Timber (Pitbull song)


"Timber" is a song by American rapper Pitbull featuring American singer Kesha. The song was released on October 6, 2013, as the lead single from Pitbull's extended play Meltdown EP. The song was produced by Dr. Luke, Cirkut, and Sermstyle, with additional production by Nick Seeley. The song interpolates Lee Oskar's 1978 single "San Francisco Bay" and features harmonica player Paul Harrington, who plays through the entire song and was told to emulate Oskar.
The song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks and also topped the charts in over fifteen countries, including Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. According to the IFPI, the song sold 12.6 million units worldwide in 2014, including single-track downloads and track-equivalent streams, becoming the sixth best-selling song of that year. As of 2019, the song has now sold 19.1 million copies worldwide.

Background and composition

Kesha had previously featured Pitbull on remixes of her songs "Tik Tok" and "Crazy Kids", and Pitbull has featured Kesha on a 2009 song, "Girls". In an interview in December 2013, Pitbull said that Rihanna was originally meant to be the featured artist on "Timber", but she had already been asked to be the featured artist on Shakira's "Can't Remember to Forget You" and did not have time to record "Timber".
"Timber" is a dance-pop, EDM and folktronica song with elements of country. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Kobalt Music Publishing, the song is set in common time with a moderately fast tempo of 130 beats per minute. The song is written in the key of G minor and follows a chord sequence of Gm–B–F–E. Kesha's vocals span from G♯3 to D♯5.
Paul Harrington, who plays the harmonica throughout the track, was initially given a flat fee of $1,000 for his services. Three years later, however, after consulting an expert on music law, Harrington was paid a further $50,000.

Chart performance

"Timber" made its first chart appearance on October 10, 2013, in the Republic of Ireland, where it debuted at number 67 on the Irish Singles Chart. The following week, the song climbed to number 19. In Austria, "Timber" debuted at number 69 on the Austrian Singles Chart on October 18, 2013 and eventually crowned the chart at number 1. In Germany, the song debuted at number 90 on October 18, 2013 on the German Singles Chart and later peaked at number one.
Timber debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 26, 2013 at number 49, and it topped the chart on January 18, 2014, giving Kesha her third number-one single after "Tik Tok" and "We R Who We R" as well as earning Pitbull his second number-one single, after 2011's "Give Me Everything". Before topping the Hot 100, it had been stuck at number 2 for 4 weeks, behind "The Monster" by Eminem featuring Rihanna. "Timber" is Kesha's eleventh top 10 song on the Hot 100 chart. "Timber" peaked at number 1 on the US Hot Digital Songs, and is Pitbull's first song to do so. "Timber" also peaked at number 1 on the US Rap Songs chart. It is the first #1 single of 2014 in the US, and stood at number one for three consecutive weeks. It has spent four consecutive weeks at the number two, three consecutive weeks at the number one, then again at number two for one week. It reached its 4 million sales mark in the US in May 2014. As of July 2015, the song has been certified for 6 million copies in the US.
In Canada, the song debuted at number seventeen on the Canadian Hot 100 as the week's highest debut and climbed steadily to number one, where it has stood for eight consecutive weeks.
In the United Kingdom, "Timber" debuted at the top of the UK Singles Chart on January 5, 2014 ― for the week ending date January 11, 2014 ― shifting 139,000 copies in its first week. This gave both artists their third chart-topping songs in Britain. By the end of 2014, the song had sold 744,000 copies in the UK.
In South Korea, "Timber" debuted at number sixteen on Gaon International Chart, but it debuted at number 13 on Gaon Download International Chart with 6,522 downloads. In its second week it reached number 2 on the International Chart. On the download chart, it jumped to number 3, selling another 15,276 copies.
"Timber" sold 68,321 copies during 2013 in South Korea. During January 2014, the single sold another 16,515 copies, and during February sold 15,482 digital units. During March 2014, another 13,975 units were sold in South Korea.

Music video

Kesha filmed her scenes on November 5, 2013 while Pitbull filmed his scenes one week later on November 12, 2013. The video also features a cameo by Italian model Raffaella Modugno and , an Orlando-based Americana Group, who perform on stage as the bar's house band. The beach scenes were filmed in Exuma islands, Bahamas. The video features a guest appearance from Ann Smith.
The music video has over 1.2 billion views on YouTube as of May 2020, making it his most viewed video as a lead artist.

Controversy

On June 25, 2014, it was reported that songwriters Lee Oskar, Keri Oskar, and Greg Errico had filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the makers of "Timber", which features a harmonica melody that Oskar claims is "identical" to the melody used in his 1978 song "San Francisco Bay". The songwriters were seeking $3 million USD in damages. The lawsuit alleges that while Sony Music may have obtained permission to use the sample, which is credited in the album notes for Meltdown, from a license holder, the label failed to obtain permission from the songwriters themselves.

Track listing

  1. "Timber" – 3:24
  1. "Timber" – 3:24
  2. "Outta Nowhere" – 3:26

    Credits and personnel

;Recording
;Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes on BMI.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australia 61
Austria 22
Belgium 47
Belgium 52
Canada 4
Denmark 17
Germany 19
Hungary 16
Hungary 34
Hungary 11
Italy 12
Ireland 7
Netherlands 18
Netherlands 45
New Zealand 23
Russia Airplay 167
Slovenia 8
Sweden 12
Switzerland 25
Ukraine Airplay 86
UK Singles 9
US Billboard Hot 10011
US Adult Top 40 36
US Dance Club Songs 18
US Dance/Mix Show Airplay 23
US Hot Rap Songs 2
US Mainstream Top 40 12
US Rhythmic 25
Venezuela Pop/Rock General 3

Decade-end charts

Certifications

!scope="col" colspan="3"| Streaming
! colspan="3"| Summaries

Release history