UK charts 00's

I thought we'd take a look at the UK charts from the 00's on this site, mainly so I can feature more alternate art on this site given how I've become a sucker for doing so lately. Again I'll update this list with original commentary when I find my muse as I've still had a bit of creater burnout lately.

This is one of only two hits that the Kings of Leon had in the mainstream, in Australia at least this was because of heavy promotion of their album Only by the night on Triple J which became the stations album of the year in 2008. This was a massive flop in their native America for some reason, it's even more curious it bombed on Billboard considering the second single from the album was a huge hit over there.

For a little while, this second single from the Black-Eyed Peas was the biggest hit of all time not just in Australia but throughout the entire world, this is mainly due to its refusal to die on the charts which is an early sign of two things. First was of course the club boom which would explode going into the new decade, and the second was how the internet refused to allow songs to completely fall off the charts.

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.

Rihanna certainly had success prior to this lead single to her third album, however it was the theme of friendship in the lyrics that allowed audiences to make this an inescapable hit and that she was in it for the long haul which wasn't a certainty prior to the song's release. Apparently, people have misinterpreted the song to be about sex, I guess I can see that although I won't burden my readers with that thought process.

For the longest time, this was Lady Gaga's biggest hit given how it remains her most iconic work to this day. Of course, her biggest hit is now "Shallow" from a decade later, but that was more due to it rebounding on the charts due to it winning an Oscar for the pop star. There's an urban legend that the chorus actually goes "fu fu f**k her face" as opposed to "po po poker face" which perhaps is why this remains her most iconic work to this day.

Although Sam Sparro is an Australian artist, he initially found success in the UK with this EDM track before it crossed over down under for him likely due to him being stationed over there during this phase of his career. It's a song whose popularity came from its quirky music video, meaning that it hasn't had much of a legacy as even back then, it was a rather tame video compared to its competition.

This was the other big hit that Kings of Leon had from their album Only by the night, it was also their one and only hit in their native America albeit months after it was a success internationally for the alternative band. I'm not sure why they weren't able to retain their popularity going into the new decade even in places like Australia where rock music still has its place in the mainstream.

This is one of those songs that many people feel is one of the worst of the decade, I can't say I disagree mainly because I don't have a lot of patience for songs that are about forced positivity which this song exemplifies. Still, enough people back in the day were touched by Daniel's reassurance that things will get better that it was a massive worldwide hit for him, heck it even topped the Billboard charts the following year.

I'm not sure if this song would've been as big as it was were it not "presented" by Timbaland for OneRepublic, however it did become a massive worldwide hit for the band regardless as it was not only produced by him but was also included on his solo album for some reason. The band would have several spikes in popularity over the years given how slow their recording output has been.

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 was the first of only two hit singles that Timbaland achieved as a lead artist here in Australia, the other was with Katy Perry at the start of the new decade which seems to be the opposite of this track with Keri Hilson as that song is about a post breakup while this was about two people hooking up with each other. This was Keri's only hit here, although she had much more success over in NZ and her native America.

This is where it all began for Lady Gaga, given how she would explode in the music scene with how quirky and some would say bizarre her music and especially videos would get, this debut of hers seems rather tame and ordinary compared to what was to come. This took its sweet time in finding success in her native America as her earlier entry had already topped the charts worldwide before this made it on Billboard.

This is another contender for the worst song of the decade according to the internet (no arguments from me) largely thanks to the lyrics being much creepier than you would otherwise expect as well as James Blunt's performance being highly irritating to many listeners. It was also the first Billboard chart topper to not come from an American, Canadian or Jamaican artist since Savage Garden from the start of the decade.

There were no signs of Lady Gaga slowing down exiting the 00's given how this lead single to her E.P The fame monster managed to be a huge success for her worldwide, it was a sign that she would be the biggest pop star of the 2010's much like her obvious influence Madonna was throughout the 80's and 90's.

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.

This is one of those ironic songs where the melody is upbeat and happy, but the lyrics are actually about a relationship being on its last legs as Andre 3000 sings about the woes of his love life. It was the lead single to the duo's double album which actually comprises of two solo albums where the duo eased fans into the fact that they were thinking of splitting up which is what happened later in the decade.

Leona Lewis was the winner of the 2005 season of X factor UK, although her debut album failed to make any waves outside of the UK likely due to international audiences finding it too dull to have any merit to it (that's how I feel about her entire discography I'm afraid, but I digress.) She won a massive international audience with the lead single to her second album, heck it even became a Billboard chart topper for her.

