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.
This was more of a hit on our digital charts this year, as such it has the distinction of leading off this bonus part of my list as it likely would've flopped here in Australia had ARIA not incorporated the digital charts onto their main charts. As for the song itself, it's more of Ne-yo's RNB crooning that made him a household name throughout the decade.
This is the final hit that Brandy has had anywhere in the world, mainly because it's a completely different type of song that fans were used to throughout the 90's as it's what's known as a glitch pop track due to the production sounding like it's glitching out during the song. Although it was a hit in certain parts of the world, it was the death nail in her career as her subsequent follow ups flopped.
There were several songs that were delayed this year in order to allow the contestants of Australian idol to reign supreme on our charts, this third single from Evanescence's debut album was one of them and the song that suffered the least from this trend as it managed to be as successful as it would've been were it not for its delay. It's a good thing as it's a haunting ballad from the band showcasing Amy Lee's pain from a breakup.
Ever wanted to hear a dance cover of one of Roxette's most personal ballads? Well, you're in luck as Belgian duo DHT did just that when they released their cover of the 80's classic which became a massive sleeper hit here in Australia upon its initial release. Apparently, there was a stripped back cover of the song as well, that would explain why it rebounded on our charts shortly after its release.
This is the last new entry on this list given how it too failed to make much of an impact on the upper regions of our charts here in Australia, I would say this was due to strong album sales except Michelle’s album was a huge failure here so that's not the case. This almost made the cut for the NZ side of my site, however it spent most of its time in the lower half of their charts much like here in Australia.
These guys were yet another punk rock band that were adored by Triple J but otherwise largely ignored by Australian audiences, that is until this became a hit for them due to the video which lampoons some of the biggest teen pop stars of the late 90's as a way of distancing themselves from the other popular acts on TRL. This was a disturbingly common trend for older artists that regularly appeared on the music program.
Aah comedy rap, when you're funny, you can find an endearing audience that will revisit your track time after time. When you're not (or at least only appeal to a niche audience) you may be popular for a little while like this lead single from D12's second and final album, however you'll eventually fade into obscurity as the general public no longer finds any humour in your track.
This feels like a precursor to "Last Friday night" as both songs have a similar subject matter to each other, although here Katy seems to be more sincere with how her bad behaviour throughout the track seems to have dire consequences on her wellbeing as opposed to the other song being a celebration of it (to say nothing about "This is how we do" from Prism.) It wasn't as big a hit for Katy in Australia, although its success was noticeable.
The last time Snoop Dogg had a hit here in Australia was almost a decade prior with his breakthrough single "What's my name," so to see him return with a song that seems to be respectful towards women as opposed to his other hit which had casual sexism in it (it's not as offensive as you would think) is a bit of a surprise but inevitable given its catchy chorus and production provided by Pharrell Williams.
Much like "How you remind me" two years prior, this song was also a hit here in Australia much sooner than it was over in America given how it managed to be one of the biggest hits of the year down under before it even touched the upper echelons of the Billboard charts. I maintain that these guys were very over hated throughout the decade as while their songs did sound similar to each other, there were far worse songs floating around.
This is the sequel track to a song where the two men have their roles reversed, that is, Ne-yo is the main artist and Plies was the featured rapper. I guess the kiwis wanted to hear Plies as the main artist with this song given how both songs are about wanting a girl to shake her groove thing and that Ne-yo wasn't particularly known for his strip club anthems.
I guess it was only a matter of time before we had a new version of the Fugees make it big in the music industry, enter City high who scored a massive worldwide hit with this track five years after the original trio made it big worldwide. As this was a hip hop track, it was delayed here in Australia by several months before finally being released, and like most songs on this list, it was more popular here than anywhere in the world.
This was a modest sleeper hit for Akon here in Australia, although I am surprised it wasn't more of a mainstream success given how it was just that over in NZ as well as his native America back in the day.
Well, here's a nostalgia bomb for everyone who grew up during the late 90's, we have the breakthrough single for the Italian trio Eiffel 65 as well as one of the first hit singles to incorporate egregious usage of autotune which even at the time seems to have driven people up the wall. Then there's the strange music video complete with the awful CGI used for the aliens.
