The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics were brimming with emotion and incredible feats performed by athletes around the world. One of the most impactful performances was Alysa Liu’s gold medal-winning free skate to Donna Summer‘s version of “MacArthur Park,” saying that “figure skating’s ‘unbothered queen’ and her joy on the ice has taken the world by storm,” NBC states.
Liu took first place, and now Summer has, too.
Her 1978 disco-fied take on “MacArthur Park” became the number one top-selling dance song of the week, according to Billboard, which reports that the song sold 2,000 downloads in the United States for a 575% surge in weekly sales. Instead of the dance floor, Alysa Liu’s moves on the ice reinvigorated the track to mark Summer’s fourth posthumous No. 1 hit since her passing in 2012.
Summer originally scored three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the song upon its release in 1978. However, the song has an even deeper history than that. It was written by Jimmy Webb in 1967 and first recorded by Richard Harris in 1968. The songwriter shared a heartfelt video message on Facebook about Liu’s performance, thanking her and explaining his feelings.
“I watched [her skate] intently and enjoyed probably more than anyone else. I felt her energy, her youth, and her optimism really breathed a new life into ‘MacArthur Park,'” he said. And I was reminded again what a great singer Donna Summer was.”
He also shared some of the song’s previous successes. Harris’ version hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 and went on to win a Grammy Award in 1970 by outlaw country artist Waylon Jennings. In fact, the song has been covered over 200 times by artists of every genre, from crooner Tony Bennett to prog-rockers Beggars Opera to Motown vocal group The Four Tops. “Weird Al” Yankovic cemented its legacy with a parody entitled “Jurassic Park.”
That’s fairly remarkable, considering the song’s peculiarity. The original recording ran over seven minutes long, as a sort of suite that featured dramatic orchestration with strings, woodwinds, brass, and even a harpsichord. The lyrics are far from typical, with Webb writing about the park melting in the dark, a cake left out in the rain, and losing the recipe.
However, the epic and unusual nature of the composition has proven to work in all of its covers. Summer’s hit was crafted by Pete Bellotte and Giorgio Moroder, two key architects of the disco sound. Moroder, who decided to arrange it after hearing it on the radio, made the transition from a baroque-tinged ballad to a dance hit by speeding it up and finding the right key to maximize Summer’s impressive vocal range. He then added a special touch by sampling his own singing to create the choir.
What makes Summer’s cover so enduring is its balance of theatrical drama and a relentless groove. That makes it the perfect combination for choreography, whether it’s shaking your groove thing or winning a gold medal.
Go back to the ’70s with this live performance of “MacArthur Park” and follow along with the sheet music.
