"Cry for Help" is the title of the first single taken from British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 dance-pop

Dance-pop

Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...

 singer Rick Astley

Rick Astley

Richard Paul "Rick" Astley is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and radio personality. He is known for his 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up", which was a #1 hit single in 25 countries...

's third studio album, Free

Free (Rick Astley album)

Free is Rick Astley's third album, released in 1991. It was his first album not to be produced by the noted production team of Stock Aitken Waterman. It gave Astley another hit single in the ballad "Cry for Help", which became a Top 10 in both the UK and the US. Further singles "Move Right Out" and...

. It was written by Rick Astley and Rob Fisher.

Released as a single in 1991, "Cry for Help" reached the Top 10 on both the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in the United Kingdom as well as the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart, where the song peaked at #7 on both sides of the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. It reached #3 in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, and it was a #1 hit on the U.S. adult contemporary

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 chart. The song's #7 UK chart placing meant that Astley became the first male solo artist to have his first eight singles reach the British Top 10.

The song is a moving soul ballad, unlike many of Astley's other more famous dance-oriented hit singles ("Never Gonna Give You Up

Never Gonna Give You Up

A group of London dance producers, called The Rickrollerz made a house music cover version of "Never Gonna Give You Up" on that day, and in honor of that event....

"). It was co-written by British singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Rob Fisher

Rob Fisher

Rob Fisher was a British keyboardist and songwriter from Cheltenham, England, who achieved chart success as a member of Naked Eyes, and later Climie Fisher...

, formerly one half of the 1980s pop group Naked Eyes

Naked Eyes

Naked Eyes is a British New Wave band that rose to prominence in the early 1980s. Originally a duo, the band is known largely for its singles: a cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard " Always Something There to Remind Me" , as well as the band's subsequent hits "Promises, Promises", "When...

 and Climie Fisher. To date, the song was Astley's last appearance in the Top 10 in either the U.S. or U.K.

The song has been sung by Rick Astley in duet with Soren Sko and covered by Thomas Anders

Thomas Anders

Thomas Anders is a German singer, composer and record producer. Anders was the lead singer of Germany's popular pop-duo Modern Talking in 1984–1987 and in 1998–2003.-Early years:...

 (ex-Modern Talking

Modern Talking

Modern Talking was a German dance pop duo consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen. Their music has often been classified as Europop. They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo, and have had a number of hit singles, reaching the top 5 in many countries...

).

Peak positions

Chart (1991)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Charts	13
Austrian Singles Chart	22
Canadian Singles Chart	4
German Singles Charts	14
Irish Singles Chart	9
Swedish Singles Chart	17
UK Singles Chart	7
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	7
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	1

End of year charts

End of year chart (1991)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	70
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	4
Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	76