uptown Girl" (Video) – 3:14 # "Behind the Scenes Footage & Band Messages"

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Video album Single

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1983 singles 1996 singles 2001 singles Dance-pop songs Westlife songs Billy Joel songs Songs written by Billy Joel Comic Relief singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Scotland UK Singles Chart number-one singles Song recordings produced by Phil Ramone Song recordings produced by Steve Mac Columbia Records singles Sony BMG singles 1983 songs Sony Music singles RCA Records singles Music videos directed by Stuart Gosling