Umbrella, released worldwide on March 29, 2007, was a commercial success, topping the charts in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the United Kingdom, where the song’s chart performance generated controversy when the country was experiencing excessive flooding and large amounts of rain at the time, deemed an iconic song and was one of the most played songs on radio in the 2000s (decade). It managed to stay at number one on the UK Singles Chart for ten consecutive weeks, the longest run at number one for any single of that decade. The single was one of the highest digital debuts in the United States and remained at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks.
The video premiered on April 26, 2007 and earned Rihanna a Video of the Year at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards and Most Watched Video on MuchMusic.com at MuchMusic Video Awards; the success of the promotional video that it received five nominations at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, including “Female Artist of the Year”, “Video of the Year” and “Monster Single of the Year”, going on to win the latter two. Rihanna performed the song at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards, 2008 BRIT Awards and was the closing song of the Good Girl Gone Bad, Last Girl on Earth, and Loud Tours.
Happy birthday, Umbrella!
