"Sugar, Sugar" is a song written by

Jeff Barry Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg; April 3, 1938) is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are " Tell Laura I Love Her" (written with Ben Raleigh and a ...

and

Andy Kim Andrew Kim (born July12, 1982) is an American politician and former diplomat serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2024. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

, produced by Barry and recorded by

the Archies The Archies are an American fictional rock band featured in media produced by, and related to, Archie Comics. They are best remembered for their appearance in the animated TV series '' The Archie Show''. In the context of the series, the band ...

, a fictional

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...

band from

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

. It was released as the group's third single on the Calendar Records label on May 24, 1969, rereleased on the Kirshner Records label in July 1969, and included on their second

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, '' Everything's Archie''. In the autumn of 1969, it topped both ''

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 advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the 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), o ...

(for four weeks) and the UK Singles Chart (for eight weeks), ranking number one for the year in both America and the UK. It is the most successful

single of all time, and is widely regarded as the apotheosis of the late-1960s/early-1970s bubblegum music genre.

History

Produced by one of the co-writers,

, "Sugar, Sugar" features a group of studio musicians managed by

Don Kirshner Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by ''Time'', he was best known for managin ...

, former music supervisor to

the Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

. It was written in the key of

D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...

Ron Dante Carmine John Granito (born August 22, 1945), known professionally as Ron Dante, is an American singing, singer, songwriter, Session musician, session vocalist, and record producer. Dante is best known as the real life lead singer of the fiction ...

provided the lead vocals, accompanied by

Toni Wine Toni Wine (born June 4, 1947) is an American pop music songwriter, who wrote songs for such artists as The Mindbenders ("A Groovy Kind of Love"), Tony Orlando and Dawn (" Candida"), and Checkmates, Ltd. (" Black Pearl") in the late 1960s and 1 ...

and the other co-writer,

. Together, they provided the voices of

using multitracking. The single was initially released in late May 1969 on Kirshner's Calendar label (as with the group’s two previous singles, " Bang-Shang-A-Lang" and " Feelin' So Good (S.K.O.O.B.Y.-D.O.O.)"), achieving moderate success in the early summer in several radio markets. When re-released in mid-July 1969 (with pressings also on the Kirshner label), it attained enormous success nationwide across several months. Upon the song's initial release, Kirshner had promotion men play it for radio station personnel without revealing the group's name, as their previous single, "Feelin' So Good (S.K.O.O.B.Y.-D.O.O.)", had peaked at No. 53 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. In an article published in ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...

'', Dante recounts that the label was removed from the record. It was taken to a top radio station, 1260 KYA in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where the program director was told: "Just play it! It's a mystery group." The song was among the selections that astronaut Alan Bean chose when allowed to bring an

audio cassette The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

of music to listen to during the

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commander Charles ...

mission in November 1969. According to historian Andrew Chaikin, "When it came on during the trip out from earth, the three of them /nowiki>Bean, Pete Conrad, and Richard F. Gordon Jr.">Dick Gordon">html" ;"title="Pete_Conrad.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Bean, Pete Conrad">/nowiki>Bean, Pete Conrad, and Richard F. Gordon Jr.">Dick Gordon/nowiki> would hold onto the struts in the command module and bounce weightlessly to the beat, dancing their way to the moon."

Chart performance

In the issue of ''

'' magazine dated September 20, the single started a four-week run at number one on the Hot 100, replacing the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women". It spent a then-lengthy 22 weeks on the Hot 100 (longer than any other single in 1969), and was one of only ten singles to spend 12 weeks in the Top Ten during the decade. It topped ''Billboard'' year-end list of the Top Hot 100 Singles of 1969. In August 1969 the record was certified gold by the

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 ...

for sales of one million. (In 1989 the gold threshold was lowered to 500,000.) In 2018 “Sugar, Sugar” ranked 81 in ''Billboards Hot 100 60th Anniversary chart. Between late October and mid-December 1969 the single spent eight weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart. "Sugar, Sugar" was awarded a gold disc in January 1970. In February 2024 the song was certified Gold by the BPI for selling 400,000 units since it was made available digitally in November 2004. In the chart dated September 13, 1969, "Sugar, Sugar" topped the ''

RPM 100 ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''RP ...

'' national singles chart in Canada, where it remained for three weeks. It also peaked at number one on the South African Singles Chart. On February 5, 2006, "Sugar, Sugar" was inducted into the

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame () is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their ''Hall of Fame'' within three different categories: songwriters, songs, and those others who have m ...

, as co-writer Andy Kim is originally from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Cover versions

Wilson Pickett version

Chart performance

In May 1970,

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...

's cover of "Sugar, Sugar" reached No. 4 on ''Billboards

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

, then in June peaked at No. 25 on the Hot 100. The parent album, '' Right On'', reached No. 197 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

album chart. Pickett's recording was used in

Ang Lee Ang Lee (; born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese filmmaker. His films are known for their emotional charge and exploration of repressed, hidden emotions. During his career, he has received international critical and popular acclaim and List o ...

's 1997 film '' The Ice Storm''. In Canada, " Cole, Cooke & Redding" was the A-side and charted first, reaching No. 58 in April 1970.

=Charts

Other versions

* Sakkarin (a pseudonym of

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

) recorded the song (as "Sugar Sugar") in 1971, reaching No. 12 in the UK chart as well as No. 20 in Ireland and No. 21 in Germany. *

, lead singer of

, recorded a disco version of the song in 1975. * Josie and the Pussycats, another

creation, covered the song (as "Candy Girl (Sugar Sugar)") in the first season of the TV series '' Riverdale. * Homer Simpson from

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

sings the song during the hallucination scene in episode Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood.

In popular culture

The song has been featured in various intellectual properties, such as ''

Bee Movie ''Bee Movie'' is a 2007 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and Columbus 81 Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner from a screenplay by the writing team o ...

'', '' Compagni di scuola'', ''

'', and ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

''.

References

Sources