Stronger (Kanye West song)

in Hamburg, Germany|The song's sample of Daft Punk's material was not the first time a rap act had sampled them, after Busta Rhymes had done so on his 2005 single "Touch It". West listened to the single on a tour bus in 2006, which was how he first discovered the duo. Prior to its release, West first shared a snippet of "Stronger" on his mixtape ''Can't Tell Me Nothing'' in May 2007. The song was playlisted by BBC Radio 1, appearing on DJ Tim Westwood's "Top Five Heavy Hits" for July 31, 2007. The song's cover art was released through West's website with a video teaser on June 29, 2007. It was designed by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, who handled the artwork of singles and the creative direction for Graduation. The cover artwork features a cartoon version of West's mascot "Dropout Bear", wearing the rapper's white sunglasses. The sample was requested by West through Pedro Winter, Daft Punk's manager at the time. The duo, who enjoyed the track, granted approval and were open-minded towards producing for rappers after the sample increased their popularity in hip hop; they found the genre "exciting and interesting". West later met the Daft Punk musicians, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, at Chicago music festival Lollapalooza in 2007. West was convinced "Stronger" was inferior to "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" when he heard it after release, although Daft Punk disagreed and were delighted with how the song turned out. The two first heard it on Power 106 when awaiting a San Francisco flight; Homem-Christo recalled that the DJ transitioned from their original into the song and expressed how West's sound "was really fat". Speaking on Tim Westwood TV in 2007, West said that his label executives were skeptical of "Stronger" since they thought people would not understand its sample, which he used to cross creative boundaries. For a Spin story with West and Bangalter in January 2008, the rapper stated that he had accomplished a new level of musicality with how the song was crafted, particularly the end, and described his previous shortcomings at reaching this level as "still way better than everything else in hip-hop". Bangalter was intrigued by West making the sample suitable for his own personality, noticing how the rapper distorts its meaning like Daft Punk's musical attempts to express their ideas universally. He also said that the combination of genres for "Stronger" was done at a time of "open-mindedness on the part of both the musicians and the audiences", while West recalled receiving criticism from the electronic community for sampling a "holy grail" and the hip hop community for venturing outside his genre. On annotations for Genius in 2015, Canadian DJ A-Trak detailed the origins of the sample. A-Trak and West heard the sample of "Technologic" in Busta Rhymes' "Touch It" on a tour bus during 2006; the rapper was a fan of the beat, but did not know who Daft Punk were at the time. A-Trak later spoke about the sample at the Meadows Music & Arts Festival 2017 in New York City (NYC), crediting West's "curiosity period" when genres were largely separated and focusing on his strength at "identifying these [great] things". ==Writing and recording==

"Stronger" paraphrases a dictum from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose content is related by West to the more physical subject of a girl. West was particularly proud of his comparison between her and actress Apollonia Kotero, honoring how the reference stood out for its purity as opposed to rappers using "prefabricated metaphors and similes" about subjects from guns to sports. West sought to give his sample a cinematic sound and he slowed it down, loosening the rhythm and overdubbing throbbing synths. He said that the song offered the "bigger sound" of stadium music, providing "a throw-your- hands-up-in-the-sky vibe". West mixed "Stronger" 75 times, with over 100 elements including many layers and he was dedicated to working with Marroquin on the kick drums sounding precise, seeking out a sound for the clubs. Marroquin broke the drum down into an 808, snare drum, and hi-hat, then working on the sample, keyboards, and vocals; West heard the final version from Larrabee and exclaimed "That's it!" Despite being perplexed that West was not already satisfied with the song, Timbaland still helped with the programming as they went through 12 iterations. ==Composition and lyrics==

Musically, "Stronger" is a maximalist hip-hop song that lasts for a duration of five minutes and eleven seconds (5:11). including techno, According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Stronger" is composed in the key of E-flat minor (Em) and set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 104 beats per minute. A 4/4 beat pattern is deployed on the song, A-Trak also delivers a four-bar solo of scratches, which is barely audible. |The lyrics of the song's refrain offer a mantra that paraphrases Friedrich Nietzsche's famous quote: "What does not kill him, makes him stronger." In the lyrics of "Stronger", West focuses on self-empowerment as he asserts his greatness in response to his critics. West raps about his patience making him stronger when struggling with lust for a girl on the chorus, offering a mantra that paraphrases Nietzsche's famous dictum: "What does not kill him, makes him stronger." In addition, West sends a return message to his fans with a refrain of "I need you right now", which also references wanting a girl in the club. West fantasizes the girl as a model, inviting her to be his "black Kate Moss". He juxtaposes the sample's words with his lyrics, preceding Daft Punk's "harder" by telling his girl, "Baby, you’re making it!" The rapper also alludes to Nietzsche's "Apollonian and Dionysian", expressing that he had been seeking out the girl since Prince was involved with Kotero. ==Release and reception==

