Songfacts®:

• This song is about a boyfriend who neglects his girl and takes her for granted. One day, he wakes up and she's gone. It's only in her absence that he realizes what she means to him and comes to appreciate her. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR
• This is a reworking of the 1964 Bobby Vinton hit "Mr. Lonely." The sample was sped-up so it sounded similar to The Chipmunks.
• After signing Akon, SRC wanted to break him on the streets first, so the label released his tale of an imprisoned drug runner "Locked Up" as his first single. They then dropped the more commercial "Lonely" and everything went according to plan.
  
  "Lonely" topped the charts in many countries, including, Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In Germany, it spent eight weeks at #1.
• The UK music channel The Box had a Top 10 weekly chart calculated by the number of requests. "Lonely" spent 15 weeks on the top of the tally before being surpassed by James Blunt's "You're Beautiful."
• Akon had a second UK #1 with "Smack That" in 2006. He also topped the Hot 100 twice with his Snoop Dogg collaboration "I Wanna Love You" and "Don't Matter."
• The Gil Green-directed video starred Vampire Diaries and Honey 2 actress Katerina Graham as Akon's love interest. Five years later, she turned up in Justin Bieber's "Somebody To Love" clip.