Take A Bow - Rihanna

ALL TIME GREATEST SINGLES - #975

TAKE A BOW

Rihanna

(T.E. Hermansen, M. Eriksen, S. Smith)

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Chart Entry: 12th May, 2008

Highest Position: #3

Accreditation: Platinum

Points: 103,463

From the album "Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded".

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The "Reloaded" Good Girl Gone Bad album turned out to be quite a little money spinner for Rihanna as "Take A Bow" bulleted into the Australian Top Ten just as three other tracks from the original release had done. The follow up single, "Disturbia", followed suite, and by the time the whole campaign had finished, Rihanna had clocked up five Top Ten singles, including two #1's, and a worldwide sales total of 7 million copies. It was the album that saw Rihanna cement herself in the A-list of music royalty, giving that "Queen of Pop" tag a little tug.

Rihanna's career has been built around selecting the hottest writing teams around to provide her with enough hits to rival even Madonna. "Take A Bow" was yet another hit for the Stargate team of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, who collaborated with Ne-Yo on the track. Stargate came into prominence during the late 90's after producing a couple of big hits for S Club 7, continuing their success for some of the biggest British acts such as Billie Piper, Blue and Hear'Say. A lull in their success saw the team concentrate on American acts such as Beyonce, Chris Brown and Ne-Yo, and soon the team was once again the hottest production team in the business.

The guys hit a goldmine when Rihanna joined in on the action, her first hit with them, "Unfaithful", hitting #2 on the Australian charts in 2006. Since then, Rihanna and Stargate could almost release a Greatest Hits compilation of their own as the two forces have collaborated on four #1 hits during her ever increasing successful career.

Of course, with so many hits coming out of the Stargate factory, it was only a matter of time that the critical knockers would have their say, exposing "Take A Bow" as a carbon copy of an earlier hit they produced with Beyonce, "Irreplaceable". It was also criticised that such a "standard" track would be the first release from the rejuvenated Good Girl Gone Bad album, many feeling "Disturbia" would have been a better choice, and more deserved of a higher level of success after stalling in the charts and paling in comparison to "Take A Bow".

But, with all the nitpicking surrounding Rihanna's success, there would have been little time for the Barbadian singer to notice what was going on around her anyway. In just three years since the success of "Take A Bow", she has released another three albums that have spawned an amazing amount of hits. Each single becomes just another needle in the haystack of Rihanna hits, making her quite simply, the biggest star in the world today.

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Chart Run: 30.13.10.6.5.6.4.3.4.4.7.8.9.13.17.21.24.27.30.34.42.48.60.61.76.83.77.

84.93.98.96.--.--.96.100 (33 weeks) ARIA Top 100