This will be the only appearance from Avril Lavigne on this list, suffice to say that "Don't tell me" was another victim of Sony tampering with the release schedule of a song in order to allow all of the entries from Australian idol contestants to run rampant on our charts this year. Fortunately, this second single from her sophomore album wasn't affected by this which allowed her to have a hit with this ballad about her angsty breakup with someone.
Given how this song has Akon on the chorus as well as Krayzie Bone having a huge hit the previous year on Chamillionaire's "Riding," it only makes sense that this track from Bone Thugs n Harmony would achieve massive success in NZ this year despite the group not having a hit over there since "Home" from four years prior.
Although this was always intended to be the second single from J-Lo's debut album, the fact that it was marketed as the theme song to the new millennium (despite needing to come out the following year for that to happen) likely helped it become a huge hit for her despite the mediocre reception of her album. Indeed, it looked like her popularity would come to an end after this dropped off the charts, however as we all know, it didn't.
It feels weird that this song underperformed in Australia back in the day, especially considering how inescapable she would go on to be later in the decade given how it was a much bigger hit for her internationally at the time. This was the moment where she began distancing herself from her debut album as this is her admitting that she had to compromise who she was in order to make that album.
I guess the kiwis were massive fans of American Idol this year (this is strange because of Kelly Clarkson's noticeable absence on this list) as such we have the victory single from the runner up of the second season of the show Clay Aiken who decided to bundle it up with a cover of a Simon and Garfunkel classic to boost his chances of having a worldwide smash hit.
It appears Beyonce and Shakira watched the Bette Midler flick Outrageous fortune and wanted to make a song based on that movie's plot of her and Shelley Long falling in love with the same man only to find out he had been lying to both of them (minus the terrorist subplot of course.) The result is this song which was the second single off the former's deluxe edition of her second solo album and a massive worldwide hit for them both.
Even though it was panned by critics, Die another day was still a commercial success around the world due to it being a Bond film that had Halle Berry as the Bond girl. The theme song had more of a mixed reaction as people felt Madonna was a poor choice for a Bond theme, however it was a commercial success for her unlike the album it wound up being included on with failed to produce another hit for her.
This was the big hit that 3oh!3 had that I mentioned from earlier on this list, it was originally uploaded to YouTube the year prior before it was picked up and distributed as a single by a major label who naturally found the song to be hilarious. It appears the world also found this song funny as it became a massive worldwide hit for the duo, although perhaps not as big as their other entry on this list.
Although her earlier entry on this list was her big solo hit here in Australia, I'd be remiss not to mention Sonique's big international hit on this list as it did stick around long enough to qualify for this bonus list of mine. It's little surprise that "Sky" was her bigger hit here given how much stronger her vocals are on that track as opposed to here where they take a back seat to the ambient production.
Although this song has a relatively low placement on this list, this is mainly because it was slightly delayed here in Australia and then released where it became Kylie's biggest hit in her career despite having a relatively short chart run. This was a practice that had ruined the Billboard charts throughout the 90's and would have similar damage to the ARIA charts throughout the 00's.
This is another victim of Sony's insistence of pushing popular songs aside in Australia to make way for Australian idols chart dominance, in this case it was the second single from Britney Spears which I assure you was a massive success here in Australia back in the day despite its low placement on this list. At least this managed to have presence on our charts for the short amount of time that it was available.
This was another RNB track that was released fairly late here in Australia compared to the rest of the world, again it was for the best as it proved to be a bigger hit here for Debelah Morgan than even her native America likely due to it having Latin elements to the track that appeased those who wanted more of the Latin craze down under. She's a one hit wonder with this track which is a shame because she was a good singer.
For a while, this was the final hit that Backstreet boys were able to achieve in most parts of the world given how it's often regarded as the final entry from the boy band wars before they officially came to an end, it's low placement on this list is mainly due to us Aussies wanting to move on from the phenomenon even though I do remember it being everywhere on the radio back then.
This was the title track from Britney's second album, a title that seemed to be her trolling her haters which she had plenty of even this early in her career due to their criticisms of her destroying the music industry with her teen pop (they should wait until the 2010's with how bad things would get in that regard.) The song itself is fun and innocent and was clearly meant for a younger audience who made it a success.
