Longest-held vocal note in a UK hit single (female artist)

“Húsavík (My Hometown)”, performed by actor/comedian Will Ferrell (USA) and Swedish vocalist Molly Sandén (aka My Marianne) for the Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (USA, 2020), features an 18-second vocal note at the climax of the ballad. It spent four weeks on the UK’s Official Singles Chart, peaking at No.59 on 16 July 2020.

The long note in “Húsavík (My Hometown)” starts 2 minutes 57 seconds into the track and concludes at 3 minutes 15 seconds when Sandén’s voice changes pitch after singing the word “hometown”. At 18 seconds long, it matches Bill Withers’ effort on “Lovely Day”, which originally charted in the UK in 1978 (No.7) and returned to the best-sellers’ list in 1987 (No.92), 1988 (No.4 for the “Sunshine Mix”) and 2020 (No.73). The absolute UK record was set at 20.2 seconds by A-ha frontman Morten Harket (Norway) on “Summer Moved On”, the band’s No.33 hit from 2000.

The longest same-pitch vocal note on any studio recording (hit or otherwise) is Tee Green’s (UK) 39-second belter on the Benard Ighner standard “Everything Must Change”, recorded in March 2011. Melba Moore’s 36-second lung-buster at the end of “The Other Side of the Rainbow”, the title track of her 1982 studio album, is the longest studio-recorded note by a female singer and the longest-held single note on an album track.

In an interview with Vanity Fair in June 2020, Sandén revealed that “Húsavík”’s soaring crescendo brought back childhood memories of practicing her vocal skills to Céline Dion’s “All by Myself” in her basement.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga stars Ferrell (also co-writer and co-producer) alongside Rachel McAdams as Icelandic singers Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdóttir, respectively. All Ericksdóttir’s songs in the film are performed by Sandén as My Marianne (Sandén’s real middle names).

Sandén finished third in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 and participated in Sweden’s annual Melodifestivalen competition, which decides the country’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, in 2009, 2012 and 2016. In 2008, she appeared on Sweden’s live touring show Diggiloo (alongside 2015 Eurovision winner Måns “Heroes” Zelmerlöw), which resulted in her own rendition of UK record-breaker “Hallelujah” featuring on a compilation CD.