"Need You Now" is a country pop song performed by American country music group Lady Antebellum. The song was co-written by Lady Antebellum and Josh Kear, and produced by the trio along with Paul Worley. It serves as the lead-off single and title track to their second studio album, Need You Now, which was released on January 26, 2010.^[1] The song was their debut single in the UK and Europe and was released on April 26, 2010.^[2] It won four Grammy Awards in 2011, including for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, the first country song to win both honors since 2007, and only the second ever.

The lyrics describe placing a call to someone in the middle of the night due to being lonely and longing for companionship. Hillary Scott commented on the song, saying that "All three of us know what it's like to get to that point where you feel lonely enough that you make a late night phone call that you very well could regret the next day." Charles Kelley told The Boot that the band's record executives initially had concerns regarding using the lyrics "I'm a little drunk", but convinced the executives to leave the content in the song.^[3]

The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in late 2009.^[4][5] Thereafter, "Need You Now" crossed over onto various pop and adult contemporary music charts, becoming a top five hit in Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, as well as a top ten hit in the Netherlands and Norway. The song won Single of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards,^[6] as well as Group Video of the Year at the 2010 CMT Music Awards.^[7] For the chart week of March 30, 2010, the song became the group's highest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 2,^[8] the best position for a country song on that chart since Taylor Swift's "Today Was a Fairytale" reached the same position the previous month.^[9] The single has been certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[10]

A music video was shot for the song, directed by Dave McClister. In the video the song has an extended piano intro, and features all members of the group acting out scenes related to the storyline.^[11] The song was initially released only to the country radio format in the United States and Canada on August 24, 2009,^[1] but was remixed and re-released to all other formats domestically and internationally at the beginning of 2010. The song gained prominence internationally, in Europe and South America. The trio re-recorded the song again in Simlish to accompany the release of the Sims 3 expansion pack Ambitions.^[12] As of April 17, 2011, the song is the 9th most downloaded song in history, moving 5,000,000 copies, and is the most downloaded country song in history as of April 2011, surpassing Taylor Swift's "Love Story".^[13][14]

The song is featured in the first episode of Hellcats.^[15] It also appeared in episode 12 of The Glades.

The song has been covered by Adele with Darius Rucker at the 2010 CMT Artists of the Year event and British/Irish girlband Wonderland.

Reception[link]

"Need You Now" has received positive reviews from music critics. It won the 2011 Grammy award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The song received a "thumbs up" review from Jim Malec of the 9513. He said that although Charles Kelley's voice had a "surprisingly stuffy tone," lead singer Hillary Scott's voice fit perfectly for "dark" songs like "Need You Now." He said that both singers had a rawness in their voices that made the song feel "real".^[16] It also received a positive review from Ken Tucker of Billboard, who said, "the song finds alto Scott trading lead vocals with a soulful Kelley, and it will connect with anyone who's ever dumped a significant other and regretted it in the early morning hours."^[17] Bobby Peacock of Roughstock gave a positive review as well, comparing its sound favorably to that of "I Run to You." He also thought the traded-off lead vocals gave the song "more depth," and that Kelley and Scott sang more strongly than on the debut album.^[18]

Critics in Europe and North America have pointed to similarities between the song and "Eye in the Sky" by The Alan Parsons Project in 1982. Hillary Scott responded saying that she "had never even heard of him".^[19][20][21]

Chart performance[link]

	"Need You Now" (2009) noicon A 27-second sample of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now." The song is a country ballad.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The song became the trio's second Number One hit on the Hot Country Songs chart for the chart dated November 28, 2009,^[4] where it stayed for five weeks,^[5] making it the first song to hold the #1 position for more than four weeks since Taylor Swift's "Our Song" spent six weeks at #1 between December 2007 and January 2008.^[22] In the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song peaked at #2 and stays there for two weeks, making it their highest charting single on that chart and their first Top 5. On the Canadian Hot 100, it peaked at #2, making it their highest charting and first top five single. It is only the second country song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart, the first being Faith Hill's "Breathe", which reached the top position in year 2000.^[23] For the Billboard tracking period of March 29-April 4, 2010, "Need You Now" broke the record held by Hoobastank's hit "The Reason" for most spins in one week on the Adult Top 40 chart.^[23] The song debuted at #28 on the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release, before climbing to and peaking at #21 the following week.^[24]

