Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy (1988)

"Don't Worry, Be Happy" is a song by American musician Bobby McFerrin released in 1988. It was the first a cappella song to ...

"Don't Worry, Be Happy" is a song by American musician Bobby McFerrin released in 1988. It was the first a cappella song to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. Originally released in conjunction with the film Cocktail, the song peaked at No. 1 on September 24, 1988, displacing "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses.

The song also peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Tracks chart and No. 7 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The song was also a hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number 2 during its fifth week on the UK Singles Chart (kept from the top spot by Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time"). In Canada, the song reached No. 1 in its 8th week. One critic noted it as a "formula for facing life's trials".

This song was named by Village Voice critic Michael Musto as the worst of all time, and it topped Q100 DJ Bert Weiss's list of tracks he would forever ban from radio. In the "50 Worst Songs Ever", Blender said that "it's difficult to think of a song more likely to plunge you into suicidal despondency than this", and also lambasted its "appalling" lyrics.

Kieran McCarthy of Allmusic expected the song would "probably remain prevalent in pop culture as long as humans speak English and play music."