Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.
So, as our retrospective features ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay’ allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our newest feature Chart Rewind – a variation of our current Retro Rewind assay – accedes salutes to an entire era of music history.
This week we’ll fly back to 2009 to revisit ‘Halo’ – the fourth single from Beyonce‘s multi-platinum tertiary solo release, ‘I Am…Sasha Fierce’ (2008). Join us inside:
After scoring a duo of top 5 hits with her third album’s first two singles, ‘If I Were a Boy’ and the chart-topping ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)’ respectively, the set’s third single – ‘Diva’ – missed the top 10 entirely. Peaking at #19, the Bangladesh-birthed banger’s release was in some part cannibalized by Beyonce‘s then-promotion of her film, ‘Cadillac Records,’ on which she portrayed R&B legend Etta James. Once the promo season for the movie ended, Bey took the top of 2009 to return focus to her album. Tapping the Ryan Tedder-penned ‘Halo’ as the next single, the tune – billed a ‘Pop power ballad’ – was arguably the best demonstration of the diva’s intent to display her versatility, pander to Urban and Pop audiences simultaneously, and deviate from the uptempo Urban cuts of her first two albums, ‘Dangerously in Love’ and ‘BDay.’
Albeit greeted with controversy after Pop singer Kelly Clarkson alleged the song’s instrumentation was a ripoff of her hit song, ‘Already Gone,’ ‘Halo’ – officially released January 20, 2009 – powered forward with promotion courtesy of not one, but two music videos shot (with the more popular version seen above and featuring actor Michael Ealy as the Destiny’s Child alum’s romantic love interest). The cinematic clip not only helped hoist ‘Halo’ to top 5 heights on the Hot 100 (where it peaked this week that year), but it also reawakened interest in its parent project and pushed it past the triple platinum mark.
As it stands, ‘Halo’ hovers right above 2 million in sales in the United States and nabbed a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2010 ceremony. Look below to see who joined the tune in the top 25 this week 10 years ago:
Hot 100 This Week in 2009
Hot 100 This Week in 2019
Click here to see this week’s full TGJ Chart Check: Hot 100 list.
SO… WHAT?! ?
WHY do you all flesh out such pointless articles ALL of the time?!
do you remember how EXCITING this blog use to be and how engaged readers were? NO ONE even comments anymore. You all post such mindless, pointless CRAP!
who gives a damn about Beyonce’s Sub par HALO song from 10 years ago?! the song did nothing to socially or culturally impact her generation or the music charts.
NO ONE CARES!!
post the new trailer for POSE that was just released and discuss real LGBT issues — especially since this blog is created by 4 raging homosexual men. why don’t you all ever use your platform to present real, in depth, layered LGBT issues?
This HALO crap is so… blah Blah BLAH!!
Shut yo dumb ass up!!!
LOL! my realism hit a nerve in your dirty hole Miss. Alexis??
No shade, this is a pointless article.
Let’s practice quality over quantity.
But ‘Halo’ is one of my fav Beyonce songs.
That show pose is dumb as hell. It was supposed to get cancelled due to poor ratings.
@Brent Who hurt you? Lol, you took the time to comment an entire paragraph on a “Chart REWIND” post just to demonstrate how frustrated you are because they haven’t posted about your favorite show?? ????
She claimed to have written this song, so how come it sounds exactly like Kelly Clarkson’s song already gone? This was the moment I started suspecting beyonce that she was a liar who didnt write any of her songs.
What sealed the deal for me was pretty hurts. Beyonce claimed to have written pretty hurts, but sia said she wrote pretty hurts long time ago and shopped it to Rihanna and Katy Perry who both turned it down.
She never claimed to have written either of those songs, stop making ish up just for the sake of hating. Before the album even came out she talked about Ryan Tedder being a writer and gave him credit in countless interviews during Halo’s promotion, EVERYONE knew he wrote Halo as well as Already Gone for Kelly Clarkson ?. Same thing with Pretty Hurts, she never claimed to have written that song… hell, there was a joke going around that Bey had Sia locked in her basement writing songs for her… chile, have a seat. Why lie about something when you can look at the songs credits and see their names in bold print lol.
Where did she say she wrote Halo and Pretty Hurts?
Halo – Beyonce
Already gone – Kelly Clarkson
Battlefield – Jordan Sparks
Strip me – Natasha Bedingfield
Are all the same song!
All Ryan Tedder lol ? Those drums from Already Gone are in Jonas Brothers’ Cool, which Ryan did too ?
And the chants from the chorus of Battlefield are in Cool too lmaooo ? Let me stop
https://tenor.com/view/khia-laugh-hilarious-hysterical-laughing-crying-gif-13209468
I love that song and the music video.
It was originally offered for Leona Lewis but she turned it down
One thing is for sure: Beyonce IS NOT a songwriter.
This is one of her best singles ever, top 3 or 4. But overall it is a poor catalogue when it comes to singles. She can sing, but doesn´t move. She is a visual artist but somehow has not shaken the industry with innovation. Her real huge force? Perseverance and energy to perform. That´s why she has loyal fans. Definitely not thanks to her music or voice. She has not conquered her position due to voice.
PD: I salute the best female performer of all time: Tina Turner. Real uniqueness.