At the Hop

"At the Hop" is a 1950s pop song written by Artie Singer, John Medora, and David White and originally released by Danny & the Juniors. The song was first issued circa October 1957 on a small Philadelphia label (Singular 711) and included a countdown, before being acquired by ABC-Paramount and reissued as ABC-Paramount 9871 in November. It reached number one on the Cash Box and Billboard charts in January, becoming one of the top-selling singles of 1958. "At the Hop" also hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers list. Somewhat more surprisingly, the record reached number 3 on the Music Vendor country charts. It was also a commercially successful hit elsewhere, including reaching number 1 for 3 weeks in Canada and peaking at number 3 on the UK charts. The song returned to prominence after it was performed by rock and roll revival act Sha Na Na at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and featured in the 1973 coming-of-age teen comedy American Graffiti. Musically, it is notable for combining several of the most popular formulas in 1950s rock'n'roll, the twelve-bar blues, boogie-woogie piano, and the '50s progression. The original version by Danny & the Juniors was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).