Whereas these guys managed to score two massive hits in NZ back in the day, this was the best that Incubus were able to do here in Australia as this was a huge sleeper hit mainly due to strong airplay as I remember this getting played to hell and back upon its initial release. This is just one more reason why I would love to see how well it did on digital downloads as I feel that would be a more accurate representation of its popularity.
If the vocals on this track seem familiar to you, that's likely due to the fact that this was the one and only hit from the voice actress of Garnet from Steven Universe years prior to being cast in the LGBT Cartoon network series. Here the English vocalist recruits Kanye West to provide her a guest verse for little reason other than to have him be the American boy in question she's singing about.
This is where it all began for Kelly Clarkson outside her native America as this second single from her debut album managed to crossover here in Australia due to its lyrics of a woman (presumably Kelly herself) regretting shutting herself off from affection out of fear of being mistreated. It remains a poignant track to this day and was a hint of what was to come on her subsequent albums.
While it was more of a sleeper hit this year, fans of Brendan Urie will be relieved to know that the debut single from his band Panic! at the disco was a huge success here in Australia which no doubt led to the success of My chemical romance's hit from earlier on this list. They would have a second minor hit with "But it's better if you do" (which won't be appearing on this site) and wouldn't score another for at least a decade.
Also known as the song that introduced the phrase "it's Britney bitch," we have this lead single to Britney's fifth album Breakout which saw a much more provocative side of the (then) troubled pop star following a string of public drama that forced her to be placed into her father's conservative ship (which the less I say about the better.) It was a massive hit for her likely due to fans wanting to support her during what was a dark period of her life.
This was a hit twice here in Australia, the first time was on its initial release and the second was when the album became a success worldwide several months after its initial release. I get the feeling it was this track that finally allowed many of their contemporaries to find success such as Fall out boy and the Fray as there was a sudden rise in tracks like this finding success following its success.
This shares its name with a famous Kelly Clarkson track from her second album Breakaway, although it's worth noting that this is a love ballad rather than a song about how the narrator is messed up because of the way someone treated them which is why you shouldn't confuse the two songs with each other in the slightest. It was an easy hit for Ne-Yo in NZ despite it being a massive flop here in Australia.
This is the lead single to Gwen Stefani's second album the Sweet escape, it was a massive hit upon its initial release despite it instantly garnering criticism for a wide range of reasons from the music video which depicted her as a sexually provocative nun to the sample of "The lonely goatherd" from the Sound of music. These criticisms led to the song not being as successful as the title track from the album.
We've featured several tracks from his ex-wife Jessica Simpson on this site so far, so I guess it was only a matter of time before we got a hit from Nick Lachey here in Australia which came in the form of this lead single from his second solo album. Nick of course was previously known for being a member of the boy band 98° who also didn't have any success here in Australia, that would explain why this was his only hit here.
This is the last hit that Linkin Park has had in their career, mainly because their output in the 2010's has taken many bizarre turns that the mainstream hasn't been able to keep up with (and the less said about their 2017 effort the better.) I guess it's fitting that this theme to the second Transformers film would be the last many would hear from them given how their previous hit in Australia was the theme to the first film.
"Let's get married" was originally released the previous year to deafening silence here in Australia, however it was a moderate success in Jagged Edge's native America due to it being an RNB ballad in the vein of a Boyz II men track from the 90's. It was remixed and rereleased with "Promise" this year where it became an even bigger hit down under than it was in their homeland.
This was the only hit that American singer Amerie was able to achieve not just in Australia but anywhere in the world, I guess she was unable to compete with the likes of Ashanti and Ciara in the realms of female RNB save for this one hit which showcases a provocative side of her that few could ignore. It's a pity that she wasn't bigger because I personally think she had the best voice of these three I mentioned.
Technically this was the first hit that Miley Cyrus had as Miley given how her earlier entry on this list was originally released on her Hannah Montana album before it was later repackaged as her debut single from the real world. This is a song written about her ex-boyfriend Nick Jonas (of the Jonas brothers) which was reportedly inspired by 10 things I hate about you which in turn is a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming of the shrew.
