"1-800-273-8255" (also known simply as "1-800") is a song by American rapper
Logic featuring Canadian singer-songwriter
Alessia Cara and American singer-songwriter
Khalid. It was released on April 27, 2017, through
Visionary Music Group and
Def Jam Recordings, as the third single from Logic's third studio album, Everybody.[3] The song's title is the previous phone number for the American
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL), now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.[4] Although the lifeline later changed its phone number to the simpler "988" in July 2022, the original number remains active.[5] It was written by its three performers alongside Dylan Wiggins, Drew Taggart of
The Chainsmokers, and
6ix, the latter of whom produced the track with Logic.[2] "1-800-273-8255" eventually peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and received nominations for
Song of the Year and
Best Music Video at the
60th Annual Grammy Awards.[6]
So the first hook and verse is from the perspective of someone who is calling the hotline and they want to commit suicide. They want to kill themselves. They want to end their life. When I jumped on a tour bus that started in
Los Angeles, California and I ended in
New York City and did a fan tour where I went to fans' houses and shared meals with them, hung out with them, played them my
album before it came out. Them along with other people on tour, just fans that I met randomly, they've said things like, "Your music has saved my life. You've saved my life." And I was always like, "Aw so nice of you. Thanks." And I give them a hug and shit but in my mind, I'm like, "What the fuck?" And they're really serious. And they
tat shit on their arms and get shit like lyrics that save their life and in my mind, I was like, "Man I wasn't even trying to save nobody's life." And then it hit me, the power that I have as an artist with a voice. I wasn't even trying to save your life. Now what can happen if I actually did?[7]
"1-800-273-8255" debuted at number 61 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 and number 67 the
Canadian Hot 100 for the chart dated May 20, 2017.[11][12] Following the album's release it went up to number 47 and 40 respectively.[13][14] On August 20, 2018, the single was certified
quintuple platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streaming equivalent units of over five million units in the United States. Following the song's performance at the
2017 MTV Video Music Awards, the song jumped to number nine, becoming Logic and Khalid's first top 10 single, and Alessia Cara's fourth. It later reached the top three on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming all three's highest-charting single; it performed well at radio, especially
contemporary hit radio, where it reached number three on the Mainstream Top 40.
Impact
According to the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL), in the three weeks following the single's release, calls directed to the NSPL rose by 27%, while visits to their website increased from 300,000 to 400,000 over the following months.[15] According to Billboard, the hotline received the second-highest daily call volume ever with over 4,573 calls on the day that the song was released.[16]
Lifeline's Director of Communications Frances Gonzalez reported that, following the night of the
2017 MTV Video Music Awards, the NSPL experienced a 50% surge in the number of calls to their hotline. This was reportedly as a result of the performance of the song by Logic, Cara, and Khalid during the show as well as the speech given by recording artist and activist
Kesha, who was tasked with presenting the performers.[17]
During the
60th Annual Grammy Awards, Logic performed the song alongside Alessia Cara and Khalid, as a tribute to
Soundgarden lead vocalist
Chris Cornell and
Linkin Park lead vocalist
Chester Bennington, who both died by suicide in 2017. It was performed after the annual in memoriam tribute, which ended with Bennington. Logic concluded his performance by making an extended statement, proclaiming his support for
gender equality and
racial equality while saying "
black is beautiful" compared to how "hate is ugly."[18]
A December 2021 article in the
British Medical Journal found that each of these events — the release of "1-800-273-8255," the performance during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, and the 2018 Grammys performance — was correlated with increases in calls to the helpline, and with a reduction in suicides overall.[19][20]
Remix
A Spanish remix featuring Colombian singer
Juanes was released on October 13, 2017. Rapper
Lil Durk has also remixed the hit single on his mixtape Just Cause Y'all Waited and titled it "1 (773) Vulture".[21]
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201737 into search. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201738 into search. Retrieved September 26, 2017.