On July 31, 2007, "Stronger" was sent to US rhythmic contemporary radio stations as the album's second single by West's labels Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. The song was made available for digital download in the United Kingdom by the labels on August 3, 10 days before a CD version was issued across Europe by Mercury. "Stronger" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, who mostly praised the sample of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". The staff of Rolling Stone assured that West "struck gold" due to the sample and also complimented his lyricism. Writing for The Washington Post, J. Freedom du Lac said that he ventures into his self-aggrandizement on "the arena-rap standout", backed by "booming cyborg beats" and the sample as he commands the crowd with his greatness. The staff of NME wrote that West ventured from his previous choices with the unpredictable liberal sample, putting forward the song as "a contender". Fraser McAlpine of BBC Music graded the song four out of five stars and believed West largely delivered a message to his critics as an artist using "the royal 'we'", elaborating that he is backed by both God and the Daft Punk robots so should be left completely alone and advised to not "pick on him again". The Village Voice critic Greg Tate asserted that the sample seemingly revives Eurodisco, while Spin journalist Charles Aaron and Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club complimented its techno style. For the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot saw the song as driven by the sample's synthesizers and Timbaland's drum programming. AllMusic's Andy Kellman declared that the bright synths may be "one of the most glaring deal-breakers in hip-hop history"; In Stylus Magazine, Jayson Greene lauded West for pushing hip hop's sonic boundaries with the sample and the "forlorn guitars chiming in unison" at the end, yet he found certain lyrics to show impatience. Ann Powers from the Los Angeles Times highlighted West's performance by describing him as "push[ing] himself like a runner on a treadmill" who borders on losing his breath and makes the lyrics sound more interesting, despite thinking some of them delve into "embarrassing self-worship". Louis Pattison of NME praised the song as "a silicone-hearted vocoder serenade, beefed up with hoover-like synthesisers", although he felt it resembles an act attempting karaoke without the words rather than pushing new boundaries and saw the sample as unoriginal. For Cokemachineglow, Chet Betz said the song works off the production that could have had a lot more impact due to "the glissando chop 'n key melds dazzling but suffering from a distinct lack of knock" and not even Timbaland can redeem it, while he felt West's lyrics were aimed at oppressing the rest of humanity as he "builds his castle". Anna Pickard of The Guardian became bored of the song quickly due to the sexual nature, although she praised the sample for opening with an "immediate familiarity" that is an appropriate fit for "this thumping beat". ==Accolades==

"Stronger" appeared on numerous year-end lists of multiple publications for 2007. The track was crowned as the best record of the year by Spin, while MTV named it the sixth best song. The song was voted seventh on the yearly Pazz & Jop poll of The Village Voice, receiving 48 mentions. On a poll taken by Eye Weekly of critics across Canada for 2007, it was ranked at the same position, scoring 550 points in a tied seventh place. Rolling Stone named it as the 11th best song the 2007; the staff were impressed with West shifting towards robot funk and French electronic music on the "futuristic, Daft Punk-fueled synthfest". For the 2014 issue of XXL that was in celebration of 40 years of hip hop, the magazine selected the track as one of the five best singles of 2007. On a list of the top 50 songs from the 2000s decade by Consequence, "Stronger" was listed at number 21. In Rolling Stones decade-end readers' poll, the song was voted as the sixth best single of the 2000s. Furthermore, a 2013 Rolling Stone reader's poll ranked "Stronger" as West's eighth best song to that point. The song was named by CraveOnline as West's sixth best song a year later, whereas Highsnobiety ranked it as West's ninth best song in 2020. In 2024, "Stronger" was listed at number 493 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; the staff wrote that West's stadium music influence from U2 and the Rolling Stones is channeled by the sample of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". The track received a total of eight nominations for industry awards. At the 2008 ASCAP Pop Music Awards, "Stronger" was awarded as one of the Most Performed Songs. It was among the Award Winning Songs at the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) London Awards, Pop Awards, and R&B/Hip-Hop Awards in 2008. The track won Best Rap Solo Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, beating "I Get Money" by West's rival and fellow rapper 50 Cent. ==Music video==

