After Chic founders Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards saw three drag queens dressed up like Diana Ross at a bar, they wrote “I’m Coming Out” to appeal to Ross' gay following. The song remains an anthem for the LGBT community.

The song became a number-one dance hit, topping Billboard’s Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart first for 3 weeks in August of 1980 and again for two weeks the following month. It also peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on Billboard’s R&B chart. “I’m Coming Out” also performed well overseas.

The track is also well-known for being sampled in The Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 chart-topper “Mo' Money Mo' Problems”.