Songfacts®:

• This urban club banger is the first single from English singer-songwriter and music producer Taio Cruz's second album, Rokstarr.
• In this song Cruz declares, "I'm only gonna break your heart," then adds, "I'm born to be bad and bad to the bone." Digital Spy asked Cruz if he is really a heartbreaker. The Londoner replied: "It's more of a role I'm playing for the song. I'm not a heartbreaker by nature. Maybe I've broken one or two hearts in my time, but never on purpose!"
• This was Cruz's first UK #1 as a solo artist. The previous month, the R&B singer-songwriter had achieved his debut chart-topper as a writer, having penned Tinchy Stryder's #1, "Never Leave You."
• This was originally offered to Cheryl Cole for her debut solo album. However, by the time the Girls Aloud star said yes it was too late as Cruz's version was already being played on the radio. Cruz explained to MTV News: "I wrote a couple of songs for Cheryl Cole, and 'Break Your Heart' was one of them, 'Stand Up' was another one, which is on her album, but we sent both of the songs to her record label and we didn't really hear back from them. We just thought if they're not going to get back to us, we'll just carry on moving so I took it back, and changed the verses and made it work for a guy and then put it out."
• Cruz told Blues & Soul magazine about the song's lyrical background: "Its about breaking a girl's heart, but in a way that's kinda not on purpose. It's more that I'm just a single guy, trying to BE single and trying to REMAIN single. And sometimes, when you are in that place, you get girls who wanna be a part of what you're about - but, because you're not really ready for a relationship, those girls can end up being heartbroken. So what I'm basically saying is 'I might just break your heart. But I'm only gonna break your heart if you come through this way right now'."
• An alternate version of the song featuring rapper Ludacris was released as a single in the United States.
• When this climbed from #53 to #1 its second week on the Hot 100, the song achieved a new record for the largest jump to the top by an act with its first charting single. The old record was held by Kelly Clarkson's American Idol victory song "A Moment Like This,"which leapt 51 places to the top in September 2002.
• When this song supplanted the Black Eyed Peas' "Imma Be" at the top of the Hot 100 it coincided with Ludacris being the group's opening act on their tour.