On December 9, 2010, the song was named the #2 Hot 100 song of the year by Billboard, behind "Tik Tok" by Kesha. This remarks the highest position a country song has ever reached since Faith Hill's "Breathe" was ranked #1 in the year-end chart of the year 2000.^[25]

In April 2011, Need You Now replaced Taylor Swift's "Love Story" as the best-selling country song of all time in the USA.^[26] It is also the second country song to sell over 5,000,000 digital copies (after Swift's "Love Story"), when it achieved this feat in April 2011.^[27]

Due to the band winning four Grammys, Need You Now debuted at No. 32 on the German Singles Chart in February 2011, 10 months after the digital release of the single. Before that happened, the song did not sell enough to enter the chart.^[28][29]

Music video[link]

David McClister directed the "Need You Now" music video, using a treatment he wrote in 10 minutes.^[30]

The video features all three members of Lady Antebellum acting out scenes related to the storyline. It begins in a hallway of a hotel where Kelley is sitting against a wall and Scott is in her room, with Haywood playing the piano. Kelley goes to a cafe and has a drink, where Haywood arrives at with his love interest. Scott then leaves her room and hails a taxi. Kelley leaves the cafe and goes outside to walk to a costume ball, which Scott is also traveling to. When they arrive at the ball, they both see their love interests wearing masks and they embrace them. Haywood soon arrives at the ball with his love interest. The video ends with all three members embracing their love interests.^[11] The video was filmed at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, Ontario.^[31]

Of the changes between the song and its music video, one of the most noted is Kelley drinking coffee instead of whiskey, since the song states the character is intoxicated. In response, McClister admitted he simply did not want the video to be a literal adaptation of the song, as he felt sitting in a diner in the middle of the night was lonelier.^[30]

Tracklist[link]

Digital Download

1. "Need You Now" - 3:57

Other Versions

• "Need You Now" (Jason Nevins Elektrotek Radio Edit) - 3:27
• "Need You Now" (Jason Nevins Hands Up Radio Edit) - 3:27
• "Need You Now" (Jason Nevins Rhythm Remix) - 3:29
• "Need You Now" (DJ Dark Intensity Remix) - 4:22

Awards and nominations[link]

Credits and personnel[link]

The following musicians perform on this track:^[37]

• Chad Cromwell – drums
• Jason "Slim" Gambill – electric guitar
• Dave Haywood – background vocals, acoustic guitar
• Charles Kelley – lead vocals
• Rob McNelley – electric guitar (solo)
• Michael Rojas – piano, synthesizer
• Hillary Scott – lead vocals
• Paul Worley – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Craig Young – bass guitar

Charts, sales and succession[link]

Chart precession and succession[link]

Release history[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lady Antebellum "Need You Now" music video at CMT.com

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (August 2011)

Need You Now is the second studio album by the American country music group Lady Antebellum. The album was released on January 26, 2010,^[1][2] via Capitol Nashville. It is the follow-up album to their 2008 self-titled RIAA Platinum certified debut album. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 481,000 copies sold in its first week. It has been certified 3x platinum by the RIAA. On February 13, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album and was nominated for Album of the Year, whereas the single "Need You Now" won four awards, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year.^[3]

Singles[link]

"Need You Now", the first single, debuted at number 50 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in August 2009. For the week of November 28, it became their second Number One single on the Hot Country Songs chart in the United States, as issued by Billboard.^[4] After the trio's performance of the song at the Country Music Association Awards, it climbed to a number five peak on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming and experienced a surge in sales after the 52nd Grammy Awards, peaking at number two, their highest peaking single on the Hot 100 and pop charts.^[5] As of April 14, 2010, it has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA. The song was used in the first episode of the TV show Hellcats.

