"Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" is a song recorded by Meco, taken from the album Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 1, 1977, holding on to the spot for two weeks and peaked at no. 7 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining in the charts for nine weeks. The single was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold two million units.
"Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" is one of two songs that became hits featuring music from the Star Wars movie. The other is "Star Wars (Main Title)," which is original music from the movie soundtrack by John Williams. The song reached the Top 10 concurrently with Meco's more popular version. Meco again jousted with Williams a few months later, with both artists issuing competing versions of music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both reaching the US and Canadian Top 40, but with Williams's version being more successful than Meco's.
As Meco was unavailable at the time to appear on TopPop during the peak commercial performance of the song, Penney de Jager's choreographed ballet ensemble was instead asked to perform an interpretive dance on the show, which aired on 5 November 1977 in the Netherlands.
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (1977–1978)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)3South Africa (Springbok Radio)5US Billboard Hot 1001US Billboard Hot Disco Singles6US Billboard Hot Soul Singles8US Billboard Adult Contemporary18US Cash Box Top 1001US Record World1
Year-end charts Chart (1977)RankAustralia (Kent Music Report)57Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)76Canada Top Singles (RPM)15Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)43Netherlands (Single Top 100)56US Billboard Hot 10071US Cash Box10 Chart (1978)RankAustralia (Kent Music Report)46
Certifications
References