More than 14 years after Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa teamed up for one of the biggest pop hits of 2012, “Payphone” has reached another major milestone.
The song’s official music video has surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube, becoming the sixth Maroon 5 video to enter the platform’s Billion Views Club.
“Payphone” arrived in April 2012 as part of Maroon 5’s fourth studio album, Overexposed. Featuring Wiz Khalifa, the track quickly became a major commercial success and helped define another high-profile chapter in the band’s pop crossover run.
The song made an especially strong entrance in the digital-download era. It sold approximately 493,000 downloads during its opening week in the United States, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart. It eventually climbed to No. 2 on the Hot 100.
At the time, its opening-week digital sales established a new benchmark for a group, topping the previous mark set by the Black Eyed Peas with “Boom Boom Pow.”
Produced by Shellback and Benny Blanco, “Payphone” also received a major promotional boost when Maroon 5 premiered the song on NBC’s The Voice, where frontman Adam Levine was then serving as a coach.
The accompanying video, directed by Samuel Bayer, gave the single a cinematic visual treatment and has continued attracting viewers well beyond the song’s original chart run.
Its parent album proved successful as well, with Overexposed reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Now “Payphone” joins “Sugar,” “Memories,” “One More Night,” “Girls Like You” and “Girls Like You (Volume 2)” among Maroon 5 videos that have crossed the billion-view threshold on YouTube.
For a song built around technology that was already disappearing when it was released, “Payphone” has shown some impressive staying power in the digital age.
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Photo Credit: Antonio Scorza / Shutterstock.com
