FEATURE:
The Lockdown Playlist
Destiny’s Child’s Survivor’s Twentieth Anniversary as a U.K. Number-One
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IN the latest Lockdown Playlist…
I am marking twenty years since Destiny’s Child went to number-one with the song, Survivor. On 26th April, 2001, the track went to the top of the U.K. chart. Taken from their excellent 2001 album of the same name, Survivor is an absolute classic. The track, unsurprisingly, was a big success:
“Survivor" is a song by American R&B group Destiny's Child. It was written and composed by group member Beyoncé, Anthony Dent, and Mathew Knowles for the band's third studio album of the same name (2001). "Survivor" was inspired by a joke that a radio station had made about the fact that three members had already left the group, comparing the band to the reality game show Survivor. Beyoncé was inspired to take the negative comment and turn it into a positive by writing a song out of it. The song won the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 2002 Grammy Awards.
The video won the 2001 MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video and a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo. The opening track of singer-songwriter Jill Sobule's 2004 album The Folk Years 2003–2003 is a cover of the song, and a pseudo-cover of the song also opens rapper Vanilla Ice's 2005 album Platinum Underground.
Billboard named the song number 40 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time”.
I love the music of 2001. Not only was it very eclectic. One also got to enjoy big Pop songs and R&B anthems - the likes of which we do not really hear twenty years later. As the Official Charts note, it was an interesting musical week when Destiny’s Child scored a number-one with Survivor:
“They weren't going to diss you on the internet, but they were taking over the chart. This week in 2001, Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle – aka the third, final and definitive lineup of Destiny's Child – were celebrating their second chart-topper.
Survivor was Destiny's Child defiant recovery from a tough time. Two original band members had quit the year before, and a replacement member hadn't lived up to the band's high expectations, apparently after a problem with lost luggage caused friction between her and Queen B. They'd all but been written off, but a chart-topping theme song for the new Charlie's Angels movie, followed by this confident classic, let people know they were back in business.
Survivor sold 104,000 in its first week and was the band's last Number 1 together. Not that they're complaining, of course – their mama taught them better than that. It finished on 260,000 sales that year and 2001's 31st best-seller.
Survivor's total figure has grown considerably since then, currently at 760,000, including 40 million streams since records began in 2014.
There were four other new entries in the Top 10 this week in 2001. Ronan Keating scored his fourth solo Top 10 with the breezy Lovin' Each Day, while O-Town, who shot to fame on MTV documentary Making The Band, were new at 3 with the suspiciously-titled Liquid Dreams. Missy Elliott's still-thrilling Get Ur Freak On completed the all-new Top 4”.
To celebrate that huge number-one single’s twentieth anniversary, this Lockdown Playlist is a collection of songs that include the word ‘survivor’, ‘survive’ or ‘survival’ (or variations of those words) – I will also include a cheeky song from the band, Survivor. Here is a playlist dedicated to…
AN iconic track at twenty.