I've decided to rank the biggest hits in America throughout the 00's, however doing so presented me a challenge given how there's no end of decade chart that extends beyond the top 100 like there is for the 80's and 90's. I've decided to rank these songs based on how long they lasted in the Billboard top ten to compensate for this. Again, I'll be recycling what I've said about each entry from an earlier post on this site until I have the inspiration necessary to come up with something new to say for each entry.
I get the feeling this second single from Destiny fulfilled had a bit of an identity crisis here in Australia given how I'm actually not that well familiar with the version that has both T.I and Lil Wayne on the track and instead just with the version with the trio by themselves. I guess the two rappers were meant to be the soldiers in question that the girls were singing about throughout the track.
This is where it all started for Rihanna, although you wouldn't be able to tell that she would become one of the most inescapable artists of the next decade given how this was the type of club banger that many of her contemporaries would have a hit with before fading into obscurity shortly after its success. Indeed, she would evolve from this sound whilst still keeping her commanding presence she provides on here.
This was released back in the day where Maroon 5 was a well-respected pop rock band and not a highly contentious project for the lead singer Adam Levine like they've become throughout the 2010's (yeah, I'm not a fan of their later work.) Here we have their third single from their debut album which became their biggest hit of the decade here in Australia likely due to it being a love ballad towards a girl with low self-esteem.
I'm not exactly sure if this song was pulled from shelves or if it just lost its popularity unusually quickly here in Australia, I guess it was the latter as it had a similar chart run over in NZ where it wasn't burdened by any tampering from the labels, but I wouldn't rule out the former either. This felt like a passing the torch moment given how Usher would explode in popularity this year whilst Diddy would fade.
This was the only hit to come from B2K even in their native America, I'm guessing P Diddy's desires of managing boy and girl bands would only last him for one song each as the female counterpart to these guys Dream (well white girl counterpart) only scored one hit two years prior with "He loves u not" before they too faded into obscurity (not here in Australia obviously.) These two acts were his only notable success in this regard.
This was Jay-Z's first big hit here in Australia, even as a featured artist, he didn't have any success prior to this collaboration with his future wife Beyonce about how they were the (then) modern equivalent of Bonnie and Clyde. This song samples "Me and my girlfriend" by 2pac when he was known as Makaveli, I thought I'd bring that up given how this east coast rapper sampled a west coast rapper.
This was the first of two collaborations that Baby Bash made with the RNB singer Frankie J, the other would be on "Obsession" where the two roles would be reversed as Frankie would be the lead artist whilst the rapper was the featured artist. This is another song that was heavily delayed a release in Australia as it was meant to come out last year like it did internationally, thankfully it didn't affect its success here.
This was one of only two hits that Ne-Yo had in Australia throughout the 00's, the other was "Closer" from two years later which was more upbeat than this track which is a slow RNB ballad about his complicated feelings he has in a relationship he's in. He was much more popular in NZ and especially his native America where he scored multiple other hits in both countries in addition to these two.
This was an amazing year for Ciara as she scored a third hit in a row around the world with this track, here she recruits Ludacris to provide a guest verse for her which normally wouldn't have done the song any favours (save for Usher's "Yeah") but in this case it likely helped Ciara have that third hit here in Australia as the album they all came from failed to become a success like the singles were.
This was a girl group that was put together by P Diddy, I'm guessing so that he could enter the girl band wars that was far less prevalent worldwide given how they mostly took place in the UK where the Spice Girls were the clear winners despite pulling out of the competition early on compared to their rivals. Dream managed to score a hit with their debut single in NZ and their native America and nowhere else in the world.
This was originally a solo track from the Pussycat dolls on their album, I'm guessing because they felt this track was sexy enough on their own and felt they didn't need a rapper of colour to validate their attractiveness. Their label obviously disagreed as they pulled in Snoop Dogg to put in a feature for them which is perhaps why this managed to be a slightly bigger hit than the second and third singles on the album.
Even though the Backstreet boys scored many more hits worldwide than these guys did, the fact that this was able to go to number one on Billboard did allow them to win the boy band wars in their native America as far as TRL was concerned. This song is also a breakup track much like their earlier entry on this list, further giving them an identity that separated them from their contemporaries of sentimental lover boys.
