Hits come, hits go. Sometimes hits return, and you don’t see it coming. Jennifer Lopez was blindsided when “On the Floor,” featuring Pitbull, returned to the Billboard charts for the first time in 15 years.
Lopez was the first guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live, airing Wednesday night, May 27, for a promotional stop in support of her forthcoming Netflix film Office Romance. Her recording career is enjoying a bounce, too, thanks to a major viral moment sparked by the Prime Video series Off Campus.
“On the Floor” is surging following a steamy scene starring the character Allie (Mika Abdalla), dressed as J.Lo, and Dean (Stephen Kalyn), dressed as Tom Cruise’s character Maverick from the Top Gun films, who dance to Lopez’s 2011 single at a Halloween party. Lopez later joined the moment on social media, teaming up with Abdalla to re-create part of the scene and dance to the song.
Thanks to all that action, the song debuts at No. 117 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 80 on the Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated May 30).
Speaking with Kimmel, Lopez revealed that her socials team had alerted her to the buzzy situation. “I was like, ‘what?!’ It was like out of the blue.” And with that, she went a little deeper into the consumption of digital music. “The music business, everything has changed because people discover (from different sources),” she opined. “My kids are listening to all kinds of music that I’ve never even heard of. And some stuff that is classic, like the Beatles. Listen, great music lives forever, as we know, but it lives in a different way now because they can find it easily.”
“On the Floor” is a milestone in both J.Lo and Pitbull’s chart histories. It marked one of Lopez’s 10 top 10s on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 3 in 2011 among her 32 career entries, and it stands as one of Pitbull’s 10 top 10s among 45 total entries.
During her latest late night TV stint, Lopez discussed single life, and her 18-year-old twins graduating from high school (tears are ready at the thought). She’s also a huge fan of Barbra Streisand, but hasn’t met her and just might get starstruck if she did. That’s because she’s admittedly shy. “I like to sing, I like to dance. I like to act. But it’s all behind the character. Behind the facade,” she explained. “I couldn’t do what you do, like host a show.”
In Office Romance, Lopez plays a high-flying CEO of an airline who enforces a strict anti-fraternization policy for all her employees, per The Hollywood Reporter. Things go awry when the attractive new lawyer, played by Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso), enters the picture.
Office Romance premieres June 5 on Netflix. Watch Lopez’s interview below.
