was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame[7] and selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

"[8] In the US, the YMCA began building single room occupancy (SRO) facilities in the 1880s to house men from rural areas who moved into cities to look for work.

[10] Victor Willis, lead singer and lyricist, recalls that while in the studio, producer Jacques Morali asked him, "What exactly is the YMCA?"

However, according to some in the gay culture, the song was implicitly understood as celebrating YMCA's reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot, particularly for the younger men to whom it was addressed.

as a gay anthem,[18] but rather as a reflection of the fun activities that urban black youth experienced at YMCA, such as basketball and swimming.

While he doesn't mind the song's use as a gay anthem, the "false assumptions were damaging to the song" and further said, "since I wrote the lyrics and ought to know what the lyrics I wrote is really about, come January 2025, my wife will start suing each and every news organization that falsely refers to Y.M.C.A., either in their headlines or alluded to in the base of the story, that Y.M.C.A.

is somehow a gay anthem because such notion is based solely on the song's lyrics alluding to elicit [sic] activity for which it does not.

[24] In an article for Gothamist, writer Abbey White states the atmosphere of YMCA was "more complicated than the lyrics portray, with gay culture and working-class workouts coexisting in a single communal space", creating "a mix of white-collar and blue-collar residents, along with retired seniors and veterans", with about half of the residents being gay.

[25] The song, played in the key of G♭ major, begins with 6 bars of a D♭ suspended chord over a bare disco drum beat.

Willis' version of the song is used in the Village People film Can't Stop the Music, though by that time Ray Simpson had replaced him as the policeman.

has "layered horn work and strings and a bright, soaring chorus" and that "Willis' lead vocals are commanding.

"[28] Record World said that it "has the same foot-stomping bass line and tongue-in-cheek lyrics" as previous Village People hit "Macho Man" and that "the vocals are strong and the production thunderous.

One of the phases involves moving arms to form the letters Y-M-C-A as they are sung in the chorus: The dance originated during the group's performance of the song on the January 6, 1979 episode of American Bandstand.

Host Dick Clark then said to Willis that he would like to show him something, playing the song again with the audience doing YMCA hand gestures.

[32][33] Willis immediately picked up on the dance and mimicked the hand movements back at the audience as other Village People members stared at him with puzzled looks.

[40] The Village People recorded a version of the song for Pepsi in 1997 for a commercial featuring a group of dancing bears, changing the lyrics to match the drink and spelling out P-E-P-S-I.

[44][45] In 2001 it was part of the "Swamp Karaoke Dance Party" in Shrek (2001) performed by Monsieur Hood and the Merry Men.

[47] In March 2020, the US Library of Congress added the song to its National Recording Registry, which preserves for posterity audio that is "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

Willis initially approved its use but after several incidents involving the Black Lives Matter protests, he demanded Trump stop, although he later relaxed his stance.

[49][50] Saturday Night Live parodied the song and the group's reaction with a "cease and desist" on the October 24, 2020 segment of Weekend Update.

[54] The song was played over loudspeakers as Trump boarded Air Force One on January 20, 2021, en route to Florida before Biden's inauguration.

This version is also notable for having a call-and-response in the middle where Saijo and a group of child singers chant the letters "Y M C A" back and forth.

Following the death of Saijo on 16 May 2018, the song re-entered the chart, peaking at number fifteen on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.

has been covered by multiple other Asian musicians, including Keisuke Kuwata, Aska, George Lam, Yang Kun, and E-girls.

In the music video Touche and Krayzee perform the song in a city area, accompanied by elaborate effects.