Here's the other big hit that Michelle Branch had here in Australia so soon after her first big hit, yeah it turns out that we Aussies were a bit iffy towards making her a household name even with the endorsement that Santana gave her with this collaboration back in the day. Again, I'm not sure why as Avril Lavigne and P!nk were able to find success around this time with little issue.
This was more of a sleeper hit for Kanye here in Australia as opposed to being a more mainstream success over in NZ and his native America, I guess we Aussies were too busy vibing to his earlier entry on this list which sampled the Daft punk track to take notice of his collaboration with T pain back in the day.
It's a bit weird that "Me myself and I" flopped here in Australia and yet this sex jam from Beyonce's debut album was a hit, then again, I don't remember hearing the third single from the album much back in the day and yet remember this being inescapable. This samples "Love to love you" by Donna Summer and has an added flavour of middle eastern music to give it that erotic sound she was going for.
I should point out that "Stan" was released the previous year in NZ to deafening silence, it's failure over there is perhaps what allowed the song that sampled to become a massive hit over there this year as Dido's label allowed it to be released over there as opposed to here where it wasn't because of the success of that song here. It's weird that this sweet love ballad was chosen for a song about the rapper's toxic fanbase.
This was the third Billboard chart topper Britney Spears had in her career, it continues her streak of making blatantly sexual tracks to titillate audiences who find her attractive and offend those who claim that she's ruining pop culture but really isn't. The song sparked massive controversy due to its reference to Peter Paul and Mary in the chorus due to it coming out right after Mary from the folk trio tragically passed away.
This was the final hit that Madonna has had in her career, maybe she can make a comeback given how stranger things have happened in the music industry since this song came out, but I very much doubt it given how she's been pandering to meme culture in recent years. Indeed, I get the feeling this is more of a JT track who foolishly took a one-off payment from the song in exchange for Madonna keeping all of its royalties.
This song was reportedly inspired by the reality series of the same name, in fact Beyonce was supposedly watching the show when she decided to theme a breakup anthem around the show which resulted in the song's creation for the album of the same name. It was a massive hit for the trio upon its initial release, in fact I'm surprised it wasn't a bigger hit here in Australia given its status as a feminist anthem.
This was the first hit that Gym class heroes had in their career, mainly due to it sampling "Breakfast in America" from Supertramp likely to help them establish a fanbase through the nostalgia circuit that was becoming increasingly popular around the time the digital age began taking over the mainstream worldwide. Lyrically this makes sense given how both songs are about the narrator finding their girlfriend to be mediocre for them.
Following the success she had with her debut album internationally, Kelly Clarkson was commissioned by Disney to write a theme song for Princess diaries 2 which would go on to serve as the lead single to the album of the same name that would become her biggest in her career. The film was poorly received even by fans of the original for being a cliched mess that wasn't even based on the books the original was an adaptation of.
It looked like Matchbox 20 going to just be an album band here in Australia given how "Bent" underperformed here despite it being a Billboard chart topper for them the previous year, however that wasn't the case as the second single from their sophomore album did become a genuine hit here in Australia albeit from the lower half of the charts which is why it isn't appearing any higher on this list.
This is a song that had a bit of minor controversy upon its initial release as it sampled "Wanna be starting something" from MJ, the problem is that song originally sampled "Soul Makossa" meaning that Rihanna had no legal right to sample the Thriller track for this song even though MJ gave her his blessing to do so. I'm guessing it was due to this legal dispute that this song was a massive hit for her here in Australia and indeed throughout the rest of the world.
This was the first big hit that Lil Wayne had here in Australia (I don't count his verse on "Soldier" as I never heard that on the radio back in the day) it was a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Kevin Rudolf which was such a success for them that it convinced him to become a rock star which even his diehard fans will tell you was a terrible idea. Kevin also had success here with the likes of Brian McFadden and Jay Sean.
This was the first big hit that Pitbull had in his career, he had previously attempted to make it big with the Crunk scene earlier in the decade to little avail, so he decided to reinvent himself as a club artist where he had much more longevity in the mainstream. This is another artist that I'm not particularly a fan of, mainly for the reasons most people aren't as he never struck me as an interesting rapper.
