With the recent news of Miley Cyrus' No.1 hit "Flowers" being accused of copying Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man," we're looking at 5 times No.1 songs were accused of plagiarism or copyright infringement.
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00:00With the recent news that Miley Cyrus' Hot 100 No. 1 hit Flowers has been accused of
00:04allegedly copying Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man, we're taking a look back at five other
00:09Hot 100 No. 1s that have been accused of plagiarism or copyright infringement.
00:14Olivia Rodrigo saw a ton of chart success in 2021
00:17and earned her second No. 1 on the Hot 100 that year with Good 4 U.
00:21But Olivia's success didn't come without controversy,
00:30as many thought Good 4 U sounded a lot like Paramore's Misery Business.
00:40Olivia retroactively gave writing credits to Paramore's lead singer Hayley Williams
00:44and ex-guitarist Josh Farro for Good 4 U.
00:47The sour singer had already faced plagiarism accusations for her song Deja Vu,
00:55after mentioning how Deja Vu's bridge was inspired by Taylor Swift's Cruel Summer
00:59while writing the song. Another Hot 100 No. 1 hit with plagiarism claims is Lizzo's Truth Hurts.
01:11The song hit No. 1 in September 2019, nearly two years after its release,
01:15becoming Lizzo's first No. 1 on the chart. As the song rose up the charts in 2019,
01:20Lizzo was accused of plagiarizing the opening lyrics of the song by two different parties.
01:31Singer Mina Lioness accused Lizzo of stealing the line from a tweet she wrote in February 2017
01:36that read,
01:38Despite Lizzo saying a meme on Instagram inspired the lyric,
01:44and she had never seen Mina Lioness' tweet, Lizzo did end up giving Mina Lioness writing
01:49credits on the song. Another huge hit that was accused of copying lyrics, Ed Sheeran's Shape of
01:54You. The song became Ed Sheeran's first No. 1 on the Hot 100, staying No. 1 for 12 non-consecutive
02:05weeks, and Billboard named it the best-performing song of 2017. In May 2022, Sheeran was taken to
02:12court by artists Sam Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue for allegedly copying lines and phrases from
02:17their 2015 song, Oh Why. Ed Sheeran was able to win the copyright case against him and said this
02:27about winning.
02:36Another superstar who dealt with a big copyright case is Katy Perry with her 2013 hit, Dark Horse.
02:45Dark Horse hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in February 2014,
02:49becoming Katy's ninth No. 1. That same year, Christian rapper Flame sued Katy,
02:54Capitol Records and her co-writers for copyright infringement for his song, Joyful Noise.
03:06In 2018, a jury initially found that Katy had copied Flame's song,
03:10but the judge overturned the jury's decision in 2020.
03:13The next song was the longest-running single in 2013 and stayed No. 1 on the Hot 100 for 12 weeks,
03:19Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines featuring T.I. and Pharrell.
03:28The estate of Marvin Gaye accused Robin Thicke and Pharrell of copying the feel and sound
03:33of Gaye's Hot 100 No. 1, Got to Give It Up.
03:42A jury came down on the side of Marvin Gaye's estate and awarded the family $7.4 million
03:48in damages, which was later reduced to $5 million. Pharrell opened up to Rick Rubin
03:52in 2019 during a GQ interview about the impact of the case.
04:04To see a full list of songs, head to Billboard.com. Don't forget to hit the
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