5 Seconds of Summer were already in shock when their album beat out Beyonce and Jay-Z for the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart this summer. But having their single "Youngblood" reach the No. 1 spot on the pop songs chart and become an international smash hit has the band in awe.
"We really didn't expect this," said singer-guitarist Michael Clifford of the Australian rock-pop band, which includes Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin.
"Youngblood" recently spent five weeks at No. 1 on the pop songs charts, which tracks Top 40 radio airplay. The track is spending its seventh week in the Top 10 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart, where rap songs have heavily dominated in the last year.
This Oct. 18, 2018 photo shows members of the band 5 Seconds of Summer, from left, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin, Michael Clifford and Luke Hemmings posing at Capitol Records in Los Angeles to promote their third album "Youngblood." (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
Clifford calls the hit song "authentically us" and said it allows fans to "see the real version of ourselves and our music in a very bold way than what we've delivered in other songs."
"You can never predict the success of a song — you can only hope," he added.
The band's impressive year kicked off when "Youngblood," also the title of their latest album, outsold Beyonce and Jay-Z's "Everything Is Love," giving the band their third No. 1 album on Billboard's 200 albums chart.
In this Oct. 18, 2018 photo, members of the band 5 Seconds of Summer, from left, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings and Michael Clifford pose at Capitol Records in Los Angeles to promote their third album "Youngblood." (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
Clifford admits the band was worried when the superstar duo released their album as a surprise a day after 5SOS' album.
"It was incredibly scary for us," Clifford said. "But our fans really rallied behind us. They knew what it meant to us. We've always been kind of underdogs. But we were able to show on a large scale, a large platform that we can perform. We also showed that 5 Seconds of Summer mean business."
They followed the success with an extensive tour — which wraps on Nov. 19 in Madrid — playing "Youngblood" to thousands of fans as the song continued to climb the charts.
In this Oct. 18, 2018 photo, members of the band 5 Seconds of Summer, from left, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings and Michael Clifford pose at Capitol Records in Los Angeles to promote their third album "Youngblood." (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
5SOS initially planned to release an album last year but held off to "perfect" a new sound. "Youngblood" comes three years after 2015's "Sounds Good Feels Good." The band's self-titled debut was released in 2014.
"You write different songs when you're 16 or 17 to when you're 22 or 23," said Hemmings, who sings and plays guitar. "I think our fans were the same age as us when we came out. I think they grew up with us. I think, in a way, we have similar tastes. We were trying to find something that would define ourselves as men like in our 20s. I think people have responded to that."
Each band member was a solo artist before they formed the group in 2011. The foursome posted videos on YouTube of themselves covering songs by Ed Sheeran, Blink-182 and Chris Brown, garnering millions of views.
Their successful grassroots movement afforded them an opportunity to tour with One Direction in 2013, which gave them their first claim to fame. At the time, the group said it was a "huge risk" by leaving the comforts of Australia, where they had already built a good support base.
But Clifford adds that the band always knew they would make it.
"We were playing to 20 people in Sydney, Australia, and we knew that we were going to be the biggest band in the world," he said. "With that mindset, we were just like unstoppable. There was no ceiling. You can never really know what you're going to do, but you can manifest. Our career has been telling people what we're going to be. I think people believed us."
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BERLIN (AP) — The eight European countries targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump for a 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland blasted the move Sunday, warning that the American leader's threats “undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
In an unusual and very strong joint statement coming from major U.S. allies, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland on Sunday said troops sent to Greenland for the Danish military training exercise “Arctic Endurance” pose “no threat to anyone.”
Trump's Saturday announcement sets up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe. The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to U.S. national security.
“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland," the group said. “Building on the process begun last week, we stand ready to engage in a dialogue based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind. Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under U.S. law, though he could cite emergency economic powers that are currently subject to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said China and Russia will benefit from the divisions between the U.S. and Europe. She added in a post on social media: “If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity."
Trump's move was also panned domestically.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a former U.S. Navy pilot and Democrat who represents Arizona, posted that Trump’s threatened tariffs on U.S. allies would make Americans “pay more to try to get territory we don’t need.”
“Troops from European countries are arriving in Greenland to defend the territory from us. Let that sink in,” he wrote on social media. “The damage this President is doing to our reputation and our relationships is growing, making us less safe. If something doesn’t change we will be on our own with adversaries and enemies in every direction.”
Six of the countries targeted are part of the 27-member EU, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was not immediately clear if Trump's tariffs would impact the entire bloc. EU envoys scheduled emergency talks for Sunday evening to determine a potential response.
The tariff announcement even drew blowback from Trump's populist allies in Europe.
Italy’s right-wing premier, Giorgia Meloni, considered one of Trump’s closest allies on the continent, said Sunday she had spoken to him about the tariffs, which she described as “a mistake.”
The deployment to Greenland of small numbers of troops by some European countries was misunderstood by Washington, Meloni told reporters. She said the deployment was not a move against the U.S. but aimed to provide security against “other actors” that she didn’t name.
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media that “no intimidation or threats will influence us, whether in Ukraine, Greenland or anywhere else in the world when we are faced with such situations." He added that "tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context.”
Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party in France and also a European Parliament lawmaker, posted that the EU should suspend last year’s tariff deal with the U.S., describing Trump’s threats as “commercial blackmail.”
Trump also achieved the rare feat of uniting Britain’s main political parties — including the hard-right Reform UK party — all of whom criticized the tariff threat.
“We don’t always agree with the U.S. government and in this case we certainly don’t. These tariffs will hurt us,” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a longtime champion and ally of Trump, wrote on social media. He stopped short of criticizing Trump's designs on Greenland.
Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who leads the center-left Labour Party, said the tariffs announcement was “completely wrong” and his government would “be pursuing this directly with the U.S. administration.”
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Norway are also expected to address the crisis Sunday in Oslo during a news conference.
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Leicester reported from Paris and Cook from Brussels. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Aamer Madhani in Washington and Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
A crowd walks to the US consulate to protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A boy holds a crossed out map of Greenland topped by a hairpiece symbolizing U.S. President Donald Trump, during a protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