This was a bit of a mini comeback for Lady gaga from her debut album as it was the first song of hers to have an accompanying music video which went on to overshadow the song itself, in this case it was due to her going over the top with the visuals as she went out of her way to depict the paparazzi as both glamourous and villainous as she could possibly get away with which connected with audiences.
This was the solo debut for Fergie, it's a song that's infamous due to how abrasive it is as well as the "oh shits" played throughout the track which of course was censored to "oh snap" for the radio. If you can believe this, it was her first Billboard chart topper as none of her songs with BEP made it to number one in her native America prior to this coming out, although at least she scored three chart toppers with them after this.
Following the mixed reception of her third album My December, Kelly Clarkson found herself needing to conform to what her management wanted rather than making the music she believed in which resulted in her becoming a solo version of the Veronicas on her fourth album. Now I'm a huge fan of the Australian duo, so this isn't a bad thing to me even though many people felt that this was.
This served as not only the lead single to J-Lo's second album, but also as the theme for her film the Wedding planner which co-stars Matthew McConaughey as her love interest. It was panned by critics mainly for the writing as not even the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman could make the story of the film work, indeed it's best that this song remains the lead single to an album and nothing more.
For whatever reason, "Behind these hazel eyes" was a massive commercial disappointment here in Australia despite how well I remember hearing that song on the radio back in the day. Fortunately, the fourth single from Breakaway was a massive hit for Kelly Clarkson due to it being about her dealing with her parents' divorce and how it left her emotionally scarred growing up.
This was the only hit for both people involved on this track here in Australia, although both of them were much more popular in America given how Fabolous scored a bunch of hits on Billboard whilst Tamia was a popular choice for a guest vocalist on other people's tracks over there. As with most tracks with a male rapper and female singer, this was a "thugs need love too" anthem that was popular back in the day.
This was the only hit that Ja Rule had from his album the Last temptation in his native America, I'm guessing it was mainly for the video which is an homage to the final song sequent from Grease only with Ja Rule as Danny and Ashanti as Sandy (this was a good year for musicians of colour taking on roles originally done by Caucasian actors.) It's also the second "thugs need love too" ballad from the pair in question.
It appears we Aussies also had a bit of love for Daughtry back in the day even if it pales in comparison to the love the kiwis and his fellow Americans gave him, admittedly this makes the list due to its refusal to die on our digital charts much like all the new entries on here.
This was another two for one deal from Nelly here in Australia (apologies for the lack of album art for "Flap your wings") as this serves as the lead single to his two albums Suit and Sweat which showcase two sides of the rapper from around this time. I remember "My place" being the big hit from around this time, although "Flap your wings" also remains fondly remembered to this day by his fans.
It looked like Shakira would be a one album wonder as her second album in English failed to catch on in the English-speaking market, however this bonus track from the album released this year saved the album likely due to it being a song about Shakira's Columbian heritage complete with production and vocals from Wyclef Jean. It was a huge hit back in the day and likely would've been even bigger if it were released now.
Now I know I should think this cover is awful especially since I'm a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac, however anything that makes me think of the band and especially Stevie Nicks is a win in my book which means this cover is fine with me. It was a surprise hit for the Dixie chicks given how they were on the cusp of getting cancelled when it was released due to them dissing the (then) current president.
This is another song that managed to become a massive hit in NZ despite never been given a release here in Australia, this time it's the third single from Avril Lavigne's debut album which remains one of her most popular tracks in her catalogue due to how vulnerable it portrays her as without coming off as too sappy and sentimental. This would sadly be her final hit over there until "Girlfriend" from her third album.
This was the biggest hit that T-Pain had as a lead artist in NZ, likely because it has Akon singing along with him about how they both have the hots for a female bartender which obviously amused the kiwis enough to make it a hit over there. This didn't even chart here in Australia despite the popularity of Akon at the time, although I get the feeling it would've had it been released later in the decade.
It's easy to think that Jessica Simpson came from Disney much like Britney and Christina, however she was a teen idol that had no such affiliation with the House of mouse and was instead looking to make it big during the height of the teen pop era of music. She was off to a good start with her debut single as it showcases how much of a powerhouse she was as a vocalist, rivalling that of Christina at her best.
