In the United States, "See You Again" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts dated March 19, 2015, at number 100 and number 29 respectively, with first-week sales of 25,000 copies. It was written in the key of B ♭ major with a time signature of 4Ĥ and has a tempo of 80 beats per minute ( andante/ andantino). "See You Again" is a hip hop and pop-rap ballad. Following O'Conner's retirement send-off to be with his wife and family, the characters Brian O'Conner and Dominic Toretto drove on a mountain road and parted ways upon reaching a fork. The song was chosen to be played at the end of the film. He also revealed in one of his interviews that the song's hook was originally written for Sam Smith. Puth revealed on The Talk that Universal originally wanted to get a more established singer to sing his part. Puth opined that his vocal was chosen by Atlantic because of his emotional attachment to the subject matter. The song then went through an extensive note-giving and production process. As a result, the track was further commissioned to include rapped verses by Khalifa based on the subject of family, combined with Puth's vocals and a piano melody. And basically 10 minutes later Justin and I wrote it, we sent it off, and I thought we'd never hear about it again." Puth and DJ Frank E's output from the session was well received by Furious 7 filmmakers, Universal Pictures, and Atlantic. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Puth recalled, "It just seemed to occur from out of nowhere. He was at first reluctant that the film's soundtrack label, Atlantic Records, would choose his vocal for the song. Puth became emotionally attached while writing the track, recalling Vail Cerullo, a friend of Puth's time at Berklee College of Music, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2012. His publishing company's president Ben Maddahi then set up a first-time studio session for Puth with DJ Frank E at a studio in Los Angeles. Frank E and Puth were approached by their publishing company, Artist Publishing Group, to develop a melody that could pay tribute to actor Paul Walker for the film Furious 7 (2015). It was produced by DJ Frank E, Charlie Puth, and Andrew Cedar. "See You Again" was written by DJ Frank E, Charlie Puth, Wiz Khalifa, and Andrew Cedar. "See You Again" was the best selling-song of 2015 worldwide, with combined sales and track-equivalent streams of 20.9 million units according to IFPI.
It was also shortlisted for the Song of the Year for the BBC Music Awards and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards. "See You Again" received three nominations at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards: Song of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media. The music video was the most viewed video on YouTube from July 10 to August 4, 2017. It set the record for most streams in a single week worldwide, and in the United Kingdom also in a single week. The song held the record for the most-streamed track in a single day on Spotify in the United States, until it was surpassed by One Direction's " Drag Me Down". It also reached number one in several other countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland.
It spent 12 non-consecutive weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100, tying Eminem's " Lose Yourself" for the second longest-running rap number-one single in the country behind Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus' " Old Town Road", and topped the UK Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks. "See You Again" became both Khalifa's and Puth's biggest single to date. "See You Again" was released on March 10, 2015, as the soundtrack's lead single in the United States. The artists co-wrote the song with its co-producers, DJ Frank E and Andrew Cedar, with additional production from Puth and mixing provided by Manny Marroquin. Later on, the song was included as a bonus track on the international release of Puth's debut album, Nine Track Mind. It was commissioned for the soundtrack of the 2015 film Furious 7 as a tribute to actor Paul Walker, who died in a single-vehicle accident on November 30, 2013. " See You Again" is a song by American rapper Wiz Khalifa, featuring American singer Charlie Puth. Fast & Furious soundtrack singles chronology