{{Infobox song | name = Imaginary Lover | cover = Imaginary_Lover_-_Atlanta_Rhythm_Section.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Atlanta Rhythm Section | album = Champagne Jam | B-side = Silent Treatment | released = February 1978 | recorded = 1977 | studio = | venue = | genre = Soft rock • Southern rock<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mayoarts.org/event/rockin-the-70s|title=Rockin' The 70s - The Official Site of Mayo Performing Arts Center|website=www.mayoarts.org}}</ref> | length = 4:10 (Single Version)<br>5:05 (Album Version) | label = Polydor | writer = Buie/Nix/Daughtry | producer = Buie | prev_title = Georgia Rhythm | prev_year = 1977 | next_title = I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight | next_year = 1978 }}
"'''Imaginary Lover'''" is a 1978 hit single by the Atlanta Rhythm Section, the first release and greatest hit from their album ''Champagne Jam''.
The song reached number 7 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 9 in Canada. It is the group's second greatest hit, just behind "So in to You".
"Imaginary Lover" extols the virtues of fantasy and "private pleasure" as being an easy way to guaranteed satisfaction in the absence of an actual lover. It also implies the superiority at times of imaginary lovers to real ones, eliminating the complications of relating to an actual partner as well as the possibilities of disagreement, rejection, or boredom.
Nancy Sinatra included this on her 1998 album, ''Sheet Music''.
==45 rpm playback incident== In 1978, an FM radio station accidentally played the song at the wrong speed of 45 rpm.<ref name="Tusked">{{Cite book |last=Caillat |first=Ken |title=Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac's Most Anticipated Album |last2=Rojas |first2=Hernan |publisher=Backbeat Books |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4930-5983-6 |location=Guilford, Connecticut |page=262}}</ref> The radio station received favorable calls and opted to let the song play at the incorrect speed. Sonically, the vocals resembled the voice of Stevie Nicks, who later heard of the incident and purchased the record. Upon playing the record at 45 rpm, she said that it gave her the chills and that it sounded "exactly like something I’d sing, the way I’d sing it".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crowe |first=Cameron |date=August 25, 1978|title=Nicks' Coat Gets Nicked |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/nicks-coat-gets-nicked-198353/ |access-date=January 13, 2024|website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> While Nicks was presenting demos for the ''Tusk'' album, she mixed in the sped up version of "Imaginary Lover" with her other material. One of her bandmates, Christine McVie, assumed that it was an original composition from Nicks and complimented her. Fleetwood Mac engineer Hernán Rojas later heard that the Atlanta Rhythm Section learned of the incident and "didn't find it as funny as we did".<ref name="Tusked"/>
==Charts== {{col-begin|width=75%}} {{col-2}} ===Weekly charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Chart (1978) !Peak<br />position |- |Australia Kent Music Report | style="text-align:center;"|49 |- |Canadian ''RPM'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.4564a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.4564a.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.4564a|title=RPM 100 Singles - Volume 29, No. 10|website=Library and Archives Canada|access-date=October 28, 2024}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|9 |- |US ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref>''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990'' - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|7 |- |US ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary<ref>{{cite book |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-1993|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=1993 |publisher=Record Research |page=20}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|20 |- |US ''Cash Box'' Top 100 <ref>{{cite web|url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19780527.html|title=Cash Box Top 100 5/27/78|website=tropicalglen.com|access-date=2017-07-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214225537/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19780527.html|archive-date=2015-02-14|url-status=dead}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|9 |- |} {{col-2}}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Chart (1978) ! Rank |- |Canada<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.0070a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.0070a.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.0070a |title= Top 200 Singles of '78 – Volume 30, No. 14, December 30 1978 |work= RPM |date= 17 July 2013 |publisher= Library and Archives Canada |accessdate= July 31, 2017}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|74 |- |US ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1978.htm|title=Top 100 Hits of 1978/Top 100 Songs of 1978|website=musicoutfitters.com}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|51 |- |US ''Cash Box''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1978YESP.html|title=Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1978|website=tropicalglen.com|access-date=2017-07-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929211008/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1978YESP.html|archive-date=2018-09-29|url-status=dead}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|73 |- |} {{col-end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{YouTube|RxIHjhh-87o|Atlanta Rhythm Section - Imaginary Lover}}
{{Atlanta Rhythm Section}}
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Category:1977 songs Category:1978 singles Category:Atlanta Rhythm Section songs Category:Polydor Records singles Category:Songs written by Buddy Buie {{1970s-rock-song-stub}}