"American Honey", the second single, debuted at number 47 on the Hot Country Songs chart for the week of January 2, 2010,^[6] before its initial release date of January 11, 2010.^[7] In April 2010, the song became their third consecutive Number One single, as well as third Top 30 single on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the United Kingdom and Europe (except from Germany), "I Run to You" was the second single taken from the International Edition of the album. It was released on 9 August 2010 in support of their debut UK live show at Shepherd's Bush Empire.^[8]

"Our Kind of Love" was confirmed as the third single off the album. The song was released as a promotional single on January 10, 2010, and received its official release as the set's third single in late May.

"Hello World", the album's fourth single, was released to radio on October 4, 2010.

Reception[link]

Commercial[link]

Need You Now debuted at #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first week sales of 481,000. It is the third best-selling album of 2010, behind I Dreamed a Dream by Susan Boyle and Recovery by rapper Eminem.^[9] Due to the band winning 5 Grammys, Need You Now debuted at No. 24 on the German Albums Chart in February 2011, 9 months after the release of the album.^[10][11] As of the chart dated July 2, 2011, the album has sold 3,544,833 copies in the US. The album also spent 31 Non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the "Country Album" Chart in 2010-2011. ^[12]

The song "Perfect Day" has been used in one of The CW's commercials to promote new TV series Hart of Dixie.^[13][14]

Critical[link]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[15]
American Songwriter	[16]
Billboard	favorable[17]
The Boston Globe	mixed[18]
Country Weekly	[19]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[20]
Los Angeles Times	[21]
Rolling Stone	[22]
Slant Magazine	[23]
The 9513	[24]

Upon its release, Need You Now received generally mixed reviews from music critics.^[25] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63, based on 9 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".^[25]

Giving it four stars out of five, Jessica Phillips wrote in Country Weekly magazine that the group "certainly need have no fear of a sophomore slump" due to the success of "Need You Now". She also said that the album showed the trio's "ability to craft memorable country pop hooks," but added that "not every song works on this record."^[26] Crystal Bell, writing for Billboard was also positive in her review citing Kelley's vocal slyness and the delicate arrangement of the track, "Ready to Love Again", also noting "the trio's musical growth."^[27]

Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek wrote that on this album "they stick very close to the formula of their debut: a slew of mid- and uptempo love songs, a sad ballad, and a couple of rocked-up good-time tunes — all self-written with some help from some of Nashville's most respected writers."^[28] He also went on to say that the album was "flawless in its songwriting, production, and performances."^[28] Mikael Wood of Entertainment Weekly said, "they're most successful when they keep to the moody minor key stuff" and gave the album a B+.^[20] Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine was less positive.^[23]

Allegations that the song stole from The Alan Parsons Project's song 'Eye in the Sky' have been widespread online, and representatives for Parsons commented.^[29]

Track listings[link]

Bonus download songs[link]

Each month on ladyantebellum.com, a new song becomes available to all that bought a CD, digital-download, or passcode version of the album^[30]

1. "Need You Now" (Acoustic) (Haywood, Kear, Kelley, Scott) — (Jan/Feb)
2. "I Run to You" (Acoustic) (Haywood, Kelley, Scott, Douglas) — (March)
3. "American Honey" (Live) (Barlowe, Lindsey, Stevens) — (April)
4. "Our Kind of Love" (Live) (Haywood, Kelley, Scott, Busbee) — (May)
5. "Stars Tonight" (Live) (Powell, Haywood, Kelley, Scott) — (June)
6. "All We'd Ever Need" (Live) (Haywood, Kelley, Scott) — (July)
7. "Do I" (Live) (Bryan, Kelley, Haywood) — (August)
8. "When You Got a Good Thing" (Live) (Haywood, Kelly, Rutherford, Scott) - (September)
9. "Slow Down Sister" (Live) (Haywood, Kelly, Gambill, Shaw) - (October)
10. "Love's Lookin' Good On You" (Live) (Deere, Lopez, Shaw) - (November)
11. "Hello World" (Live) (Douglas, Lane, Lee) - (December)

Charts and certifications[link]

Singles[link]

Chart precession and succession[link]

Release history[link]