“Coming Up” was Paul McCartney's 1980 single that topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in its live version.
The song opened McCartney's second solo studio album, McCartney II, released in 1980. The studio recording has a deliberately electronic, homemade character: McCartney played all the instruments and used synthesizers, tape-speed manipulation, and layered vocals to create its unusual sound. In Britain, the single peaked at No. 2.
In the United States, the live recording became the major hit. It was performed by Paul McCartney and Wings in Glasgow and appeared as the B-side of the single. American radio played that version more heavily than the studio A-side, and the live track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard initially charted the A-side before switching to the more popular live version.
This distinction often causes confusion: “Coming Up” names both the single and its studio composition, while the version that became the US chart-topper was the live Glasgow performance.