Background .|Much of the song's music video was shot in Tokyo, Japan, including scenes of the city streets. An accompanying music video was directed and produced by Williams, with director of photography John Perez, editor Peter Johnson, executive producer Susan Linss, and post supervisor Amelia Torabi. Post-production and visual effects were done at RhinoFX by VFX Supervisor Vico Sharabani, whereas Walter Lubinski and Ian Brauner handled animation. Sal Randazzo contributed roto and smoke animation, with John Budion, Niklaus Schlumpf, and Julie Mai serving as inferno artists, assisted by Barry Furlano. Williams explained to SOHH that after hearing "Stronger", working with West again felt natural, as he thought he could easily collaborate with him. The director had previously worked with West on videos for the singles "Diamonds from Sierra Leone", "Gold Digger", and "Drive Slow" from his 2005 album Late Registration. adding elements of sci-fi. In July 2007, Williams mentioned the possibility of an extended video with unseen footage for a limited-edition internet release. Upon arrival in Tokyo with their team, West and Williams had ideas for video shots and a rough storyline plan. For the original plot, West played the part of a Japanese motorcycle gang member, who became involved in a bar fight with rivals where he was attacked violently and needed care from doctors. The rapper first came upon the shades abandoned at a public toilet from a Paris convention in 2006, having spent three months looking for shades not found in stores and these were notably worn by Jeremy Scott. Pickard was mixed in The Guardian, finding initial excitement in the visual's "futuristic atmosphere" and praising the elements of Akira, although he finalized that it was boring due to the repetition of clubbing scenes throughout. It was awarded Best Video at the 2008 MOBO Awards, alongside being nominated for Video of the Year and Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. By March 8, 2018, the music video had reached over 200 million views on YouTube. Personnel Credits adapted from The Inspiration Room. Personnel • Hype Williams director, producer • John Perez director of photography • Peter Johnson editor • Susan Linss executive producer • Yfat Neev executive producer • Amelia Torabi post supervisor • Vico Sharabani post-production, visual effects • Natasha Saenko CG director, project leader • Brian DiNoto model • Bogdan Mihajlovic model • Chris DiFiore composing artist • Nitant Karnik composing artist • Rodrigo De La Parra composing artist • Ivan Guerrero lighting • Jasmine Katatikarn lighting • Aditi Kapoor lighting • Neo Afan digital artist • Walter Lubinski animator • Ian Brauner animator • John Budion inferno artist • Niklaus Schlumpf inferno artist • Julie Mai inferno artist • Barry Furlano inferno assistant • Sal Randazzo roto and smoke animation • Camille Geier senior VP of production • Rick Wagonheim managing director and partner ==Commercial performance==

North America on YouTube Live in 2007|The song took the top spot of the US Billboard Hot 100 from "Crank That (Soulja Boy)", although the single knocked it off this position after one week. "Stronger" entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 47 upon its single release, marking the highest debut of the week. It later reached number five on the chart issue date of September 1, 2007. A week later, the song climbed to number three on the Hot 100 with 135,000 downloads. It spent the following two weeks at number two on the chart and then rose to the top position, marking West's third number-one single in the US after "Gold Digger" in 2005. The song dethroned fellow rapper Soulja Boy's "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" for number one, receiving 205,000 digital downloads. However, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" regained the top position from "Stronger" within a week. On the year-end chart for 2007, the song placed at number 27. For the 2000s decade, it as the 91st most popular song on the Hot 100. The song debuted at number 38 on the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 and entered the top 20 at number 17 on the issue dated September 8, 2007. "Stronger" later reached the chart's top position on October 27, spending three weeks there out of its 25 charting weeks. It also reached number one on the US Pop 100, while charting at number three on both the Hot Rap Songs and Rhythmic charts. On October 6, 2021, "Stronger" was awarded a diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shelving 10 million certified units in the US. It became the 64th single to receive the certification from the RIAA and West's first. The song was later certified 11 times platinum by the RIAA on December 6, 2024, standing among the best-selling digital singles in the country by certification. In Canada, the track entered the Canadian Hot 100 at number five and rose to number one after seven weeks to become West's first chart-topper. The track spent 40 weeks on the chart, logging three weeks at the top position. By December 28, 2008, the track totalled 152,000 digital sales in the country. The track lasted for 19 weeks on the chart. By 2025, it was certified 5× Platinum. It was blocked from the top spot by Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry", which sold more physical copies despite "Stronger" ranking as the number-one digital track. On the year-end chart of 2007, the track ranked as the 19th most popular single. On August 24, 2020, the track was certified octuple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipping 560,000 units in Australia. The song ended the one-week run of Robyn's "With Every Heartbeat" at the top position a week later, becoming West's first number-one single on the chart. On the next chart issue, it remained at number one for a second week. For the 2007 year-end chart, the song ranked as the 19th most successful single, while it stood as the sixth most downloaded track in the UK. The song lasted for 39 weeks on the UK Singles Chart. It ranks as the 24th biggest hip-hop song of all time in the UK up to April 17, 2017. As of August 5, 2021, the song is West's second most successful single in the country behind only "Gold Digger", despite the latter not having reached number one. On January 28, 2022, "Stronger" was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shelving 1,800,000 units in the UK. ==Lawsuit==

