Hollaback Girl - Chart Performance

Chart Performance

The single was officially solicited to radio in North America on April 5, 2005, although the music video had been released two weeks earlier, on March 21. "Hollaback Girl" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number eighty-two on the issue dated April 2, 2005, and within six weeks of its release, it had reached the top of the chart, making it the fastest-rising single to reach the top in 2005; it also became Stefani's first US number one. It maintained the number-one position for four weeks. The single spent thirty-one weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, twenty-nine of which were in the top fifty. On the 2005 year-end chart, the song was the second most successful single, beaten by Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together".

"Hollaback Girl" held the record for most US radio airplays in one week, with 9,582 plays, and maintained this feat for over a year before Shakira and Wyclef Jean's "Hips Don't Lie" overtook the position. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Pop 100 for eight weeks, and was a small success in the dance clubs, peaking at number fifteen on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song was a crossover success, and reached number four on the Rhythmic Top 40 and number eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

The song was noted for having a large number of digital downloads, becoming the first single to sell more digital downloads than CDs. In October 2005, "Hollaback Girl" was the first single to ever sell one million digital downloads and later went on to sell a total of 1.2 million downloads; it was certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Due to its downloads, it reached number one on both digital sales charts concurrently, and it topped the Hot Digital Songs year-end chart.

"Hollaback Girl" was successful in Canada, where the song debuted at number twelve on the Canadian Singles Chart; however, it fell from there and was unable to reach a higher position. It remained in the top fifty for six months. However, Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, later argued that based on Canada's population relative to the US, the single should have sold around 120,000 copies and that the comparatively lower sales of 25,000 were a sign that the Canadian copyright law should be tightened to discourage non-commercial peer-to-peer file sharing. Columnist Michael Geist disputed the comparison, arguing that the Canadian online music market was still developing.

In the rest of the world, reaction to "Hollaback Girl" was generally positive, though not as overwhelming as in North America. It was released in Australia on May 23, 2005, debuting at number one, and in Europe on June 6, 2005, debuting at number twenty-two and eventually reaching number five on the European Hot 100 Singles. In the United Kingdom, however, "Hollaback Girl" did not perform as well as Stefani's previous releases. The song's predecessors, "What You Waiting For?" and "Rich Girl", had both reached number four, while "Hollaback Girl" debuted at number eight, and stalled at the same position the following week. Although its UK success was limited, it remained in the top forty for an additional eleven weeks and outsold "Rich Girl". The single was largely successful across Europe, reaching the top five in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Ireland, and the top ten in Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.