"Coming Up" was the opening track from Paul McCartney's McCartney IIalbum, written by McCartney and released in 1980. Like the rest of the album, the song had a minimalist synthesized feel to it. It featured humorously-processed lead vocals from McCartney, who played all the instruments and shared harmonies with his wife Linda McCartney.

John Lennon had liked the song, crediting it for driving him out of retirement to resume recording.

A live version of the song was recorded in Glasgow, Scotland on 17 December 1979 by Wings during their tour of the UK. This version had a much fuller sound and was included as one of the two songs on the B-side of the single; the other B-side was also a Wings song, "Lunchbox/Odd Sox", that dated back to the Venus and Marssessions. Both B-sides were credited to Paul McCartney & Wings (see the alternate cover), the first time this credit had been used for a Wings record since "Junior's Farm."

In the US, radio stations bypassed the McCartney solo A-side and played the live Wings B-side. To help sales of McCartney II, a special single-sided 7" 33⅓ rpm promotional white-label copy of the Wings version was included with the album in North America.

The live Wings version has since appeared on various McCartney best-of compilations. For example, on the McCartney and Wings greatest hits album Wingspan, the live Wings version is included on the US/Canada releases, while the McCartney solo studio version is included on the UK release.

A different live Wings recording of "Coming Up" appears on the album version of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, with an additional verse that was edited out of the Glasgow release.

"Coming Up" is also well known for its video. It is an early example of electronic trickery, with Paul McCartney playing ten roles and Linda McCartney playing two. The "band" (identified as "The Plastic Macs" on the drum kit—a nod to Lennon's "Plastic Ono Band") features Paul and Linda's imitations of various rock musician stereotypes, as well as a few identifiable musicians. In his audio commentary on the 2007 video collection The McCartney Years, McCartney identified the four characters that were impersonations of specific artists: Hank Marvin (guitarist from The Shadows), Ritchie Blackmore from Rainbow / Deep Purple, Ron Mael of Sparks (keyboards), the drummer, Ginger Baker from Cream, and a 'Beatlemania-Era' version of himself. While others such as author Fred Bronson have suggested that there are other identifiable impersonations in the video, such as Andy MacKay, Frank Zappa and Neil Young, McCartney said the other roles were simply comic relief.

The B-side, the live Wings version of "Coming Up", became a #1 U.S. Hot 100 hit in June 1980. The A-side, the McCartney solo version, reached #2 in the UK.

"Coming Up" is the only Paul McCartney song to hit the top of the U.S. BillboardHot 100 chart that was officially credited by Billboardto McCartney as a solo artist, despite the fact that the "Live At Glasgow" version of "Coming Up" that actually topped the U.S. chart was performed by (and credited to) McCartney & Wings. All other Billboardnumber-one singles involving McCartney after The Beatles are officially credited to either Paul & Linda McCartney ("Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"), Paul McCartney & Wings ("My Love," "Band On The Run"), Wings ("Listen To What The Man Said", "Silly Love Songs," "With A Little Luck"), Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder ("Ebony & Ivory") and Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson ("Say, Say, Say"). That oddity makes McCartney the ex-Beatle to top the charts both the most (in conjunction with Wings and others) and the least (by himself) after the band's breakup. Ringo Starr and John Lennon each registered two U.S. pop number-one hits, while George Harrison had three, all of which were credited to them alone.