Heartbreaker
by Pat Benatar
- 152
- BPM
- Db major
- Key
- 3B
- Camelot
- 47
- Danceability
- 7
- Acousticness
"Heartbreaker" was Pat Benatar's breakthrough single. It reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent four and a half months on the chart, the fourth longest of any of her singles. It was the second release from her debut album, In the Heat of the Night (1979), after the first single failed to reach the Hot 100. Rock radio took to it more readily. It peaked at number 13 on the Tunecasters Rock Tracks chart in March 1980. It reached number 16 in Canada, number 14 in New Zealand and number 95 in Australia.
Geoff Gill and Cliff Wade wrote it, and English singer Jenny Darren had recorded it first, on her 1978 album Queen of Fools. Benatar changed the original lyrics. References such as "A to Zed" and "moonraker" would likely have confused American listeners.
The song is in games, film and television. It is downloadable content for Rock Band, a playable track in Guitar Hero World Tour and a Jam Track in Fortnite Festival. It plays during a chase and shootout scene in the 2021 film Nobody, and Benatar and her band performed it in the Charmed episode "Lucky Charmed." Dolly Parton covered it on her album Rockstar, with Benatar and Neil Giraldo.
Heartbreaker runs at 152 BPM, the tempo of hard techno, punk and fast rock. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.58 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 395 ms. It is in Db major, Camelot 3B, which shares its notes with Bb minor and mixes cleanly with F# major and Ab major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.