Ironic (song)

"Ironic" is a song written by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard. It was produced by Glen Ballard for Morissette's third album, Jagged Little Pill. It was released as the album's fourth single in 1996. The song received a Grammy nomination in 1997 for Record of the Year.

"Ironic"
Song by Alanis Morissette
from the album Jagged Little Pill
Released	February 27, 1996 (North America) 8 April 1996 (Europe)
Genre	Post-grunge
Length	3:44
Label	Maverick
Songwriter(s)	Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard
Producer(s)	Glen Ballard
Alanis Morissette North America singles chronology
"All I Really Want" (1995) "Ironic" (1996) "You Learn" (1996)
Alanis Morissette European singles chronology
"You Learn" (1996) "Ironic" (1996) "Head over Feet" (1996)

Success

"Ironic" became Morissette's second number-one hit on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States. It stayed there for three weeks. The song became Morissette's highest-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at number four. It is one of only two songs by Morissette to crack the top-ten on that chart, the other being "You Learn", backed with a live version of "You Oughta Know", which reached number six. Both songs were from Jagged Little Pill. In other countries, "Ironic" wasn't as successful. It was still a moderate Top 20 hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 11. It is considered to be one of Morissette's biggest hits. The song also received critical praise at the time of its release. Ironic is still popular today, mainly because there are still debates surrounding the lyrics of the song, and whether the examples mentioned in the song actually qualify as being ironic.

Covers

The pop-punk band Four Year Strong covered the song in their 90's cover album "Explains It All."

Charts

Chart (1996)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	3
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart	6
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart	9
Canadian Singles Chart	1
Canadian RPM Rock/Alternative Chart	1
Dutch Singles Chart	6
French Singles Chart	16
German Singles Chart	8
New Zealand Singles Chart	3
Norwegian Singles Chart	4
Swedish Singles Chart	24

Chart (1996)	Peak position
Swiss Singles Chart	9
UK Singles Chart	11
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	18
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	28
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	5
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	11

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by "Wonderwall" by Oasis	Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single March 16–30, 1996	Succeeded by "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis
Preceded by Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America	Canadian RPM Rock/Alternative 30 number-one single March 18, 1996	Succeeded by "Zero" by The Smashing Pumpkins