View source for Music Box Dancer

{{Infobox song
| name       = Music Box Dancer
| cover      = Music_Box_Dancer_-_Frank_Mills.jpg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Frank Mills]]
| album      = Music Box Dancer
| B-side     = The Poet and I
| released   = January 1979
| format     =
| recorded   = 1974
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      = 
* [[Easy listening]]<ref name="Molanphy 2023">{{Cite podcast|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2023/09/how-instrumentals-become-infectious-hits|title= Insert Lyrics Here Edition|website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date=September 15, 2023|access-date=October 3, 2023}}</ref>
* [[soft rock]]
| length     = 3:15
| label      = [[Polydor Records|Polydor]]
| writer     = Frank Mills
| producer   = Frank Mills
| prev_title = Love Me, Love Me Love
| prev_year  = 1972
| next_title = Peter Piper
| next_year  = 1979
| misc       = {{Audio sample
 | type        = single
 | file        = Frank Mills - Music Box Dancer.ogg
 | description = "Music Box Dancer"
}}
}}

"'''Music Box Dancer'''" is an [[instrumental]] piece by Canadian musician [[Frank Mills]] that was an international hit in the late 1970s. It features an [[arpeggio|arpeggiated]] [[piano]] theme in  [[D-flat major]] designed to resemble a [[music box]], accompanied by other instruments playing a counterpoint melody as well as a wordless chorus. Most modern piano music sheets have the song in the key of C major.

Mills wrote and recorded "Music Box Dancer" in 1974, but it did not become a [[Single (music)|single]] until December 1978.<ref>''American Top 40'' with Casey Kasem, March 10, 1979</ref> By Christmas of that year, it was in the top ten of many European and Asian pop music charts. Released as a single in the United States in January 1979,<ref name="ReferenceA">''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990'' - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}}</ref> it reached #3 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart on the week ending May 5,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and also reached #3 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart and #47 on the Canadian pop chart. The single also reached #14 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report).<ref name="australian-charts1">{{cite web|first=Steffen |last=Hung |url=http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=21533&pages= |title=Forum - CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts) |website=Australian-charts.com |accessdate=2016-10-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020025459/http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=21533&pages= |archivedate=2013-10-20 }}</ref>

==History ==
In 1974, Mills released an album that featured "Music Box Dancer", but it was not initially a hit. When he re-signed with Polydor Records Canada in 1978, the label released a new song as a single, with "Music Box Dancer" on the B-side. The single was sent to [[easy-listening]] stations in Canada, and one copy was mistakenly sent to [[CFRA]], an [[Ottawa]] pop station. The program director played the A-side and could not figure out why it had been sent to his station, so he played the B-side to see if the record label had been mistakenly marked. He liked "Music Box Dancer" and added it to his station's playlist.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}

The song's success at CFRA was swift. "Music Box Dancer" premiered on CFRA's top 30 chart on May 5, 1978;<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://las-solanas.com/arsa/surveys_item.php?svid=53255 |title=CFRA 580 Ottawa Survey 05/05/78 |website=Las-solanas.com |date=2015-05-05 |accessdate=2016-10-13}}</ref> by June 30, it was the #1 song on the station's playlist.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://las-solanas.com/arsa/surveys_item.php?svid=54891 |title=CFRA 580 Ottawa Survey 06/30/78 |website=Las-solanas.com |date=2015-06-30 |accessdate=2016-10-13}}</ref> "Music Box Dancer" also began picking up play on other Canadian stations around this time, becoming a nationwide hit. Mills's album went gold in Canada, which, after several months, prompted Polydor in the US to release the album and single with the B-side "The Poet and I".

The million-selling Gold-certified single reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1979 as well as #4 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, while the album reached #21 on the Billboard Top Album chart and also went gold. Around that time, [[Nashville, Tennessee]] television station [[WKRN-TV|WNGE]] used ''Music Box Dancer'' as its news theme;<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZBDwp7-7YE YouTube: "Frank Mills Music Box Dancer News Theme 1979 WNGE Nashville"]</ref> it became so popular among [[Middle Tennessee]] viewers that Polydor awarded a gold record to WNGE for breaking the single in the U.S.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

[[One-hit wonder|It was Mills's only U.S. Top 40 pop hit]]; the follow-up, another piano instrumental titled "Peter Piper", peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot 100, although it was a popular Top 10 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Mills managed one final Adult Contemporary chart entry, "Happy Song", which peaked at #41 at the beginning of 1981.

Mills also released a version of [[Ricky Nelson]]'s "Poor Little Fool" with substantial airplay in Ontario during the 1970s and 1980s.

==Chart performance==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

===Weekly singles charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!align="left"|Chart (1978–1979)
!align="left"|Peak<br />position
|-
|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name="aus79"/><ref name="australian-charts2">{{cite web|first=Steffen |last=Hung |url=http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=35092 |title=Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts) |website=Australian-charts.com |accessdate=2016-10-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602084720/http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=35092 |archivedate=2016-06-02 }}</ref><ref name="australian-charts1"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|14
|-
|Canada [[RPM (magazine)|''RPM'']] Adult Contemporary
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|align="left"|Canada [[RPM (magazine)|''RPM'']] Top Singles 
| style="text-align:center;"|47
|-
|{{singlechart|Ireland2|15|song=Music Box Dancer|accessdate=March 18, 2019}}
|-
|align="left"|[[Recorded Music NZ|New Zealand]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/singles/1979-04-27 |title=NZ Top 40 Singles Chart &#124; The Official New Zealand Music Chart |website=Nztop40.co.nz |date=1979-04-29 |access-date=2016-10-13}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
|Switzerland 
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|align="left"|U.S. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard Hot 100]]'' <ref name="ReferenceA"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|align="left"|U.S. ''Billboard'' [[Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks]]<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/adult-contemporary/1979-03-31 |title=Adult Contemporary Music Chart |magazine=Billboard |date=1979-03-31 |accessdate=2016-10-13}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|4
|-
|U.S. [[Cash Box (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19790421.html |title=Cash Box Top 100 Singles, April 21, 1979 |access-date=March 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214181139/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19790421.html |archive-date=February 14, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|}
{{col-2}}