Now if I were going by the ARIA charts, this song would be much lower on this list as this lead single to Beyonce's first (and to date only) album as her alter ego Sasha Fierce wasn't nearly as successful here in Australia according to those charts, however I'm using the AMR charts for these rankings where this was bundle with "Single ladies" which allowed both songs to be a massive success here as a result.
Apparently, this song was meant to be an endorsement for the hotel chain, however they were so unimpressed with this endorsement that they insisted on Chingy altering the name of the track so as to not have a direct affiliation with their brand. Here he recruits Snoop Dogg and Ludacris who are two rappers who are quite known for taking on any project for the pay check which likely led to the hotel's lack of flattery.
This is the last song from Lady Gaga which didn't have an over-the-top music video, sure you can make the argument that all of her videos are somewhat over the top, however at least her first four videos only had erratic choreography at worst and took place in relevantly normal situations. It's a bit of a missed opportunity that this didn't have her trademark imagery given the subject matter of the song.
This was another hit to come from a Jamaican artist this decade here in Australia but not over in NZ, I guess the kiwis had finally grown tired of reggae music after three decades of embracing it throughout the twentieth century. In any case, we have this one and only hit from Kevin Lyttle which can be taken the wrong way as a song about forcing a romance due to the lyrics but has rarely been taken as such due to how catchy it is.
It appears we Aussies were starting to become fed up with Kanye West by the end of the decade as we didn't gravitate towards his 808's and heartbreaks album like the rest of the world did, that said he did score a sleeper hit with its lead single here even if that was the full extent of its success down under.
Well, this is certainly something different from Alecea Moore AKA P!nk, she would become known as a pop rock chick as early as her second album and yet here we are with her second single from an album which is more in the RNB genre. Although I and many others still have love for her early work, she's since disowned her debut album as she admitted to being forced to make it by her management.
This was the final hit single that Celine Dion was able to score in her career in most parts of the world, mainly due to it being the perfect book end to a highly successful decade as this serves as the lead single to her pseudo greatest hits package All the way a decade of song that also has enough new tracks to qualify for a studio album. I guess she could've had more success if she didn't embarrass herself at Vegas in 2002.
You may be forgiven into thinking that Nina Sky was a solo project, it's actually comprised of twin sisters who present themselves as a single person in a similar vein to the Veronicas from later in the decade. This was a massive worldwide hit for the girls and one I remember hearing quite a bit back in the day, making its failure in Australia all the stranger to me as the song did chart over here this year.
This is the second song from JT to address his failed relationship with Britney Spears, although this one seems much more caustic than "Cry me a river" mainly because it came out during the height of her meltdown which (in my opinion) says a lot about the type of person he really is in retrospect. I guess if you divorce the context of what this song is about, it's easy to see how this was a huge success from him back in the day.
This was the first of a string of hits that Ja Rule managed to achieve here in Australia, I think it's due to him having a bunch of features on his songs (in this case RNB singer Case) who usually bring him a catchy chorus to connect his verses with. In this sense, he was the predecessor to Flo Rida as that's exactly what the follow east coast rapper did once the hits for this guy dried up.
You know I was once a naive young child who thought this song was literally about making milkshakes, yeah it turns out this song is much raunchier than that the video would have you believe. All I'll say is that the clue comes from where milk tends to come from and the line "I can teach you, but I'd have to charge" and let my readers figure out the rest from there. It was a massive hit here in Australia likely due to us Aussies instantly figuring out the true meaning of the song and feeling titillated by it.
This was the first big hit that the Black-Eyed Peas had in most parts of the world, likely due to the inclusion of Justin Timberlake on the chorus as well as it being their first single where they included Fergie as an official member of the group. The song is also one of their rare conscious hip hop tracks given how it's about the racial injustice of the world and them pleading for there to be racial harmony.
This was supposed to be the song which confirmed J-Lo as someone who was down to earth and not a spoilt rich diva, I guess it's safe to say that she's long given up on this endeavour as there is countless evidence to support the fact that she is a toxic celebrity who only ever thinks of herself in recent years. None of this stopped the song from being a huge success for her back in the day, likely due to how bouncy it is.
