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Cover of Fashion Nugget by Cake
Cover: Fashion Nugget

Song · Cake

“I Will Survive” by Cake

From the album Fashion Nugget (1996)

“I Will Survive” by Cake appears on 30 radio countdowns from 13 stations between 1997 and 2025. It was first released in 1996 on the album Fashion Nugget. Its best result is #9 on The Colorado Sound Top 850 Cover Songs. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #68 alternative song of 1997 and #1,587 alternative song of all time.

30countdowns
13stations
#9best position
0#1 finishes
1top 10 finishes
1997–2025years charted

Watch

I Will Survive

Video from YouTube (Gloria Gaynor - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

Cake slipped "I Will Survive" onto Fashion Nugget in 1996 and played it with a perfectly straight face, which is exactly what makes it land. Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris wrote the song for Gloria Gaynor, whose 1978 recording turned a tale of finding your feet after a crushing breakup into a disco anthem.

Cake produced and arranged their version themselves, with Joe Johnston, Craig Long and Kirt Shearer engineering, and they strip every speck of mirror-ball glitter off it. What's left is a dry, loping groove and a vocal that sounds shrugged rather than belted, so the triumph in the words comes out wry and a little rumpled: a dance-floor survival hymn recast as a slacker's deadpan.

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#StationCountdownof
1997 28 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1997 91
1997 35 KNRK Portland, OR KNRK Top 94 Songs of 1997 94
1997 62 WBER Rochester, NY WBER Listener Countdown 1997 99
1997 49 X103.9 Riverside-San Bernardino, CA X103.9 Top 103.9 Songs of 1997 104
1997 20 Triple J Australia (national) Triple J Hottest 100 of 1997 100

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1998 64 Triple J Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (1998) 100
1999 72 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 1916 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 873 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
2000 1911 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 1910 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2002 1895 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 39 The Buzz The Buzz Top Songs of All-Time (Labor Day 2002, partial) 144
2003 1655 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 1655 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 1645 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 55 The Edge KEDJ Top 103 on Independent Radio 103
2005 758 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2007 1091 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 1066 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 1063 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 1106 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 1144 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 1151 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 1191 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2016 475 WYEP WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 913
2021 807 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908
2022 432 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s 900
2024 9 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Cover Songs 850
2025 110 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs 800

Also listed as: I Will Surive.

Charting alongside it in 1997

Best songs of 1997 →
  1. 1Song 2Blur
  2. 2Walkin' On The SunSmash Mouth
  3. 3TubthumpingChumbawamba
  4. 4FlySugar Ray
  5. 5The Impression That I GetThe Mighty Mighty Bosstones
  6. 6Semi-Charmed LifeThird Eye Blind

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