===Year-end charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!align="left"|Chart (1979)
! style="text-align:center;"|Rank
|-
|Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref name="aus79">{{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/VVyraDN.jpg|title=Kent Music Report No 288 – 31 December 1979 > National Top 100 Singles for 1979|publisher=[[Kent Music Report]]|via=Imgur.com|access-date=10 January 2023}}</ref><ref name="australian-charts2"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|60
|-
|New Zealand <ref>{{cite web|url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/annual-singles/1979-12-31 |title=Top Selling Singles of 1979 &#124; The Official New Zealand Music Chart |website=Nztop40.co.nz |date=1979-12-31 |access-date=2016-10-13}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|29
|-
|Switzerland <ref>[http://swisscharts.com/charts/jahreshitparade/1979 Swiss Year-End Charts, 1979]</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
|U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1979.htm |title=Top 100 Hits of 1979/Top 100 Songs of 1979 |website=Musicoutfitters.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-13}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|49
|-
|U.S. ''Cash Box'' Top 100<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1979YESP.html |title=Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 29, 1979 |access-date=March 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713094315/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1979YESP.html |archive-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|28
|}
{{col-end}}

==Cover versions ==
"Music Box Dancer" has been recorded by such pianists as [[Floyd Cramer]], [[Richard Clayderman]], [[Roger Williams (pianist)|Roger Williams]] and [[Eric Robertson (composer)|Eric Robertson]], and by orchestral artists such as [[James Last]] and [[101 Strings]]. Bandleader [[Ray Conniff]] added lyrics and titled the song on his album ''I Will Survive'' in 1979. Germany's [[Horst Wende|Roberto Delgado]] recorded a calypso version, and an accordion version was released in Sweden. The band PePe produced a techno version. It was also recorded by Enormous Richard for the [[Pravda Records]] compilation ''20 More Explosive Fantastic Rockin' Mega Smash Hit Explosions!''. German singer Marion Maerz made a German vocal version of the song, and [[The Wiggles]] covered it on the video/album ''[[Racing to the Rainbow]]''.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}} 

In 1980, Hong Kong singer [[Paula Tsui]] (Tsui Siu Fung) released a version of this song with the same melody and added Cantonese lyrics inspired by Frank Mills' Official music video, it was arranged by Paulino Chris Babida and with lyrics by Cheng Kwok Kong (Zheng Guojiang).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mulanci.org/lyric/tl277389/|title=音樂盒 歌詞 - 徐小鳳 &#124; 木蘭詞 Mulanci}}</ref> [[The Ventures]] released a guitar-led cover version in their 1981 album ''Pops in Japan '81''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=van Beverhoudt Jr |first1=Arnold E. |title=The Ventures Essential Albums Discography |date=7 February 2015 |publisher=Lulu |isbn=978-1-312-78582-3 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_z5yCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 |access-date=27 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref> A cover version by session musicians was also used by the BBC in one of its trade-test transmission tapes in the late 1970s, most often accompanied by Test Card F in vision.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}} The song is also often played by [[ice cream truck]]s in North America.<ref name="Tramel-2015">{{cite web |last1=Tramel |first1=Jimmie |title=Why drive an ice cream truck? 'We love you guys.' |url=https://tulsaworld.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/why-drive-an-ice-cream-truck-we-love-you-guys/article_a0bc973b-33c1-5db8-be92-ef6e944c75c1.html |website=[[Tulsa World]] |access-date=February 3, 2020 |language=en |date=July 19, 2015}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{in popular culture|section|date=September 2025}} 
* The tune was used as the theme music for [[BBC Radio 2]]'s coverage of the [[1978 Commonwealth Games]]. Presenter [[Terry Wogan]] referred to the tune as the 'demented pianist'.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}
* A segment of the song was used in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Bart Star]]", in a flashback to Homer's time as a high-school gymnast.<ref>[http://www.snpp.com/guides/music.html Music Featured on the Simpsons] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511162809/http://www.snpp.com/guides/music.html |date=2008-05-11 }}. The Simpsons Archive</ref>{{importance-inline|date=September 2025}}
* It was the theme of the late 1970s BBC pro-celebrity golf series "[[Peter Alliss|Around With Alliss]]" (fronted by professional golfer [[Peter Alliss]]).{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}
* A version of the song is played over the closing credits of the 1998 Danish film [[Festen|''Festen (The Celebration)'']].{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1974 songs]]
[[Category:1978 singles]]
[[Category:1970s instrumentals]]
[[Category:Number-one singles in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Frank Mills songs]]
[[Category:Polydor Records singles]]
[[Category:Pop instrumentals]]
[[Category:Songs about music]]