This was about as equally successful as "Right thurr" from the previous year regardless of where in the world you're from, this means that audiences wanted to hear Chingy rap about him being romantic to someone he's interested in as much as whatever his debut single was supposed to be about. He had to more hits in his catalogue (one of which is still to come) before people became bored of his music.
The best way I can describe these guys is if Good Charlotte were from Canada, actually that's not fair as these guys were more in line with nu metal with their earlier material and only shifted towards emo rock with the album this serves as the lead single for. It was their first hit outside of their native Canada likely due to the similarities they had with Good Charlotte at the time much to the chagrin of their longtime fans.
Like many people over the years, I always found Macy Grey to be a rather odd vocalist as her dry vocals never sat very well with me. Of course, that puts me and her critics in the minority as this debut single of hers managed to be a huge success worldwide because of these vocals connecting with her fanbase. This was her only hit here in Australia, although the album it came from was a huge success.
The original version of this track was a massive flop worldwide for Kid Cudi, likely because of how unconventional it was even for the realms of emo rap. It was given a second chance this year when a group by the name of Crookers remixed the track to be more commercially viable where it became a massive hit for him here in Australia and his native America.
This was the only hit to come from Samantha Mumba worldwide, although she did score a second hit in her native UK with "Body II body" which is a song that sampled "Ashes to ashes" by David Bowie on its twentieth anniversary. Here she is with an RNB jam about how she was in love with someone and her confessing her love to that person, it's a topic universally relatable so much so that it was a hit in America as well.
This was the second of only three hits that Ne-yo managed to achieve here in Australia, likely because of how catchy the song is compared to most of his other tracks which were RNB ballads. He of course had much more success over in NZ and especially his native America, and to be fair he did have other hits here as a featured artist for the likes of Pitbull and Rihanna.
It feels weird that the one hit that Christina Milian has in NZ and her native America would be one that wasn't as such here in Australia, although at least it was a hit for her in the UK like the rest of her discography this decade. Here we have a sex jam from the RNB singer similar to Beyonce's "Naughty girl" which was far less popular over there than it was over here (we'll still be looking at it in a bit.)
This is the last hit that everyone involved with this track had here in Australia, although in their native America, R Kelly would have one more hit with "Same girl" with Usher later in the decade. I guess the controversial RNB singer was added to the track to help break up the monotony of this being the third collaboration between Ja Rule and Ashanti as it's yet another "thugs need love too" anthem the pair made.
It appears that Christina Aguilera had always wanted to make a throwback album to the forties and that her collaboration with Nelly on "Tilt ya head back" wasn't a fluke in that regard, as such we have the lead single to her third album which was a good indicator of what was to come on that album as it indeed attempts to be a throwback to the music that audiences were listening to in the first half of the twentieth century.
It seems strange that the first international hit that Fall out boy has would be a song about them being unhappy with being seen as an emo band, although many people (me included) dislike this song more for it being the type of emo rock that would appeal to the Emos of the day which makes this song all the more ironic given how that was likely the crowd that made this a massive success for the band.
This is often considered the best song to come from JT given how it airs out his dirty laundry with Britney Spears as it was recorded not long after their breakup, I won't go into the details of what drove them apart except by mentioning that it involved her hooking up with Wade Robson while she was dating Justin. It was the weakest selling single on the album at the time, although time has made it more popular over the years.
Although T-Pain found massive success in his native America with "I'm sprung" from the previous year, it was this single with unknown rapper Mike Jones where he achieved massive success in NZ thanks to it displaying his trademark sense of humour as well as him pushing the boundaries of how to use autotune to enhance one's performance rather than have it simply cover up for vocal deficiencies like many less talented vocalists of the moment.
I'm guessing this was meant to be the Oscar winning ballad from the Hannah Montana film, it was a massive hit for Miley Cyrus after all and was used in the film as her way of stepping away from the Hannah Montana persona and being herself. Unfortunately, the film was very poorly received for its cliched story line and worse than usual acting from its cast, particularly Cyrus who clearly didn't want to be in it.
If you're wondering why there was a huge gap between this and "What a girl wants" (which we'll get to in a bit) that's because there was a song released between these two Billboard chart toppers called "I turn to you" which was a massive flop worldwide for the (then) Disney star. I'm guessing this was chosen as the fourth single from her debut album to showcase what a powerhouse of a vocalist she is.
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