Say Say Say - Release and Reception

Release and Reception

Following the release of Thriller and most of its singles, "Say Say Say" was released on 3 October 1983 by Parlophone Records in the UK and Columbia Records in the US. It remained atop Billboard's Hot 100 for six weeks and became Jackson's seventh top ten hit of 1983, breaking a record that until then was held jointly by The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Also in the US, "Say Say Say" reached number two on the R&B chart and number three on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.

Although the song had peaked at number ten in the UK, it began to fall steadily; McCartney subsequently held an early weekday live television interview, where he discussed the song's music video. This, along with screenings of the video on Top of the Pops (which normally played only singles that were rising in the charts), The Tube and Noel Edmonds' The Late, Late Breakfast Show, helped propel the song to number two on the UK Singles Chart. The belated release of the 12" single of "Say Say Say", remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez, also contributed to the improved UK chart performance.

"Say Say Say" reached number one in Norway and Sweden, and the single also reached the top ten in Austria, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. With wholesale shipments of at least one million units, the single was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

McCartney album releases of "Say Say Say" include 1983's Pipes of Peace and 1987's All the Best!

"Say Say Say" ranks as Michael Jackson's top-performing single on Billboard's ranking of Jackson's 50 best-charting songs."

"Say Say Say" received mixed reviews from music critics. The lyrics were named the worst of 1983 by The Buffalo News's Anthony Violanti, while the Lexington Herald-Leader stated in a review of Pipes of Peace that, aside from "Say Say Say" and "The Man", "McCartney waste the rest of the album on bathos and whimsy". The Los Angeles Times' Paul Grein also reviewed the McCartney album and opined that the singer had redeemed himself with the success of the "spunky" song "but plunged back into wimpdom with 'No More Lonely Nights'". Journalist Whitney Pastorek compared the song to McCartney's 1982 duet with Stevie Wonder, "Ebony and Ivory". She asserted that "Say Say Say" was a better song, and had a better "though slightly more nonsensical" music video, adding that the song had no "heavy-handed social content". Penn State's The Daily Collegian described the track as a good song, despite its ad nauseam broadcasts.

The Deseret News stated that the "pleading love song" had a "masterful, catchy hook". In a Rolling Stone review, the track was described as an "amiable though vapid dance groove". The reviewer, Parke Puterbaugh, added that it was an "instantly hit-bound froth-funk that tends, after all, toward banality". Music critic Nelson George stated that "Say Say Say" would not have "deserved the airplay it received without McCartney and Jackson". Salon.com later described the song as a "sappy duet". The online magazine concluded that McCartney had become a "wimpy old fart". Billboard ranked the song third in its list of top tracks for 1984. In a 2007 article, a writer for the magazine Vibe listed "Say Say Say" as the 22nd greatest duet of all time. The writer commented that the song was "a true falsetto fantasy" and that it was "still thrilling to hear the sweet-voiced duo trade harmonies on the chorus". In 2005, Dutch musicians Hi Tack sampled "Say Say Say" on their debut single, "Say Say Say (Waiting 4 U)". The song featured Jackson's vocals from the original recording, plus McCartney's "Baby".

In 2012, Canadian indie folk artist Woodpigeon released a cover version of Say Say Say, recorded with Louise and the Pins in London.