Song · Bobby McFerrin
“Don't Worry Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin
Released 1988
“Don't Worry Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin appears on 3 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1988 and 2026. It was first released in 1988. Its best result is #35 on the WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1988. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #135 alternative song of 1988.
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Bobby McFerrin wrote "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and made it the lead single from his 1988 album Simple Pleasures, and with no band behind him at all it became the first a cappella record to top the Billboard Hot 100. Riding along with the film Cocktail, it took the number-one spot on September 24, 1988, bumping Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine", and held on for two weeks.
It's a shrug set to music, a sunny little mantra one critic called a "formula for facing life's trials", and the world bought in: number one in Australia for seven weeks and in Canada, number two in the UK. At the 1989 Grammys it took both Record and Song of the Year, plus the prize for best male pop vocal performance, and in 2024 it entered the National Recording Registry.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 35 | WLIR / WDRE Long Island, NY | WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1988 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 545 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2026 | 461 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s | 498 |
Also listed as: Don't Worry, Be Happy.
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