Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” has joined the one billion views club on YouTube.

The 1983 smash single was from Lauper’s debut album “She’s So Unusual”  and has risen to become her first clip to cross the billion line 13 years after its debut. 

“A lot of people don’t realize this, but ‘Girls’ is really a political song,” Lauper said in a statement about the track she flipped to have a female perspective based on the original penned by songwriter-performer Robert Hazard. “When I got my feminist hands on it, I knew I wanted to make it into an anthem for all women. Sonically, I wanted the song to be uplifting and joyful. When it came time to make the video, it was really important to me to make sure we included women from every walk of life. I wanted every little girl watching the video to have the joyful experience of seeing herself on that screen. I wanted us to be a community.”

The girl-power anthem was nominated for Grammy’s and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 single chart. With Lauper’s mother playing the part of a put upon matriarch and the professional manager/wrestler Captain Lou Albano as her dad, the low budget visual with screensaver graphics introduced the world to the kewpie doll-voiced singer with a flashy, trashy thrift store look and Tang-cloured hair. In the bouncy video, Lauper and a gang of fellow fun-lovers sing and dance through the streets and end up at a packed new-wave house party to the consternation of eternally agitated Albano.

“Years later, at the Women’s March, I saw that community in action. I saw all types of women and girls carrying signs saying ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun-damental Rights,’” Lauper added in her statement. “And now, here we are at a billion views. Back when we made the video, there was no YouTube, so when you think about it, it’s really extraordinary — the reach that this song has. The longevity. That people still purposely seek this video out and press play. Wow. I’m really grateful. Thank you.”

The Grammy-, Tony- and Emmy-winning singer has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and was the first woman in history to have four top-five singles from a debut album (with “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” followed by “Time After Time,” “She Bop” and “All Through the Night”).