Jessie's Girl

"Jessie's Girl" is a song written by Australian singer Rick Springfield. It was released in the album Working Class Dog, which was marketed in February 1981. The song is about unrequited love of a young man for his best friend's girlfriend.

Personnel

Credits sourced from Mix:

 Rick Springfield ‒ lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitars
 Mike Baird ‒ drums
 Neil Giraldo ‒ lead guitars, bass guitar
 Gabriel Katona ‒ synthesizers

Performance

Upon its release in the United States (US) in 1981, "Jessie's Girl" was slow to top the charts. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 28 March but took 19 weeks to hit No. 1 reaching that position on 1 August, one of the slowest climbs to No. 1 at that time. The song remained in that position for two weeks and would be Springfield's only No. 1 hit. The song was at No. 1 when MTV launched on August 1, 1981. The song ultimately spent 32 weeks on the chart. 

The Billboard ranked it as No. 5 for all of 1981. The song also peaked at No. 1 in Springfield's native country of Australia and later won him a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards. 

The song was released in the United Kingdom (UK) in March 1984 and peaked at No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart in April 1984. Springfield recorded an acoustic version of the song for his 1999 album, Karma.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1981)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)1US Cash Box1US Record World1

Chart (1984)Peakposition

Year-end charts

Chart (1981)PositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)15Canada (RPM Top 100 Singles)55US Billboard Hot 1005US Cash Box3

All-time charts

Chart (1958–2018)PositionUS Billboard Hot 100186

Certifications

References

Category:1981 songs
Category:Billboard Hot 100 number one songs
Category:Power pop songs