Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta – Your’e the One That I Want

Written Overnight As An Emergency, The Director Hated It

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John released “You’re the One That I Want” in May 1978, two months before the film Grease even hit theaters. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 10, 1978, and spent a week at the top. In the UK, it dominated for nine consecutive weeks starting June 17—the longest run at number one by any single that year. This wasn’t just a hit. It was one of the best-selling singles in history, moving over four million copies in the US and UK alone, with estimates of more than 15 million copies worldwide.

The song topped charts across the globe—number one in Australia for nine nonconsecutive weeks, making it the year’s biggest single there. It peaked at number four when remixed and re-released for the film’s 20th anniversary in 1998. The Grease soundtrack became a phenomenon, spending 12 nonconsecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 and selling over 30 million copies worldwide. As of 2018, it remains the fifth best-selling single of all time in the United Kingdom. The only Grease duet that rivaled its commercial dominance was “Summer Nights,” which peaked at number five later that year.

The song was born out of panic. John Farrar, Newton-John’s longtime producer and collaborator, wrote it overnight as an “emergency song” when the film needed a climactic number for the carnival finale. Director Randal Kleiser hated it—he felt it didn’t mesh with the Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs score or the film’s 1950s aesthetic. But they were out of options and had to shoot the scene anyway. On the morning of filming, Farrar went to Newton-John’s trailer at 6 AM and played her what he’d written. “He played it for me and said, ‘What do you think?’ I went, ‘Oh, God, it’s amazing.’ It just had this fantastic energy,” Newton-John recalled. The song wasn’t in the original stage musical—Farrar wrote it specifically for the film, replacing “All Choked Up,” which had similar themes but a different Elvis Presley-inspired style.

The song was recorded in 1977-1978 at Filmways/Wally Heider Studios in Hollywood. Farrar produced and wrote it, deliberately crafting a pop-disco hybrid that sounded nothing like the rest of the soundtrack. Travolta was reportedly nervous about recording with Newton-John, as he didn’t know Farrar and felt wary. According to Farrar, “Olivia came in and sort of held his hand” during the session, helping ease the tension. The choreography for the carnival scene was thrown together on the spot by Patricia Birch, and the entire sequence was filmed in just seven hours. Newton-John was literally sewn into her black vintage 1950s pants every morning because the zipper was broken—costume designer Albert Wolsky didn’t want to risk damaging the one-of-a-kind garment. “My first thought after hearing this complex fashion fix: What if I need to pee?” Newton-John later wrote in her memoir.

The song appeared on Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture, released on April 14, 1978. Of the six singles released from the soundtrack, only “Greased Lightnin'” was from the original stage production. The album produced an unprecedented chart domination—on September 9, 1978, four songs from Grease simultaneously charted on the Hot 100, with Frankie Valli’s “Grease” at number six, “Hopelessly Devoted to You” at number four, and “Summer Nights” at number eight. The soundtrack won Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the American Music Awards, beating both the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.

The song has been covered by Craig McLachlan and Debbie Gibson, who took it to number 13 in the UK in 1993 for the London revival. British comedians Arthur Mullard and Hylda Baker—then aged 67 and 73—released a bawdy version that reached number 22 in the UK in 1978, performed in wigs and costumes mimicking Travolta and Newton-John. The Glee cast, Alex & Sierra, and Doja Cat have all recorded versions. In 1990 and 1991, UK remixes including the “Grease Megamix” and “Grease: The Dream Mix” became inescapable at block parties. The song appeared in Marvel’s 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine during a car fight scene.

What director Randal Kleiser hated in 1978 became the song that defined the film. The black leather outfit Newton-John wore sold at auction in 2019 for $405,700, with proceeds benefiting her cancer center. Spanx founder Sara Blakely bought the pants and framed them in the Spanx office, calling Newton-John “the OG of black leggings.” Travolta later said his favorite memory from filming Grease was “beyond the shadow of a doubt” meeting Olivia. In their last interview together, celebrating the film’s 40th anniversary, they danced the “You’re the One That I Want” routine one final time—the last time the pair would ever dance together on camera.