"Y.M.C.A." is a song by American disco group Village People, written by Jacques Morali (also the record's producer) and singer Victor Willis^[1] and released in October 1978 as the only single from their third studio album, Cruisin' (1978). A medley with "Hot Cop" reached No. 2 on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart,^[2] while the song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in early 1979, placing behind both "Le Freak" by Chic and "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod Stewart.^[3] Outside the US, "Y.M.C.A." reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart around the same time, becoming the group's biggest hit. It has sold 12 million copies worldwide.^[4]

The song remains popular and is played at many sporting events in the US and Europe, with crowds joining in on the dance by spelling out the four letters of the song's title via arm movements. In September 2000 "Y.M.C.A." was used as the Space Shuttle wake-up call on day 11 of STS-106.^[5] In 2009, "Y.M.C.A." set a Guinness World Record when over 44,000 people danced to Village People's live performance of the song at the 2008 Sun Bowl game in El Paso, Texas.^[6]

"Y.M.C.A." is No. 7 on VH1's list of The 100 Greatest Dance Songs of the 20th Century.^[7] In 2020, "Y.M.C.A." was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame^[8] and selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[9][10] In its official press release, the Library noted that "back in its heyday, 'Y.M.C.A.' was a hit around the world, going to No. 1 on the charts in over 15 countries, and its ongoing popularity is evidence that, despite the naysayers, disco has never truly died."^[9]

In the US, the YMCA began building single room occupancy (SRO) facilities in the 1880s to house people from rural areas who moved into cities to look for work.^[11] By the 1970s, the typical YMCA tenants were more likely to be homeless people and youth facing life issues, rather than people migrating from rural areas.^[11]

Victor Willis, lead singer and lyricist, recalls that while in the studio, producer Jacques Morali asked him, "What exactly is the YMCA?" After Willis explained it to him, he saw the expression on Morali's face and said, "Don't tell me, Jacques, you want to write a song about it?" and they quickly wrote the track for the album Cruisin'.^[12] Upon the song's release, the YMCA threatened to sue the band over trademark infringement, but ultimately settled with the composers out of court, later expressing pride regarding the song's purpose as a tribute to the organization.^[13]

In 2015, Willis won a legal case against Can't Stop Productions, successfully claiming that he and Morali had written this and other Village People songs together, without any involvement from executive producer Henri Belolo, who was credited on the song's original release. The production company claimed that Belolo had written French lyrics that were then adapted by Willis, but this claim was rejected by the court which ruled that Belolo's name as co-writer should be removed.^[14]

Billboard stated that "Y.M.C.A." is "another example of [the Village People's] droll humor, playing off its gayness with hard hat themes."^[23] Billboard also called "Y.M.C.A." (and its B-side, "The Women") one of the best cuts on the Cruisin' album.^[24] Cash Box said that "Y.M.C.A." has "layered horn work and strings and a bright, soaring chorus" and that "Willis' lead vocals are commanding."^[25] Record World said that it "has the same foot-stomping bass line and tongue-in-cheek lyrics" as previous Village People hit "Macho Man" and that "the vocals are strong and the production thunderous."^[26]

Despite not reaching No. 1 in the United States, it became a No. 1 hit throughout the world and has since remained popular at parties, sporting events, weddings and other functions.

The accompanying music video for "Y.M.C.A.", filmed in New York City in July 1978, features the band singing the song and dancing all over the city. The location shown the most is the original site of YMCA, McBurney, 213 West 23rd Street.^[27] Other filming locations included 395 West Street -- site of the Ramrod gay club -- the West Side Piers and Hudson River Park. It ends with the camera zooming in on the Empire State Building.

YMCA is also the name of a group dance with cheerleader Y-M-C-A choreography invented to fit the song. One of the phases involves moving arms to form the letters Y-M-C-A as they are sung in the chorus:

Y — arms outstretched and raised upwards

M — made by bending the elbows from the 'Y' pose so the fingertips meet in front of the chest^[28]

C — arms extended to the left

A — hands held together above head

The dance originated during the group's performance of the song on the January 6, 1979 episode of American Bandstand. Host Dick Clark then said to Willis that he would like to show him something, playing the song again with the audience doing YMCA hand gestures.^[29][30] Willis immediately picked up on the dance and mimicked the hand movements back at the audience as other Village People members stared at him with puzzled looks. Clark then turned to Willis and said, "Victor, think you can work this dance into your routine?" Willis responded, "I think we're gonna have to."^[29] In a 2008 retrospective article for Spin, Randy Jones has opined that the dance may have originated as a misunderstanding: the group's original choreographed dance had the group clapping above their heads during the chorus and he believes that the audience, believing them to be making the letter "Y", began following suit.^[31]

Following the sixth inning of New York Yankees baseball games at Yankee Stadium, the grounds crew traditionally grooms the infield while leading the crowd in the dance.^[32]

VH1 placed "Y.M.C.A." at #7 on their list of 100 Greatest Dance Songs in 2000,^[33] while Paste Magazine ranked the song #1 on their list of The 60 Best Dancefloor Classics in February 2017.^[34] In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked it #139 in their list of 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time.^[35]

The Village People recorded a version of the song for Pepsi in 1997 for a commercial featuring a group of dancing bears, changing the lyrics to match the drink and spelling out P-E-P-S-I.^[36] A few months afterwards, Pepsi used the song again as part of its new blue-themed imaging for the Pepsi Globe.^[37]

During the 2008 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, in a half time performance with The Village People, it became the largest Y.M.C.A dance ever, with over 40,000 people in attendance dancing and singing to the song.^[38]

In 2012, in a landmark ruling in accordance with the Copyright Act of 1976, Willis terminated his copyrights granted to the publishers Can't Stop Productions and Scorpio Music.^[39] In March 2015, it was determined that the sole writers of the song were Morali and Willis.^[40]

In March 2020, the US Library of Congress added the song to its National Recording Registry, which preserves for posterity audio that is "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".^[41] In December 2020, "Y.M.C.A." was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[8]

President Donald Trump began using the song (as well as another Village People song, "Macho Man") to close out his rallies during his 2020 re-election campaign. Willis initially approved its use but after several incidents involving the Black Lives Matter protests, he demanded Trump stop.^[42] Saturday Night Live parodied the song and the group's reaction with "Cease and desist" on the October 24, 2020, segment of Weekend Update.^[43] As a result, the song was back in the Top 20 on iTunes in November 2020^[44] and hit the #2 spot on the Billboard Dance Digital Song Sales chart.^[45] On November 6, following the media's declaration that Joe Biden had taken the lead in Pennsylvania over then President Trump in the 2020 US presidential election, Biden supporters celebrated by dancing in the streets and singing the song across the city of Philadelphia.^[46] The song was played over loudspeakers as Donald Trump boarded Air Force One for the last time on January 20, 2021, en route to Florida before the inauguration of Joe Biden.^[47]

In 1979, Japanese singer Hideki Saijo covered the song for his compilation album Young Man/Hideki Flying Up as "Young Man (Y.M.C.A.)". In Japan, the cover topped on the Oricon chart for five consecutive weeks and became the seventh best-selling single of 1979 in Japan. For the cover, the lyrics were re-written in Japanese by Saijo's manager, Ryuji Amagai. This version is also notable for having a call-and-response in the middle where Saijo and a group of child singers chant the letters "Y M C A" back and forth.

In 1998, Touché covered the hit for their album Kids in America with Krayzee. In this version Touche take over the vocal parts and only the rap contributes to Krayzee. In Belgium, this cover version was a top ten hit, while the success in the German-speaking countries, however, was rather modest.