In June 2010, rapper Vincent Peters sued West, arguing "Stronger" was an illegitimate copy of a song of the same name he recorded in 2006. Peters argued that he provided a copy of the song to West's business manager John Monopoly, who, according to him, gave it to the rapper. Both songs share the title, make reference to Moss, and feature chorus lyrics that rhyme with "wronger" and "longer". The attorney elaborated that the similarities are not enough to support infringement, as the plaintiff needs to allege sufficient facts and a judge is in a suitable position to determine this. In 2012, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the lawsuit in West's favor, ordering dismissal. The judge also acknowledged the allegations in the reference to Moss; he noted "analogizing to models as a shorthand for beauty" is, regardless of one's feelings, commonplace in music. ==Live performances==

in Manchester, Tennessee during the Glow in the Dark Tour. West performed "Stronger" live at the Concert for Diana in London on July 1, 2007. He performed the song for his concert at the Live Earth event on July 7, accompanied by a string section which included female members with exotic face paint. West performed the song at global festivals during 2007, including Canada's Cisco Systems Bluesfest, Sweden's Way Out West, and the British V and Manchester International festivals. He performed a medley for his in-studio appearance at MTV's Total Request Live on August 10, consisting of fellow Graduation single "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and the song. West performed it at the 2007 MTV VMAs, appearing in a fantasy suite at Palms' Hugh Hefner Sky Villa. The rapper insisted that he dreamt of opening the VMAs with "a real power performance" when making the song, yet the organizers wanted him in this suite rather than the main stage. He criticized MTV for exploiting him and the opening act Britney Spears, who he complained was chosen when "Stronger" was "one of the No. 1 songs". West performed a medley of the song with fellow album single "Good Life" at the premiere for season 33 of Saturday Night Live on September 28, 2007. During the launch party of the new T-Mobile Sidekick LX at Griffith Park in L.A. on October 17, West made a surprise appearance that included him performing the song. West brought out Daft Punk as a surprise to perform a reworked version of the song for the 50th Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in L.A. on February 10, 2008, marking the duo's first televised live performance. Daft Punk were accompanied by touchscreens and a pyramid inspired by Tron (1982), which was illuminated red to reveal them in an attire of this color and West rocked his shutter shades as he was backed by ultraviolet flames. At the opening of Murakami's Brooklyn Museum exhibit on April 4, 2008, West performed the song with backing from strobe lights. From 2007 to 2008, West incorporated the song into setlists for his Glow in the Dark Tour. The rapper posted that he was heartbroken to not deliver the song's "greatest form" with an apology for lacking the ability to perform, admitting he sometimes spends two to three sleepless days improvising performances and saying: "I have to ice my knees after every show and they hurt when I walk through the airport." Dressed in an all red outfit, West performed "Stronger" at Z100's the Jingle Ball concert at NYC's Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2008. West performed the song with an intro in February 2009 for the closing number of his live album VH1 Storytellers (2010), delivering a stripped-down version. The version largely omitted the Daft Punk sample and featured accompaniment from drummers at its breakdown, with lighting in the background. West performed the song on Ellen DeGeneres' Bigger, Longer & Wider Show, which aired via TBS on June 27, 2009. The rapper closed his set at the 2009 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London with the song, wearing his shades and a black suit jacket. He appeared on elevated section of the stage while surrounded by four topless dancers that wore tiaras and body paint, bowing to the audience and declaring he loved them after the performance. On August 6, 2009, West closed Casio G-Shock's the World event at Cipriani's on Wall Street with the song, afront a shifting digital display screen that counted down the time he was onstage. West performed the song at the Coachella Festival in 2011, after his earlier promise following performances of singles, "The hits ain't over yet. We just keep goin' and goin'." West altered lyrics about how he would "do anything for a blonde dyke" in the second verse of the track to be in the past tense, aimed at his ex-lover Amber Rose. Afterwards, rumors sprang of a backstage confrontation of Rose's then-boyfriend and rapper Wiz Khalifa with West at the festival. The rapper dismissed the rumors as made up, although he considered West's line "a low thing" where he would try not to become involved. West opened his set for the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Lexington Avenue Armory in NYC with the song, wearing a Versace for H&M jacket, black leather pants, and Nike Air Yeezy 2s. His introduction mentioned he cancelled a 2007 performance of it at the show after his mother's death, detailing that she went from his superhero to his "super-angel". West included a shortened version of "Stronger" in a medley of over 10 songs for 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2012, while rocking a Pyrex hoodie and leather