Say what you will about "Take me there" by Blackstreet, at least it was an appropriate theme song to the first theatrical Rugrats film which is more than I can say about this track from the Baha men which serves as the theme song to the second theatrical film. The song is about how the group (who refer to themselves as dogs) are on the prowl for sex, and yet this was used in a kid's film which launched them into popularity.

It's easy to forget that this was the theme song to Step up 2, a dance flick that I'm sure many have forgotten about since the series was never a critical darling and seemed to serve as little more than a platform for Channing Tatum to become a Hollywood star. It appears we Aussies were a bit slow in making this a phenomenon like it was worldwide given how it wasn't even released until this year despite it already being a success the previous year internationally.

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 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.

This was the theme to Eminem's autobiographical film about his rise to the height of his popularity, it was released during the album cycle of his biggest and (in my opinion) best album the Eminem show where it dominated the charts worldwide due to how big it became in the rap scene. It was also the first hip hop number to win an academy award due to how it resonated with audiences back in the day.

This was one of only two hits that Atomic Kitten had here in Australia, I'm guessing because we Aussies weren't that interested in the UK pop scene as you've likely noticed a lack of British artists on these lists so far compared to our local scene and American artists. Still, they were quite big in NZ and their native UK given how they managed to score multiple hits in those countries with this type of ballad.

This is one of those songs whose sole purpose is to shock an offend audiences, personally I don't find this song offensive as it's little more than Katy admitting to experimenting with her sexuality (although I'll admit that it's one of the more annoying songs of the decade.) This became the first of many of her hits worldwide likely due to audiences being shocked and offended by this track.

This was the first of three big hits that Mika was able to achieve from his debut album worldwide, not bad for an artist who was widely criticised at the time for being a childish caricature of a teen idol by those who didn't realise that was the appeal of his music (not that I blame his naysayers if I'm being honest.) This was a song about how showbusiness tends to screw up celebrities no matter how well adored they are.

While this wasn't a mainstream success for Duffy here in Australia like it was in NZ and her native UK, this did last for quite some time on the lower half of our charts due to how big her album was during the last stretch of the decade.

There are multiple reasons why this cover of the Bruce Channel classic was a hit in Australia this year, firstly it was due to it being selected as the theme for this year's FIFA world cup which kept up the tradition that Ricky Martin began four years prior with "The cup of life." The second reason was that it had multiple music videos including a cartoon video with the Austrian DJ performing the song live, the final was that this was a good year for remixes of older songs on our charts.

This was the last hit that both artists had in most parts of the world, although I doubt most people remember that Nelly Furtado had a hit after her second album Loose given how she all but faded into obscurity once that album cycle had completed two years prior. James Morrison on the other hand only managed one more hit in his career with either this lead single to his second album or with "I won't let you go" here in Australia.

Whereas his debut single from the previous year was a fast tempo track about getting over a bad breakup, this other big hit that Daniel Bedingfield had worldwide is a slow ballad about hanging onto a bad relationship which means his two big hits are the polar opposite of one another. This was more of a sleeper hit here in Australia, hence its lower placement on this list compared to his other entry.

This is apparently a remix of an earlier track on Basshunter's catalogue known as "Boten Anna," a song sung in Swedish about a girl named Anna that was translated into English for this version a year after its initial release. It became a massive worldwide hit for the Swedish producer, although it didn't even chart here in Australia for reasons I can't seem to fathom.

Well, if you ever wanted to hear what the Macarena would sound like if it were written and performed by women, then you're in luck because that's the best way to describe this track from the Spanish trio Las Ketchup who scored a massive worldwide hit with this track that seems to be recorded in Spanish, English and Portuguese and even comes with some random words that aren't from any language.

This was the only hit that the Scissor sisters managed to have here in Australia, although considering they named themselves after a sexual act often used between two women, it's impressive they had any success in the mainstream at all anywhere in the world. Then again, it seemed like it was impossible for this to fail given how it's a throwback to the 70's disco (particularly in the style of Leo Sayer) which was all the rage at the time.

This took its sweet time in finding success here in Australia, this is because it wasn't promoted on our digital stores until the start of this year despite coming from an album that was released in 2005 (much like the previous entry.) In any case, we have this second single from the Fray which is about the narrator coming to grips with him losing a friend to depression and how he could've prevented that from happening.

