"Party in the U.S.A." is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus from her first extended play (EP), The Time of Our Lives (2009). It was released on August 4, 2009, by Hollywood Records as the lead single from the project. The song was written and produced by Dr. Luke, with additional songwriting provided by Jessie J and Claude Kelly. It is a pop and pop rock song, with lyrics reflecting her relocating from Nashville, Tennessee, to Los Angeles.
"Party in the U.S.A." received widespread acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised its catchiness and Cyrus's vocals. In the United States, the song charted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached the top ten in nine additional countries. It was the seventh best-selling digital single of 2009 in the United States. The song was certified 17× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and 4× Platinum by Music Canada. It is one of the best-selling singles of all time in the United States, where the track has sold six million in pure sales, as of July 2017. In 2020, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Cyrus officially received a plaque with an RIAA Diamond certification for "Party in the U.S.A.", making it one of the few songs in history to reach this milestone.Every Song in History That's Been Certified Diamond It was also certified 14× Platinum in Australia.
The music video for "Party in the U.S.A.", directed by Chris Applebaum, pays tribute to the 1978 film Grease and Cyrus's parents' courting days. It occurs mainly at a drive-in theater and won the MuchMusic Video Award for Best International Artist Video at the 2010 award show. The song was performed live for Cyrus's concert tours, the 2009 Wonder World Tour, the 2011 Gypsy Heart Tour, the 2014 Bangerz Tour, and the 2022 Attention Tour. At the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, Cyrus's use of a pole during a performance of "Party in the U.S.A.", which some interpreted to be a dance pole, caused a media uproar. Although co-writer Jessie J originally decided not to record "Party in the U.S.A." after writing it, she did eventually, among various other artists, perform a cover version of the song. "Party in the U.S.A." has also been parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic. The song premiered on radio on July 28, 2009 before its official release. It has over 2.3 billion streams on Spotify while its music video has received over 1 billion views on YouTube, as of September 2026.
Background
Soon after signing a record deal with Lava Records, aspiring British singer Jessie J commenced work on her debut album. She collaborated with songwriters and producers Dr. Luke and Claude Kelly in her first writing session, where "Party in the U.S.A." was conceived with the intention of being performed by Jessie J. However, she decided not to record the song, believing its cheerful tone was at odds with the darker, edgy material she preferred. Jessie J. stated, "And I remember thinking this song is amazing, but I don't know if it's me 110 percent, you know. You can kind of feel it." The song reached Cyrus while she was creating an EP with Dr. Luke. The writing team then reworked the lyrics, intending to write an accompanying theme for Cyrus's joint clothing line with Max Azria, exclusively sold in Walmart stores. In order to please audiences, Dr. Luke, Kelly and Jessie J fixated on composing a fun, upbeat song that narrated reflections of Cyrus's personality. "They feel they're buying into a great experience but also buying into the artist," Kelly said of the song's fans. To write his contributions to the song, Kelly said he desired to mimic Cyrus's songwriting: "It's the same song from a different point of view, you just have to find that unique perspective." To record the song's instrumentation, they decided to mingle computerized sound with "the warmth of live instrumentation", using live electric guitars and drums. Cyrus was pleased with the song and selected it partially due to a need of tracks for The Time of Our Lives. This is the first of several collaborations between Dr. Luke and Cyrus. Dr. Luke would later co-produce Cyrus's 2013 smash hit single "Wrecking Ball".
Cyrus has stated "Party in the U.S.A." is not a reflection of her musically, as she preferred songs with more of an edge. She said the track was "an all-American song" and claimed in November 2009 to have never heard a Jay-Z song, an artist referenced directly in the song's lyrics. However, she did state she enjoyed the music of Britney Spears, also mentioned in the song. "Party in the U.S.A." was chosen as the lead single from The Time of Our Lives, as Cyrus thought personnel were "picking up on it", although she did not expect for it to be commercially successful. The song was first played on radio stations on July 29, 2009, following a leak of the track on the Internet on July 28, 2009. "Party in the U.S.A." was officially released for airplay on August 3, 2009. It impacted contemporary hit radio in the United States on August 4, 2009, and was released as a digital download a week later.
Composition
"Party in the U.S.A." is a pop and pop rock song with a length of three minutes and twenty-three seconds, set in common time, has a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute, and is written in the key of F major and follows the chord progression F–Am–Dm–Dm–C, and Cyrus' vocals range from F3 to D5. The song has been described as a "reggae-powered pop tune". Cyrus's vocals feature belter refrains. The song's instrumentation includes a "clash between feathery jazz guitar chords and a booming synth bassline serving as hook".
The lyrics for "Party in the U.S.A." are autobiographical; although initially about Jessie J's relocation from the United Kingdom to Los Angeles, it was rewritten to better reflect on Cyrus's relocation from Nashville, Tennessee. The song begins at Los Angeles International Airport. In the verses, the subject details her experiences in Hollywood and struggles with fitting in that make her feel homesick and intimidated. In the chorus, the subject is able to feel more confident by listening to her favourite songs. Vicki Lutas of BBC interpreted, "However cringe it sounds, your favourite song can make you feel okay and feel more confident, even if you're not really."
