"Lean On" is a song by Jamaican-American electronic dance music group Major Lazer and French DJ and record producer DJ Snake featuring Danish singer MØ. It was released on March 3, 2015, as the lead single from Major Lazer's third studio album, Peace Is the Mission (2015). It was written by MØ, Diplo, DJ Snake, Tchami, and Jr Blender, and produced by Major Lazer and DJ Snake. It is an EDM, electronic and moombahton song.
"Lean On" was a critical and commercial success, peaking at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. It reached number one in several other countries including Argentina, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Mexico, and Switzerland; as well as the top 10 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, Israel, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. In November 2015, "Lean On" was named by Spotify as the most streamed song of all time, and has over 1 billion streams globally as of June 2017; however, in 2016, it was later overtaken by Drake's "One Dance" (which was overtaken again by Ed Sheeran's Shape of You that was overtaken by The Weeknd's Blinding Lights.).
The accompanying music video for "Lean On" was filmed in ND Studios, Karjat, Kaul Heritage City, in Vasai in Maharashtra, India and in the Golden Hall at Stockholm City Hall. The video premiered on March 23, 2015, and has over 3.27 billion views on YouTube as of October 2022. According to IFPI, "Lean On" was the fifth best-selling song of 2015 worldwide, and one of the best-selling singles of all time, with global sales of 13.1 million.
Background and composition
Regarding the creative process behind "Lean On", producer Diplo of Major Lazer said, "We wrote this song with MØ very early from an instrumental Jr Blender created in some sessions in Trinidad. It was a strong hook. Very big to me but the production was lacking an attitude we needed. A year later I remixed the song at a completely different tempo and asked DJ Snake for a signature post chorus. After he did his thing, me, MØ and Blender rewrote the song at the new tempo in Las Vegas and made something very unique that became our album's lead-off single. We're super proud of this song." Diplo offered a slower reggae arrangement of the song to Rihanna, who rejected it. He also offered said arrangement of the song to Nicki Minaj, who turned it down as well. Diplo called this turn of events "a blessing in disguise," and that "MØ sounds better than anybody was going to sound on that record."
According to musicnotes.com, "Lean On" is performed in the key of B major with a tempo of 98 beats per minute (BPM), with MØ's vocal ranging from B3 to D5.
Critical reception
The song has received critical acclaim. Brennan Carley of Spin wrote, "It's as if No Doubt met the C+C Music Factory". Consequence of Sounds Michelle Geslani called the song a "bouncy banger" and complimented MØ's "siren-like" vocals. David Jeffries from AllMusic praised MØ and DJ Snake for helping the track "deliver the sentimental lyrics and sensual house music at an intoxicating half-speed tempo." Billboard'''s Matt Medved praised the song, explaining, "Lean On" gives Major Lazer’s reggae, trap and moombahton blend a pop gloss. Already a festival favorite, it looks primed to follow Jack Ü and Justin Bieber's "Where Are Ü Now" as another Diplo product that both innovates and finds crossover appeal."Rolling Stone ranked "Lean On" at number 48 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015, while Billboard listed it number one on its Top 10 Dance/Electronic songs of 2015. The latter magazine also ranked "Lean On" at number 3 on its year-end critics' poll for 2015: "The Grammys got it wrong. It's rare that a dance record of this quality reaches this level of ubiquity—after all, this is Spotifys most streamed song of all-time as of Nov. 2015. Despite being independently released, the infectious three-minute single became the poster child for dance crossover, dominating both radio and festival play and hitting No. 4 on the Hot 100. By Billboard's measure, 'Lean On' was the dance/electronic song of the year." The prestigious Village Voice ranked "Lean On" at number 25 on their annual year-end critic's poll. On January 26, 2016, "Lean On" reached #3 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2015.