This was the lead single to BEP's third album with Fergie, it's a song that's meant to get the party started given how it was one of the first songs to make it big during the club boom of the late 00's and throughout the 2010's. I guess it succeeded as this was a massive hit for the quartet, although it was heavily criticised for being little more than scraps of other songs thrown together by the band.

It seemed like Anastacia would be a one album wonder given how her second album was a massive flop throughout the world, that wasn't the case given how her third album was a big comeback for her in Australia and throughout Europe largely thanks to its lead single which blended gospel with pop rock in a way that no one had done around this time. It proved to be a massive hit here in Australia more than anywhere else.

This is a song I want to like but don't because of Akon's chanting throughout the track, I'm obviously in the minority here as this remains Gwen's biggest solo hit and arguably her biggest hit overall given that its popularity rivals that of "Don't speak" from a decade prior down under. She would have one more hit after this before fading into obscurity as a solo artist, although she did reform No doubt in 2012.

As it turns out, there is a version of this track that's just has Alicia Keys on it known as "Empire state of mind II" meaning that this likely would've been a hit for her even without Jay Z commissioning her to provide him a chorus to how much he's proud of being from the east coast. This would be the rappers last hit outside his native America, although Alicia would have one more hit with "Girl on fire" in 2012.

In case you were wondering, this is indeed a remix of a track from R Kelly's album Chocolate factory that he released due to the song having some of the stranger lyrics in his catalogue. Somehow, the troubled RNB singer (I won't go into why that is on this site) is a two-hit wonder here in Australia with this remix and one other song on this list as none of his other songs managed to become a hit like they did internationally.

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 was technically a hit twice in Australia, the first time was upon its initial release which was inevitable as this was during the height of Katy Perry's worldwide popularity. The second time was when the reality show MasterChef premiered early in 2009 which chose this as its theme song and thus kept it on the charts longer than it otherwise would've been.

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 the debut single for the Pussycat dolls, a former burlesque troupe turned girl band who scored massive success with this track where even upon its initial release I remembered being widely mocked for how overconfident the lyrics are. I'm not that familiar with the Busta Rhymes feature as they never played it on the radio back in the day, I'm guessing to promote the song as a sexual fantasy for those attracted to the band members would have.

This is the one and only hit from the RNB duo Gnarls Barkley, a duo best known for its member Cee Lo Green who had a huge solo hit with "F U" in 2010 and for appearing as the Mummy in the Hotel Transylvania franchise (and a bunch of social media posts I won't get into here.) This feels like a throwback to the 70's which how rich the soul sound is even compared to the songs that inspired it.

This was the one and only hit from the Plain white T's, an American band who originally released this track the previous year to deafening silence only for it to pick up momentum this year for whatever reason. I guess it was popular due to the indie sphere becoming more mainstream now that the digital storefront was supporting music that wasn't centred around reality TV.

There were no signs of the Black-Eyed Peas slowing down exiting the 00's as this was their third huge hit in a row in most parts of the world, it's also considered to be one of their best songs as it's mostly a tender duet between Fergie and the other members as opposed to her being snarky towards them on their other tracks where she was the focal point of the group.

This was Fergie's biggest solo hit from her solo album, it's a song that showcases her talents as a vocalist which is perhaps why it remains her biggest hit despite it being far from the first song you think of when going over her catalogue. I guess if she had of released this as the lead single from the Dutchess then it would've not only been even bigger (if that was at all possible) but also a signature track in her catalogue.

This is one of the first hits to make it big thanks to the power of the internet, specifically how Scottish singer Sandi Thom uploaded this track she recorded in her bedroom to her Myspace account (remember when that was a thing?) which attracted the attention of her eventual management. It was a huge success here in Australia likely due to it being a love letter to how much she loved both punk rock and hippy culture of the 70's.

This was one of only three hits that Jordin Sparks had here in Australia, although here she required the assistance of Chris Brown of all people to have a huge hit despite her already being successful with her victory single from American idol here (which is still to come on this list.) She was one of the rare contestants on American idol to find international success among the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Adam Lambert.

This was the first of two new entries to come from the deluxe edition of Good girl gone bad, an album that was already successful by this point but continued to be as such due to these two songs. Here we have Rihanna sing about how she was the fool in the relationship she was in and that her partner should "take a bow" at how they treated her, somehow, I get the feeling this song resonated more with her the following year.

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.

