About Hold On

"Hold On" is a song recorded by American vocal group Wilson Phillips. It was released on February 27, 1990, as the lead single from their debut studio album, Wilson Phillips (1990). The single topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for a week in June 1990 and was the most successful single of that year in the US. The song won the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year for 1990. At the Grammy Awards of 1991, "Hold On" received a nomination for Song of the Year, losing to "From a Distance" by Julie Gold and performed by Bette Midler. In 2017, Billboard ranked the song number 15 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. In 2020, Cleveland.com ranked it at number 37 in their list of the best Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song of the 1990s.

Chynna Phillips wrote the song's lyrics while battling substance abuse as well as being in a "really bad" relationship. She explained to Kelly Clarkson, "I just said if I don't change my course, I'm going to be in a lot of trouble." Producer Glen Ballard presented the track to the group, noting it needed lyrics. Phillips based the lyrics off of the principles taught in AA, specifically the idea that things had to be taken "one day at a time." The next day, Phillips returned with "Hold On" and sang it for the Wilsons and Ballard, who immediately loved it. "I remember one guy I played it for said, 'That's not going to go anywhere. That's not a very good song. It's really corny,'" Phillips recalls. "I just remember thinking to myself, 'God, I hope he's wrong.