THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

373-Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera-Moves Like Jagger.

2011-Number 2 single.

Best Bit-At 2.16. Up until New Years Day 2021 when the Wham! classic ‘Last Christmas’ finally reached Number 1, after first being released in 1984, it had been the UK’s best selling song not to have topped the chart. ‘Moves Like Jagger’ now has that honour, having spent seven weeks at Number 2 in 2011, and with sales at the time of writing in the UK of just short of 2 million copies.

It is safe to say that Maroon 5 were not an overnight sensation, having formed in 1994, it wasn’t until 2002 that they finally found success. The original line up, Adam Levine, (vocals) Jesse Carmichael, (keyboards) Ryan Dusick, (drums) and Mickey Madden, (bass) first met while attending Brentwood School, in Los Angeles, California, United States. At first they went by the name of ‘Kara’s Flowers,’ ‘Kara’ was a female pupil at the school who all the band members fancied. As ‘Kara’s Flowers,’ playing a mixture of ‘Alternative Rock,’ and ‘Pop Rock’ they released two Albums in 1995, and 1997, and one single ‘Soap Disco’ in 1997, which all met with little success. It was around the year 2000 that Levine and Carmichael began becoming interested in ‘R&B’ music, and this led to a complete change in the bands style, and look, and also a name change, which gained them attention from ‘A&M Octone Records,’ and their breakthrough Album ‘Songs About Jane’ was released in 2002. As for where the new name ‘Maroon 5′ came from, Adam Levine has said,’The origin of the name is so bad, it’s such a horrendous story, that we decided that shrouding it in mystery will make it a better story than the actual story, and it works.’ In total as ‘Kara’s Flowers,’ and then ‘Maroon 5,’ there have been eight different official band members come and go, and at the time of writing they remain active.

The discography of Maroon 5 who have sold in excess of 120 million records worldwide includes eight studio Albums (1 as Kara’s Flowers) released between 1997-2021, and 35 singles (1 as Kara’s Flowers) released between 1997-2023, there are also six extended plays, (EP’s) (1 as Kara’s Flowers) one remix Album, two official compilation Albums, and three live Albums available. In America all seven Maroon 5 Albums have reached the top 10 on Billboard, with two of the Albums making the Number 1 position, while on the Billboard Hot 100, 23 of their singles have reached the top 40 with four of those singles including ‘Moves Like Jagger,’ featuring Christina Aguilera, making Number 1. In the UK, all the Maroon 5 studio Albums have reached the top 20, with two of them reaching Number 1, while 20 of their singles have made the UK top 40, with ‘Payphone’ featuring Wiz Khalifa, peaking the highest at Number 1 in 2011.

‘Moves Like Jagger’ was the fourth and final single released from the re-released edition of ‘Hands All Over,’ the third studio Album from Maroon 5, from July 2011, the song was co-written by Adam Levine, Benny Blanco, (see also best songs 888) Ammar Malik, and Shellback, (see also best songs 317) with the production credited to Ammar Malik, and Shellback.’ Guest vocals on the track are provided by Christina Aguilera, who at that time was a coach on the American reality competition show ‘The Voice,’ alongside Adam Levine, which aired on ‘NBC.’ When ‘Moves Like Jagger’ hit the top spot Christina Aguilera, became only the second female artist to have Billboard Number 1 singles in the 1990’s, 2000’s, and 2010’s, the other being Britney Spears.

The lyrics to ‘Moves Like Jagger’ refer to the male narrator trying to impress his love interest with his dance moves, which he compares to those of Mick Jagger, the lead singer of The Rolling Stones (see also best songs 933-662-452-160 and 77.) Of his thoughts about the song Mick Jagger has said, ‘It’s very catchy. I could say I wish I had written it, but wouldn’t that be weird? It’s fun, very young children like it, which is always cool and funny. Only thing is, it puts a bit of pressure on me when I go out dancing.’ Adam Levine has said, ‘Jagger has the moves like Jagger. That being said, if there was ever someone to aspire to, I don’t think anyone could claim to have the moves like James Brown, (1933-2006) (see also best songs 880-349-270 and 88) or the moves like Michael Jackson, (1958-2009) (see also best songs 812-511-249-191 and 137) or the moves like Prince (1958-2016) (see also best songs 884-487-269-85 and 54.) There’s something about the way Jagger moves that is uniquely his own and hard to imitate, but also accessible and silly and fun, and not taking itself too seriously.’

Other songs to name check Mick Jagger since the turn of the Century, and bring him to the attention of a whole new generation include, ‘Swagga Like Us,’ by T.I. and Jay Z ft Kanye West and Lil Wayne,’ (2008) ‘The Time (Dirty Bit,’) from The Black Eyed Peas, (2010) and ‘Swagger Jagger,’ by Cher Lloyd (2011.) The other song to name check Mick Jagger in this ‘1000 Best Songs’ list is ‘Drive-In Saturday,’ by David Bowie (see also best songs 807.)

‘Just shoot from the stars and aim for my heart if you feel like it. Take me away and make it okay, I swear I’ll behave.’