kilt. He delivered a performance of the song at the 2013 Governors Ball, backed by a modest DJ setup. West performed the song on The Yeezus Tour (2013–14), including a stripped-down version at a Brooklyn stop on November 21, 2013. On February 25, 2014, West performed a five-minute medley of his greatest hits in chronological order by album on Late Night with Seth Meyers, including "Stronger". Despite the negative reactions to West's appearance at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival, he appeared at the event again in 2014 and performed "Stronger". West stopped the song abruptly to ask the audience to "make some noise" for their enjoyment, questioning how many traveled long distances to attend and "don't give a fuck what the press says". The rapper performed the song in L.A. for the final night of the Made in America Festival on August 31, 2014. On December 1, West performed "Stronger" at a concert on World AIDS Day, telling the DJ to end the instrumental when he left it playing past the full length. The rapper opened his headlining set at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival with the song, appearing a metre below several rows of lights. The crowd chanted along to the song despite the petitions against West's appearance gaining traction, while he wore a paint-covered denim jacket and jeans and walked around the stage twirling his microphone stand. West opened his set at the closing ceremony of the 2015 Pan American Games with the song, wearing his denim jeans and a blue jumper as he performed to around 30,000 people. The rapper then clapped his hands, laid down, and jumped around the stage, requesting the lights to be turned on for the "400 million people watching" worldwide. West performed the song throughout his 2016 Saint Pablo Tour, including an L.A. stop where Canadian musician Drake danced as he rapped along on October 26. ==Cover versions and appearances in media==

at Barack Obama's 2013 inauguration|Allison Williams, acting as the character Marnie, performs the song as a slower and stripped down love ballad in the 2013 TV series Girls, after she had rapped it during her rehearsals. Rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars delivered a cover of "Stronger" in their genre for Jo Whiley's edition of the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge in September 2007; they won the Ultimate Live Lounge Cover for their version and presenter Fearne Cotton gave them a clay trophy for winning. Thirty Seconds to Mars said that covering the song for the radio station "helped change our lives" by gathering a wider audience to their pleasure and it was also included on the bonus disc of the band's 2009 album This Is War, alongside the West collaboration "Hurricane 2.0". On January 25, 2012, BadBadNotGood released a bluegrass cover of the song with a music video that offers an anti-bullying message. In a March 2013 episode of the HBO show Girls, actress Allison Williams performs the song as a slow, stripped down love ballad as Marnie at the birthday party of the character's ex-boyfriend Charlie. Williams imparted that despite rapping the song when rehearsing her script, she was told by Lena Dunham it would instead be a ballad for the episode. On August 27, 2007, A-Trak premiered his remix of the song, altering the Daft Punk sample and adding a new beat with synths. "Stronger" was used for the trailer of the 2007 film The Kingdom. Katie Holmes played the song for her 10-hour weekly workouts to prepare for the year's NYC Marathon, during which she listened to it repeatedly in the last six miles. On November 19, 2007, the song was included on the compilation album ''Now That's What I Call Music! 68. The New York Giants made their entrance to the song at Super Bowl XLII, before their game against the New England Patriots that they won. It appears in an action scene of Never Back Down'', a 2008 film about high school mixed martial artists. At the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs, the New York Rangers made their entrance to the song. On January 21, 2009, it was featured in a promotional video for Animal Planet's new show Jockeys. Leo Flynn produced a Rockabye Baby! CD that consisted of instrumental lullaby renditions of West's tracks and was released on May 18, 2010, including "Stronger" as the third track. In 2011, the song was used in the tennis video game Top Spin 4. It is featured in a slow motion scene of the wolfpack boarding an airplane to Thailand in the 2011 film The Hangover Part II, marking the second instance of West's music being used in all three installments of The Hangover. On April 2, 2012, fellow rapper Moses Stone performed a mashup of "Stronger" with West's 2010 single "Power" for the second season of The Voice. The rapper sang the song's hook in the style of a gospel ballad, moving into a rap for the first verse where he censored the profanity. He was backed by dancers, including an acrobat that handspringed his way off the stage at the top of the performance. After mistakenly calling West a Canadian rapper when he was asked about him performing at the 2015 Pan American Games, Toronto mayor John Tory used "Stronger" in a parody video. The mayor grooved to the song when waiting on a platform of the Toronto subway and found a story about West's then-wife Kim Kardashian when he read Rolling Stone on the train; the video was taken down by the copyright holder, despite Tory's office insisting it was made for fun. In November 2016, the song was featured in a commercial for the video game Watch Dogs 2. ==Legacy==