Critical reception
"Party in the U.S.A." received critical acclaim. Michael Hann of The Guardian stated that "Party in the U.S.A." was a cute pop song. Later, while reviewing Cyrus's Wonder World Tour, he elaborated the song was a reminder "that manufactured pop need not be a bad thing – if the manufacturing is good enough". Jaime Gill of Yahoo! Music wrote, "Fortunately for Cyrus, [the other songs from The Time of Our Lives] flee your brain cells within seconds of their final chords, which means you're more likely to remember the breezily brilliant hit 'Party in the U.S.A.'" Mikael Wood of New York City's Time Out magazine described the song as a "killer tune [...] which proves that Miley makes for a much better rapper than you might expect". Heather Phares of AllMusic selected the track as one of the EPs best, describing it as a frothy party anthem suitable for Cyrus's alias, Hannah Montana.
Erik Ernst of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called the song "ridiculously catchy". Mikael Wood of Entertainment Weekly decided that "Party in the U.S.A." was Cyrus's bouncy attempt at urban music, since she had previously transitioned into other markets. Jessica Holland of The Observer deemed "Party in the U.S.A." one of the highlights on The Time of Our Lives. Michael Menachem of Billboard stated the song was one of Cyrus's most entertaining songs. Menachem continued, "[Dr. Luke] injects the song with an energy recalling Robyn and early Gwen Stefani. After successfully tackling dance and country formats and delivering one of the year's strongest ballads ('The Climb'), Cyrus continues to show off her impressive range." Ryan Brockington of the New York Post said that although the track was more mainstream than Cyrus's previous singles, he did not dislike it. Vicki Lutas of BCC described "Party in the U.S.A." as "a breath of fresh air" while being "seriously stomping" and slightly relatable. She said the song's best attribute was Cyrus's voice and concluded that Cyrus contains an ability of making her voice sound interesting all the time. Upon listening to the track, Lutas feels that "suddenly you think someone else is in the room with you and you've got all the ingredients for, well, a huge party contained in one little song."
Commercial performance "Party in the U.S.A." debuted and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending August 29, 2009, due to the sale of over 226,000 digital downloads, thus becoming the fastest-selling single released by Hollywood Records. Despite being kept from number one for three non-consecutive weeks, behind "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas and "Down" by Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne, respectively, "Party in the U.S.A." became Cyrus's best charting effort at the time, surpassing her previous best single "The Climb", which peaked at number four in May 2009. The week's appearance also marked the highest debut by a female solo artist since Carrie Underwood's "Inside Your Heaven", which debuted at number one in July 2005. In the succeeding weeks, "Party in the U.S.A." continued to sell and stayed on the Billboard Hot 100, spending 28 weeks in total. It also peaked at number one on Mainstream Top 40 and number 13 on Adult Top 40. According to Billboard, "Party in the U.S.A." was the seventh-best selling digital single of 2009 in the US. The single was certified 17× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), marking Hollywood Records's best-selling single to date and the highest certified non-holiday song by a female artist in the US. By October 2012, "Party in the U.S.A" had surpassed 5 million sales in the United States, making Cyrus the youngest artist to have a single that sold more than five million downloads. As of July 2017, the song had sold 5,981,000 downloads in the US.
"Party in the U.S.A." peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100. The single was certified 4× platinum by the Music Canada for the sales of 160,000 digital downloads. The song also became successful in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. On the week ending September 13, 2009, "Party in the U.S.A." debuted at number 14 on the Australian Singles Chart. The following week, the song ascended to a new peak at number nine and peaked at number six on the week ending November 8, 2009. The single was certified 14× platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). "Party in the U.S.A." debuted at number 11 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and peaked at number three on the week ending November 9, 2009. The single was certified 9× platinum by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for sales of 270,000 equivalent units. On the week ending January 11, 2010, "Party in the U.S.A." debuted at number 49 on the Japan Hot 100 chart and, in the succeeding week, reached its peak at number four.
In the United Kingdom, "Party in the U.S.A." entered and peaked at number 11. The song tied with "See You Again" and "The Climb", which charted in August 2008 and March 2009, respectively, for Cyrus's best-charting effort in the United Kingdom until 2013. In Ireland, the song peaked at number five. In mainland Europe, "Party in the U.S.A." peaked at number 17 on the European Hot 100 Singles chart, number six on both the French Singles Chart and Hungarian Singles Chart, becoming her first top ten in these national charts and Cyrus second entry in France, but also peaked at number 12 on Norwegian Singles Chart. It received lower commercial success throughout other regions of Europe, becoming a top 40 hit in Austria, Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, and Sweden.
Music video