In 1938 The song became popular on a Baltimore television dance show hosted by local DJ Buddy Deane; Deane recommended the song to In July 1960, Checker performed "The Twist" for the first time in front of a live audience at the Rainbow Club in In late 1961 and early 1962, the twist craze belatedly caught on in high society. On the US Billboard, Hot R&B Sides chart, the original version of "The Twist" first peaked at number sixteen in 1959 and at number six in 1960. Notable covers have been done by Mitch Ryder, The Monkees, The Kingsmen and Ray Charles. The following songs, while not songs specifically about The Twist or twisting, reference the dance/phenomenon in their lyrics. Sightings of celebrities doing the dance made the song a hit with adults, particularly after a report in the Checker re-recorded the song numerous times.

Ballard's version was a moderate hit, peaking at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1988, "The Twist" again became popular due to a new recording of the song by Songs about doing the Twist went back to nineteenth-century minstrelsy, including "Grape Vine Twist" from around 1844. Chubby Checker's 1960 cover … "The Twist" is an American pop song written and originally released in 1958 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side to "Teardrops on Your Letter". "Do You Love Me" — The Contours (1962) "Shake a Tail Feather" — Originally recorded in 1963 by The Five Du-Tones. An updated 1982 recording (from his album In the sixth episode of the second season of the TV series In 2018, Checker's version was one of six singles inducted into the