Jack Black's Super Mario Bros. Movie song rising up US charts

If you've seen the Super Mario Bros. Movie, you may have struggled to get Jack Black's "Peaches" earworm out of your head.

The exuberant Jack Black ballad, in character as Bowser, is a highight of the film, and the catchiest movie track since Encanto's Bruno. I even heard it being chanted by the younger viewers around me as I left the cinema.

It's also now hit the US song charts as well, and has marked Black's first solo entry in the Billboard Hot 100. On YouTube, meanwhile, the song's music video has racked up 17m views in 11 days. Let's watch:

Peaches was worked on in collaboration with Black as a late addition to the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and was not present in the films initial draft.

"As we were trying to get the point across of Bowser's feelings for Peach, it seemed more fun, funny and sweet if we had him sing a song about it," director Aaron Horvath previously said.

"We spent a night writing the song and sent the demo to Jack. A couple days later, Jack sent us back a finished track. He had added his own twist on it and his pianist played an original music track for it. We were blown away."

Despite initially mixed reviews by some critics, the Super Mario Bros. Movie has gone on to shatter ticket sales records and an enthusiastic response from audiences, becoming the biggest video game movie adaptation ever and the best animated film launch of all time.

In Eurogamer's positive review of the film, I dubbed Black as the true star of the movie, with the typically ebullient actor stealing every scene he's in.

"Nintendo excises its last Hollywood effort with a safe blockbuster return for its most dependable of mascots," I wrote in Eurogamer's Super Mario Bros. Movie review. "Three decades on, this film arrives as part of a vastly different era of Mario, albeit with Nintendo's mascot as entertaining as ever."