"Animals" is a big room house instrumental by Dutch DJ and record producer Martin Garrix, released as a digital download on 17 June 2013 on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. The song quickly became popular within the

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culture, leading to Garrix becoming the youngest producer to ever have a song reach number one on the electronic music store Beatport. The track was a commercial success, reaching the top ten or topping on a number of electronic music charts and even some mainstream ones. It became number 1 on singles charts in the United Kingdom, French-speaking Switzerland and Belgium. In the United States it reached number 21 on the ''

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 ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and number 1 on the

Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

chart. It is considered one of the most popular big room house songs of all-time, along with "

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

" by Sandro Silva and

Quintino Quintino (Latin ''Quintinus'', from ''Quintus'') is a Latin-derived male given name meaning "the fifth". People * Quintino Bocaiúva - Brazilian journalist and politician * Quintino Vilas Boas Neto - Portuguese artist * Quintino de Lacerda - ...

, " Spaceman" by Hardwell, " Tsunami" by Dvbbs and Borgeous and "

Tremor A tremor is an involuntary, somewhat rhythmic, muscle contraction and relaxation involving oscillations or twitching movements of one or more body parts. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, eyes, fa ...

" by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike.

Composition and release

Prior to release, the track gained buzz after being played anonymously with speculation increasing about the author after Dutch record label Spinnin' Records released a clip of the track online only titled "Animals (Teaser)". It started to reach even more speculation after a Vine video featuring Agnes from ''

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'' was posted. The track was, at various times, attributed to other acts like Hardwell, GTA, Sidney Samson and Bassjackers before the actual identity of the producer was revealed. According to Garrix, the melody was based on a previous, never-released track that he composed two years prior, and the "ruthlessly minimalist" rhythmic sound (the

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) is an

interpretation Interpretation may refer to: Culture * Aesthetic interpretation, an explanation of the meaning of a work of art * Allegorical interpretation, an approach that assumes a text should not be interpreted literally * Dramatic Interpretation, an event ...

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

' "

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". and the first part is inspiring to a song by Aura Qualic called D.A.T.A. The song is mostly instrumental; the only sung verse to appear here is ''We're the fucking animals'', which is spoken by a friend of Garrix, has a low pitch and appears two events.

Critical reception

In 2016, ''

'' named "Animals" Garrix's second-best song, behind "

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". The review noted how Garrix "ushered in a new dance era and crowned the then-17-year-old, leader of the new school", further describing the song as "big, brash and infectious, everything a festival anthem should be. It still sounds dope so many years later".

Commercial performance

Animals booked initial success at electronic music festivals and venues like Ultra Korea, Tomorrowland, Governors Beach Club, Amsterdam Dance Event, and Ultra Music Festival, to name a few. Subsequently, it rose to number one at the online music store, Beatport 100. In the period of August to October, the track began to climb up dance hit-lists as well as mainstream singles charts across continental Europe, getting all the way to top on Belgium's Ultratop 50. In November, the single debuted at number one on UK's

Official 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 ...

, ahead of tough competition from Lily Allen's 2013 John Lewis Christmas advert cover single " Somewhere Only We Know" (which reached number one the following week) and

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...

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cover "

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". Garrix became the second-youngest artist to enter at the top of the UK Singles Chart with their debut single behind Billie's "

Because We Want To "Because We Want To" is a song performed by British pop singer Billie. The song was written by Wendy Page, Jim Marr, Dion Rambo and Jacques Richmond, and produced by Page and Marr for Billie's debut album ''Honey to the B'' (1998). It was rele ...

" in July 1998. In the United States, "Animals" was the first instrumental track to reach the top 40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 since Kenny G's "Millennium Mix" of "

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" in 1999. As of June 2020, the song's music video has over 1.5 billion views on YouTube.

Usage in media

"Animals" was used in a commercial for video game '' Madden NFL 25''. It was added in the March 2014 update of another game, '' Asphalt 8: Airborne.'' "Animals" was also featured on '' Just Dance 2016'' along with an extreme routine. The instrumental version of the song was also featured in ''

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'', an online free-to-play version of the FIFA series video game. In April, the track was also used in the

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advertisement for their "Addict Fluid Stick" lipstick and lipgloss range.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Parodies

In December 2013, a SoundCloud user named McMaNGOS posted an edited version of "Animals" titled "Funnymals", which remixes the song's drop to the tune of "

Old McDonald Had a Farm "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" (sometimes shortened to Old MacDonald) is a traditional children's song and nursery rhyme about a farmer and the various animals he keeps. Each verse of the song changes the name of the animal and its respective nois ...

". The "Funnymals" edit gained prominence at the 2014 Ultra Music Festival, when Deadmau5 (who had made comments attacking Garrix on Twitter earlier in the day, and has been a prominent critic of "mainstream" electronic music) played the edit as part of his live set.

References

{{authority control 2013 singles Martin Garrix songs Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles Number-one singles in Scotland UK Singles Chart number-one singles Electronic dance music songs Spinnin' Records singles 2013 songs Songs written by Martin Garrix