This was the other big hit that Rihanna had from the deluxe edition of Good girl gone bad, it has a horror element to it likely to compliment the music video which seems to have been inspired by the industrial rock of the 90's. This would be the last hit that she would have before she would have a major falling out with Chris Brown over something that I won't get into on this list.

Does anyone even remember the film, Loser? True to its title, the film follows two teenagers who feel like outcasts in the world and eventually find and fall in love with each other. The theme song from American band Wheatus basically describes the plot of the film in the lyrics, which I'm guessing is why it managed to be more popular even at the time than the film was as it contained its premise in a short amount of time.

This was the only hit to come from Gabriella Cilmi, I'm guessing for a number of reasons given how much of an overnight sensation the Australian teenage singer was with this song worldwide. The first reason was that this is a song that seemed destined to come from a one hit wonder even though her album was a huge hit for her, the second was her being drunk at the 2008 ARIA awards despite being underage.

Given how Eminem was at the height of his popularity this year, it only seems fitting that a protegee of his would find massive success worldwide which was the case for Curtis Jackson AKA 50 cent. Here we have his club banger which became a massive success for the east coast rapper (despite it being produced by Dr Dre) which led to him having massive success from the album it came from.

This was not only the second single from Nelly's sophomore album Nellyville, but also confusingly the lead single to Kelly Rowland's solo debut Simply deep which is weird because she doesn't contribute much to the song as it's mainly from Nelly's perspective. The dilemma in question is that Nelly is in love with Kelly, but Kelly is currently in a relationship even though she also has feelings for him.

This is one of those songs that people mistake the meaning of what appears to be a song about lying to cover up getting caught cheating turns out to be a song denouncing these types of tracks in the third verse. The complaint people have about this track nowadays is that they consider it false advertising, after all, the featured artist Rikrok has far more presence on here than Shaggy does.

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.

Although these guys had earlier singles and even albums in their native Canada, this was the song which introduced the world to what many regard as one of the worst bands to come from the new millennium. I personally feel these guys get too much hate as there's certainly worse bands and artists out there, although I can't help but notice how much quicker we Aussies were into making this a hit than the rest of the world.

There were no signs of Akon slowing down even here in Australia where he was considerably less successful than the rest of the world, heck this lead single to his second album proved to be more successful here than in most parts of the world likely due to the presence of Eminem who reduced himself to the odd guest verse during his hiatus from recording a new album throughout the second half of the decade.

If you ever wondered why the lyrics on this breakthrough single from Shakira were strange, that's because it's an English version of a song that was popular in the Spanish speaking parts of the world that was given a one for one translation of the lyrics. This didn't prevent this song from being a massive hit for the Columbian star worldwide as it introduced her to a wider audience.

This is the other big hit that Dizzee rascal had here in Australia, although this time he teams up with Calvin Harris who managed to score his first hit not just as the producer but also as a featured artist who provide the chorus for the British rapper. Needless to say, that Calvin was the one who benefitted the most from this collaboration.

Well, the title of this song has become toxic to the music industry these days, hasn't it? Prior to being the name of a social media site that's forever going to be blamed for the decline in the music industry, it was the title of Kesha's debut single (as a lead artist that is) which was another example of how big the club boom was even in its infancy given how it was a huge hit during the transition from the 00's to the 2010's.

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.

You may be surprised to learn that Kid rock is a one hit wonder outside of his native America with this track, I'm guessing it was only a hit for him internationally due to audiences feeling nostalgia for both "Sweet home Alabama" and "Werewolves of London" which this track samples both of throughout its runtime. Even though I and many others only know him for this one track (and also his personal antics due to constantly being on the news) he was much more popular on the Billboard charts.

The legends are true people, there was a remix of the Beverly Hills cop theme that was a massive hit during the midpoint of the 00's from a CGI frog (although it looks more like an alien to me) complete with a video that even acknowledges how annoying this song is by having it be chased down by robots looking to destroy him. I guess if you're into memes from early YouTube videos then this is the song and video for you.

Although these guys did have minor success earlier in the decade with their debut album, it was this lead single to their second album which made them an international household name likely due to the endorsement of De la soul who provide a guest verse on certain versions of this track (that admittedly I'm unfamiliar with to this day.) It even allowed the band to crossover to America due to how funky it is.

You thought I forgot about this track, didn't you? It turns out we Aussies were slow in making this a success for DeAndre Way AKA Soulja boy likely due to it being arguably the song that started the trend of allowing a meme to become a massive worldwide hit on the music charts that wasn't made by a music exec (that is, a viral hit not from the likes of Crazy frog and its countless knockoffs) only to allow this phenomenon to happen this year on our charts.

