"Wanted" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Hunter Hayes Hunter Easton Hayes (born September 9, 1991) is an American multi-genre singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is proficient at more than 30 instruments. Hayes released his Hunter Hayes (album), self-titled debut alb ...

. It was released in March 2012 as the second single from his debut album ''

'' (2011). Hayes co-wrote the song with

Troy Verges Troy Verges is an American songwriter of country and pop music from Louisiana. Career His first cut as a songwriter was a track on Faith Hill's '' Breathe''. His credits include the singles " Wanted", recorded by Hunter Hayes; "Beer Money", r ...

. The song was nominated for

Best Country Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is design ...

at the

2013 Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...

. It is the second best-selling song by a male solo country singer in the US as of April 2014. ''Billboard'' ranked it the third-greatest country single of all time according to chart performance. Upon release, "Wanted" was met with generally positive reviews and went on to be certified 4× Platinum in the US for sales of over 3.6 million. When the song topped the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart, Hayes broke the record held since 1973 by

Johnny Rodriguez Juan Raoul Davis "Johnny" Rodriguez (born December 10, 1951) is an American country music singer. He is a Tejano and Texas country music singer, infusing his music with Latin sounds, and even singing verses of songs in Spanish. In the 1970s an ...

's " You Always Come Back (To Hurting Me)" as the youngest male artist to reach number one. The single was a moderate

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

hit in 2013 when it climbed to the top 15 on both the

Adult Pop Songs The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen B ...

and

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

charts.

Content

Hunter told ''Taste of Country'' about writing the song: "At the time, I was trying to tell somebody something, but I couldn't figure out how to say it. So I wanted to say it in music because I knew it would be a little more impactful. I wanted to say we are great in this relationship together, and I feel like it could even get better." The song is a ballad expressing a desire to make a lover feel "wanted" by the narrator. It is in

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

and an approximate tempo of 84

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 ( ...

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song 4.5 out of 5 stars. Dukes wrote, "It’s a mature lyric that will wrap around the hearts of country loving women nationwide." He added, "It's familiar without being generic and catchy without being syrupy." Giving it five out of five stars, Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' wrote: "While 'Storm Warning' was a great opening salvo, 'Wanted' is the song that is going to make Hunter Hayes one of the music world’s most talented artists to arrive in years – that’s right – years."

Music video

The music video was unveiled in early March 2012. It was directed by BirdmachineBird (Patrick Hubik and Traci Goudie). The video won an American Country Award for Best Music Video in 2012. Everything in the video except for all the stuff that is red is black and white.

Chart performance

"Wanted" debuted at number 57 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

chart for the week of February 27, 2012. It also debuted at number 99 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the week of May 12, 2012. It also debuted at number 100 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 ...

for the week of September 15, 2012. For the week of September 29, 2012, "Wanted" became Hayes' first number one single. Twenty-one weeks later, it returned to number one on the same chart. It also debuted at number 40 on the US ''Billboard''

chart for the week of November 17, 2012, on which chart it eventually peaked at number 12. "Wanted" also reached number 13 on the

chart. The song peaked at number 16 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and displayed longevity on the chart by staying on the chart for 46 weeks. As of February 2016, the song has sold 3,766,000 copies in the United States, where it is certified 4× Platinum by

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. "Wanted" has also been certified 2× Platinum by

Music Canada Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...

Legacy

The song's appearance at number one made Hayes the youngest solo male artist (by three months and one week) to top the Hot Country Songs chart, surpassing a record set in 1973 by

's " You Always Come Back (To Hurting Me)". The song became the second best-selling song by a male country solo artist in April 2014. In 2016, ''Billboard'' ranked "Wanted" at number three on a "Greatest of All Time" Country Songs chart behind

Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line is an American country music duo founded in 2010 by Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was ...

's " Cruise" and

Leroy Van Dyke Leroy Frank Van Dyke (born October 4, 1929) is an American country music and honky-tonk singer and guitarist, best known for his hits "The Auctioneer" (1956) and "Walk On By (Leroy Van Dyke song), Walk on By" (1961). Biography Van Dyke was bor ...

's " Walk on By".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Wanted Music Video
at

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

{{Hunter Hayes singles 2012 singles Hunter Hayes songs Atlantic Records singles Songs written by Hunter Hayes Songs written by Troy Verges Song recordings produced by Dann Huff 2011 songs 2010s ballads Country ballads Pop ballads