This was the last hit that Beyonce had from her I am Sasha fierce album, it's also one of the last songs she had a hit with that is a love song as she had become a full feminist by this point in her career to appeal to the rising fourth wave of the moment. Even though it was a massive hit internationally, it wasn't as big in her native America likely due to it feeling out of place with her new brand.
I don't think I can say anything positive about this lead single to the Pussycat dolls second and final album, I guess it was a massive hit for the girl group but one I'm sure many people regret due to its lyrics promoting unrealistic expectations for girls to achieve. At least the rest of their catalogue wasn't particularly harmful towards their target audience even if many people (me included) aren't a fan of it.
This was the final hit to come from No doubt before they went their separate ways to allow Gwen Stefani to embark on a solo career, although the real accomplishment this song achieved was it that it allowed people to discover the original from Talk talk as it wasn't a hit anywhere in the world back in the 80's. I don't think the original even appeared on oldies stations until this version became a massive worldwide hit.
Yet another song I'm dumbstruck wasn't more of a mainstream success here in Australia given how vividly I remember this being flogged on our radio; I've avoided bringing up digital piracy with the new entries on this list as the fact they stuck around for quite some time suggests that they were victims of the format change here back in the day. Still, it's hard to come up with another explanation as to why they underperformed.
This is the final hit to come from 50 cent before he became yesterday's news in the realms of hip hop, I think he already was by this stage but still scored a hit due to having JT on the chorus during the height of the RNB singer's own popularity. Nowadays 50 cent is best known for his problematic social media where he constantly says inappropriate things online to further justify him getting cancelled.
This was the third big hit in a row that P!nk was able to score here in Australia, this time it's with a song that's about how she's out with her friends and is getting hit on by a guy that she's clearly not interested in and how she handles the situation. If this sounds familiar to anyone, that's because this very premise was used by Meghan Trainor a decade later with her hit single "No" and was widely ridiculed for how poorly she copied this track.
Although "Stupid girls" was indeed a big hit from P!nk's fourth album I'm not dead (it's still to come on this list) it was this second single from the album that made her a household name here in Australia above anywhere else in the world due to it being a massive success here upon its initial release. This and "U + ur hand" (also still to come) only became a hit in her homeland the following year for some reason.
This is the first of two entries to come from Spanish DJ Sammy who took two tracks from 1985 specifically and made them into dance tracks for the (then) modern generation. Here he scoops up the Bryan Adams track which was already described as one of the cheesiest ballads of the 80's and turns it into a dance track which connected with audiences around the world including in America.
This was the only hit to come from Kelly Clarkson's third album My December, an album that was panned by critics for being too much of an emotional trainwreck as she recorded it without much guidance from her management at the time. I and many others have defended the album for being an honest look at her emotional state at the time, however her label insisted on them having more control over her music after it was released.
It looked like Madonna's career was done for when she released her ill-fated concept album American life in 2003, however she was able to brush over that disaster with her next album which was a throwback album to the disco era starting with this lead single that samples "Gimme gimme gimme" by Abba. It was a massive hit everywhere in the world except her native America where it was only a modest success.
Well, this is a song that showcases a more immature side of Outkast, or at least it does for Andre 3000 as while Big boi is on this track, it's still primarily his song given that it appears on his side of their album. As silly as the lyrics are on the radio edit, the album version is something else as it has an outro of him finding different ways to call his ex a bitch, it's absolutely hilarious and likely why this was a hit.
This was such a commercial disappointment for Beyonce here in Australia, I'm not sure why as this lead single to her second solo album used the same formula as "Crazy in love" right down to it having her future husband Jay-Z on as a guest rapper. I guess her fans wanted her to embrace her feminist side of her music as she would find more success with her feminist (and sometimes misandrist) anthems from here on out.
It seems odd that of all the victory singles to make it big from American idol here in Australia, it would come from Fantasia who never had much success even in her homeland following her victory on the reality series. I guess this was a hit here due to the previous winner Rubben Studdard having success over in NZ the previous year along with the runner up Clay Aiken.
Well, here's that reunion that J-Lo had with LL Cool J that I mentioned the last time we looked at these two together on this site, indeed this was far more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia likely due to the kiwis having more interest in this storyline the two invented with these songs than us Aussies did back in the day.
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