There are two versions of this track that contributed to its success, there's the original which was a solo venture from Blu Cantrell where she fancied herself a rapper to try and convey the guy's perspective of this song about them falling out with each other. This version didn't go over very well likely due to her cosplaying as her partner, so a remix was commissioned with Sean Paul proving new verses which was much better received.

Surprised to see this meme fest so low on this list? The reason why isn't because it wasn't popular here in Australia, but rather because it was one of the many victims of Sony tampering with their release schedule and audiences rushing to buy the song upon its initial release and not allowing it to stick around to accurately reflect its popularity here. At least the response track this inspired was also a huge hit here.

It may surprise you to learn that the song this remixes "Valerie" wasn't a hit anywhere in the world back in the day (not even the popular remix five years after its initial release that you still hear on oldies stations) which means this was likely many people's introduction to that classic given how popular this version was for the Swedish DJ.

I remember this being bigger than it would up being here back in the day, then again it was one of the biggest hits of the decade in Daniel's native UK so perhaps this was one of those songs that was overhyped here at the time of its release. Daniel would only have two hits outside of his homeland with the other one being "If you're not the one" from the following year.

This is a song that I'm going to have a hard time being nice to, mainly because there have been so many jokes about it over the years that I've found amusing that perfectly sum up my and other people's problems with it (the only one I'll repeat is "someone please tell this woman what her name is so that she'll go away.") It was a huge international success for the British duo likely through ironic enjoyment.

While this was a modest success for everyone involved upon its initial release here in Australia, it manages to stick around for quite some time on the lower half of our charts due to the success of Timbaland’s earlier entries on this keeping his name alive in our music scene.

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.

Also known as "Sexy chick" which was the version that played on the radio, this is a collaboration between French DJ David Guetta and Akon which became a massive worldwide hit for the two likely due to it being one of those songs that's so ridiculous that it's impossible to take seriously. Now that's not to say that I like this song because I certainly don't, however I can see why people enjoy this albeit ironically.

To think this was originally commissioned for the terrible (in my opinion at least) film adaptation of the Daredevil comics starring Ben Affleck, specifically for the scene where Elektra Natchios (played by Jennifer Garner) is training in her mansion with sandbags. At least the song was effective in the scene it was used in as it single handedly launched Evanescence into the mainstream as their debut single.

This was all set to become another flop for Enrique Iglesias given how it had such a slow climb to the top of the charts worldwide, however it received a sudden boost when it was chosen as the unofficial theme song to the 9/11 attacks as it would play over news coverage of the aftermath of the disaster. This allowed the album it serves as the lead single for to become a massive success for the Latin crooner.

This was the final hit that S club 7 managed to score outside their native UK, it was hailed as their "coolest yet" thanks to it having a rap verse during a time where a rap verse from a non-rapper was still considered a selling point. The song is also known as the band's one and only foray into disco as they were clearly cashing in on 70's nostalgia on this track the same way their other hits were cashing in on 50's nostalgia.

I guess her previous album was a commercial disappointment for Avril Lavigne, so it makes sense that she would go in the complete opposite direction with her third album by appealing to a more mainstream audience like she does with this lead single. Naturally this was a success given that it was released during a time where high school drama was all the rage in the mainstream, and this would be the perfect soundtrack to those situations.

This was the only hit that Danish duo Junior senior was able to achieve here in Australia given how incessantly catchy the song remains to this day, indeed it was due to its catchiness that it found itself in just about every commercial you can think of which only lengthened its presence on our charts long after its initial release here.

This seems like it was made for the club boom about twelve months prior to when it officially launched by the end of the decade, as such it wasn't as big a hit for Usher here in Australia as it was internationally where this became almost as big as his earlier entries from the decade.

This is the only other entry that Kanye West will be making as a lead artist on the Australian side of my site, although he'll certainly have more of a presence on the NZ side and he did admittedly rack up a bunch of hits here as a featured artist on other people's songs. Here he scores his biggest hit down under likely due to the song sampling Daft punk's "Harder better faster stronger" for his empowerment anthem.

It turns out Biggie Smalls wasn't a one hit wonder here in Australia after all as he managed to achieve a second posthumous hit here with this posse cut with Diddy, Nelly and Jagged edge. I suppose if 2pac was able to keep scoring hits worldwide from beyond the grave there was no reason his main rival in his lifetime couldn't do the same.