performing on Alive 2007|The sample of Daft Punk was seen as a key part in the song's electronica influence across hip hop, and sales of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" rose after its release and the duo's Alive 2007 album tour (pictured). Considered one of West's most radio-friendly songs, "Stronger" has been credited with not only influencing hip hop artists to incorporate electronica elements into their music, but also with playing a part in the revival of disco-infused music in the late 2000s. In a piece for NME, Luke Morgan Britton saw the song as the transition between the rapper's self-declared "'Old Kanye' and the more avant-garde, era-defining and zeitgeist-defining music" he later moved towards. Following the song's music video in 2007, West's shutter shades became popular across the world, particularly in the hip hop community. On August 3, "Stronger" was used in the BBC Radio 1Xtra episode "10 Moments That Made Kanye West". In 2011, "Stronger" was voted the greatest workout song of all time after topping the nationwide "March Music Madness" poll of Gold's Gym. The song was ranked as the third best feel-good record from a black musical act by The Boombox in 2011, while it was named as the 25th best hip hop workout song of all time by ''Men's Health in 2019. In 2020, Time crowned the song as the 31st best workout record of all time and uDiscoverMusic'' placed it at number one on their list, with Louis Chilton hailing the influence on pop and hip hop. The song was ranked by as the 28th best Hot 100 number-one of the 2000s decade by Cleveland.com in 2021, whose author Troy L. Smith felt that West was the only rap act able to masterfully sample Daft Punk and produce a hip hop song "this centered on EDM". The track is included in the 2015 edition of Robert Dimery's book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. "Stronger" was named as the sixth most popular workout song on Spotify in 2021, based on the data of appearances on playlists for working out. It was named as the platform's sixth most popular workout in 2021, based on the data of appearances on playlists for working out. In a 2024 analysis of appearances on motivational playlists of Spotify and Apple Music, "Stronger" was ranked as the most motivational song. ==Track listing==

European CD single • "Stronger" – 5:12 • "Can't Tell Me Nothing" – 4:32 ==Credits and personnel==

Information taken from Graduation liner notes. Recording • Recorded at Ape Sounds (Tokyo, Japan), Sony Music Studios (NYC) and The Record Plant (Hollywood, CA) • Mixed at Larrabee North Studios (Universal City, CA) and Battery Studios (NYC) Personnel • Kanye West songwriter, production • Thomas Bangalter songwriter • Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo songwriter • Edwin Birdsong songwriter • Mike Dean keyboards, guitars, extended outro • Timbaland additional programming, drum programming, drum sound design • Seiji Sekine recording • Andrew Dawson recording • Anthony Kilhoffer recording • Manny Marroquin mix engineer • Kengo Sakura assistant mix engineer • Bram Tobey assistant mix engineer • Jason Agel assistant mix engineer • Nate Hertweck assistant mix engineer • Jared Robbins assistant mix engineer • La Mar "Mars" Edwards keyboards • Andy Chatterley keyboards ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications and sales==