"Beautiful Girls" is the debut single by the Jamaican-American singer and rapper Sean Kingston from his 2007 debut album Sean Kingston. The song was first released in 2007 when Kingston was 17, and is considered his signature song. The song is about a boy who feels "suicidal" (a radio edit changes this to "in denial") over the prospect of dating a "beautiful girl" only to have her break up with him.
The song samples the 1961 song "Stand by Me" by the American singer-songwriter Ben E. King.
Commercially, the song reached number one in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the top ten in fourteen additional countries.
Rapper Lil Mama and actors Kenny Vibert and Lil' JJ are featured in the music video directed by Marcus Raboy, which hit 1.5 billion YouTube views as of May 4, 2026.
Lyrics controversy Due to the lyrics containing references to suicide, the song was ineligible to be played on Radio Disney. A re-recorded, clean version with new lyrics was added to the Radio Disney playlist on September 3, 2007. On September 21, 2007, it was reported that the original version of the song was removed from the radio playlist of FM104 in Dublin due to the suicide references.Independent.ie - Station bans hit song about suicide (September 21, 2007)
Track listing
UK CD single
"Beautiful Girls" (album version) – 4:02 "Beautiful Girls" (a cappella) – 3:41 "Beautiful Girls" (instrumental) – 3:40 "Beautiful Girls" (remix) – 3:27 "Beautiful Girls" (video)
Chart performance The week after the song's digital release it hit number one on Billboards Hot Digital Songs, debuting with 260,000 downloads in its first week (the second highest digital sales for a new song of 2007, only behind Rihanna's "Umbrella"). Kingston became the first artist born in the 1990s to top the Hot 100. It has also occupied the top spot on the US Hot 100 Airplay and the Canadian Hot 100. It remained on top of the UK Singles Chart for four weeks. The song ended 2007 as the year's 15th biggest-selling single in the UK.BBC Music. . Retrieved 2007-12-30 On the ARIA charts in Australia, it debuted at number one.
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2007–2008)PeakpositionBrazil (Crowley Broadcast Analysis)2Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)1Romania (Romanian Top 100)7
Year-end charts Chart (2007)PositionAustralia (ARIA)10Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)48Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)69Belgium (Ultratop Wallonia)79 Brazil (Crowley)12Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)8France (SNEP)26Germany (Official German CHarts) 64Hungary (Dance Top 40)42Hungary (Rádiós Top 40)18Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)72Netherlands (Single Top 100)94 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) 10Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)46Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)65UK Singles (Official Charts Company)15UK Urban (Music Week)14US Billboard Hot 10031US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)81US Rhythmic (Billboard)13 Chart (2008)PositionSpain (PROMUSICAE)35
Certifications
JoJo version
"Beautiful Girls" (also known as "Beautiful Girls Reply") is a song by American singer JoJo. It was released digitally on July 20, 2007, as a cover response to "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston. The song samples Ben E. King's "Stand by Me". Whereas Kingston's version is about a boy who is suicidal over the failure of his relationship with a "beautiful girl", JoJo speaks from a girl's perspective.
Chart performance The song debuted at number 39 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 chart one month after its release.
Chart (2007) Peakposition US Rhythmic Top 40 (Billboard) 39
See also List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2007 (U.S.) List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2007 (Canada) List of number-one singles of 2007 (Ireland) List of number-one singles in Australia in 2007 List of number-one singles from the 2000s (New Zealand) List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK) List of European number-one hits of 2007
References