On December 21 it fell out the top 10 to number 12 before climbing back up to number 9 the following week and has continued to climb since then reaching number 7 on January 4, 2009. The UK Singles Chart singles chart saw the song peak at number four on December 7 after slowly creeping up the top ten the previous weeks, despite seeming set to drop in midweek figures. Katy Perry performing at the "YouTube Live Concert" in 2008 As of September 2011, it had sold more than 5,011,000 digital downloads in the United States. The song was an even bigger radio hit than "I Kissed a Girl", where it became Perry's first number 1 on both US Mainstream Top 40 and Adult Top 40 radio charts.
In Canada the song debuted at number 73 and reached number 1 on the chart dated November 20, 2008. With digital sales now in excess of five million copies, "Hot n Cold" is the best-selling single of her career in the USA, despite never reaching No. "Hot n Cold" was later certified four-times-platinum by the RIAA. It was in the top ten for 18 weeks ("I Kissed A Girl" spent 14 weeks there). It peaked at number 3 on the Hot 100 on November 22, making it her second top-three hit. It re-entered the Hot 100 on August 23, again at number 88. It debuted on the Hot 100 at number 88 and fell off the next week. "Hot n Cold" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 on June 28, 2008, due to digital downloads after the album's release. However, the producers of Sesame Street decided not to air the segment on the show after receiving complaints that Perry's revealing wardrobe was not appropriate for children. In 2010, Perry performed a version of the song intended for the children's television show Sesame Street which was released on websites such as YouTube. Perry said in an interview with Open House Party that the song was about ex-boyfriend Travie McCoy in the early stages of their relationship. The single was nominated for the 52nd Grammy Awards in the category of Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Perry sang the song in Simlish for the soundtrack of Sims 2: Apartment Life.
The song was also performed as the opener at the first annual 2008 YouTube Live on November 22, 2008. A remixed version of the track has also been released for play in the iPhone OS game Tap Tap Revenge. Perry performed the song live at the MTV EMAs in Liverpool, which she hosted, on November 6, 2008, to close the show after opening it with "I Kissed a Girl".
There are currently four radio edits: in one, "bitch" is replaced with the word "chick", ("You PMS, like a chick, I would know") in the second, mostly used on radio program Open House Party, this version uses "girl" instead of "bitch" or "chick" (in a version once played on Ryan Seacrest's American Top 40 radio show, the lyrics are "You PMS, I would know") in another edit, the lyrics first line of the song was repeated after the line was sung in full ("You change your mind, like a girl, I would know"), this edit can be heard in theme parks finally, the radio edit that is used on UK music channels cuts out the word altogether. Perry revealed in an interview with Radio 1 that "Hot n Cold" would in fact be the follow-up single to her number one hit " I Kissed a Girl" in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Katy Perry made the live television premiere performance of "Hot n Cold" on NBC's Today show outdoor concert series on August 29. Katy Perry performing at "Life Ball 2009"īlender magazine calls the track a "spunky, climate-controlled kiss-off." The song went for ads on the North American radios on September 9 and remained the song with one of the biggest bullets of the entire mediabase for weeks.