Gay Anthem (Yes, It Is) 'YMCA' More Popular Than Ever Thanks to the Trump Bump

NBC News is reporting that "YMCA," the Village People's disco anthem to the place where "you can hang out with all the boys," has had massive surge in popularity. The reason? It becoming a campaign staple for Donald Trump.

"The President-elect played the famous 1978 gay anthem at almost every single event during his successful run to reclaim the White House, often busting out his specific set of moves," the Independent reports in writing about the trend.

"Trump began dancing to the song at the end of his rallies in 2020, bouncing to the beat with his fists poking at the air," writes NBC News. "You know what gets 'em rockin? YMCA," Trump said on a podcast in 2022. "YMCA gets people up and it gets them moving."

In data from Last.fm analyzed by NBC News, the song's listenership more than tripled, jumping by around 366 percent from late May until November 5. Since the election, that number has dropped off, but it was still up 183 percent during the same time period.

In addition, NBC reports, data from Google Trends shows more searches for the song this month than in any month in the search engine's published records. The song also reappeared in the top 15 songs on the Billboard dance/electronic sales chart at the end of October before climbing its way to the Number 1 spot during the week of November 17.

Gay or not gay? The original video for "YMCA" from 1978.

"The song, from the Village People's album 'Cruisin' ' (released in 1978) is purportedly about the nonprofit Young Men's Christian Association and the community centers it runs in many U.S. cities," writes NBC. "The song's lyrics run thick with double entendres on gay male life and has since become a gay anthem – although Village People member Felipe Rose told HuffPost in 2014 that there's nothing gay about the song, and people who spent time at the YMCA in Manhattan, which reportedly inspired the song, said that what happened in that building was more complex than what the lyrics imply."

But there has been a contentious history with Trump's use of it at rallies. In February 2020, NBC reports, the band OK'ed Trump's use of their music. Then, in June 2020, the Village People's lead singer and co-writer of the song Victor Willis asked Trump not to play the song – a request Trump didn't honor, because, according to Willis, the Trump campaign had obtained a political entities license that allowed them to use it.

Willis described Trump's initial use of the song as a "nuisance," telling NBC News in a written statement: "At one point I thought he'd tire of the song. But that never happened." At one point the music industry group that manages the song's license asked him and his wife – also the band's manager – if they wanted to cancel the license.

"I told my wife to tell them no," Willis said, "because by that time I started noticing some very good things started happening as [Trump] continued to use the song." When the couple heard the song hit No 1 on the Billboard charts, they high-fived each other, he told NBC News.