Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

The idea for the song came from a real night Perry spent in Santa Barbara with friends, which included streaking through a park and ending up at a diner at 4 a.m. She told Rolling Stone that the next morning she thought, "That was the best night ever, and I want to write a song about it." Dr. Luke and Max Martin built the track around an elastic bassline and Super Mario-esque synth stabs, with a saxophone solo by Lenny Pickett, the musical director of Saturday Night Live. Bonnie McKee, who co-wrote the lyrics, said the goal was to make the listener feel like they were at the party.

Released as the fifth single from Teenage Dream on June 6, 2011, the song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Perry her sixth chart-topper and tying Michael Jackson's record for most number ones from one album. It was the first time a female artist had scored five number-one singles from a single album. The track also reached number one in Canada, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, and sold 3.8 million digital copies in the United States.

The music video, directed by Marc Klasfeld, features Perry as the nerdy Kathy Beth Terry, a teenager who transforms into a party girl after a makeover. It is packed with cameos: Rebecca Black, Corey Feldman, Debbie Gibson, Kenny G, Hanson, Kevin McHale, and Darren Criss all appear. The video drew visual inspiration from 1980s teen movies like Sixteen Candles and won Favorite Music Video at the 38th People's Choice Awards. As of 2025, it has over 1.58 billion views on YouTube. [edit]