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.
From what I can gather, JoJo was the first artist born in the 90's to have a hit single anywhere in the world, that's impressive considering this is a song about a teenager essentially telling her partner to get out of her life for misleading her in the relationship in one of the cleverest ways possible. She does this by initially making this about how in love she is with them only to quickly turn it into her breaking up with them.
This was both the lead single to Linkin Park's third album Minutes to midnight as well as the theme song to the first Transformers film, it also serves as the turning point with their sound as they moved on from nu metal into alternative rock which would only last for the remainder of the decade before they changed their sound again in 2010. It seems weird that they would recycle this song for "New divide" later in the decade.
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.
Oh look, another song that debuted high on our charts but only became a success due to lingering on the lower half of our charts for quite some time. This time it's the first of two songs Kylie released from her greatest hits package from 2004 which remains the final project she's released to date to find any sort of success, although this does feel like a missing track from her (then) most recent album Body language.
For a little while, it seemed like there was a rush to find the new prince of RNB given how Chris Brown temporarily had that title revoked from him for reasons I won't get into on this list. An early contender for his replacement came from Jay Sean who achieved minor success in his native UK prior to this Billboard chart topper he had thanks to a guest verse from Lil Wayne of all people.
One of the catchiest female empowerment anthems to ever be released, this debut single from Madison Avenue created plenty of international success, so much so that it managed to top both the NZ and UK charts despite it getting stuck behind Eiffel 65's entry from earlier on this list here in Australia. Sadly, the duo ruined their good will at the 2000 ARIA awards when Cheyne Coates appeared to be intoxicated while performing on stage.
This was Christina Milian's only hit here in Australia, although it's worth noting that it wasn't even released as a single in her native America as her debut single "AM to PM" was a massive flop on Billboard for some reason. Both of these songs were much bigger in the UK which allowed this to be a massive success down under and the other track to be a sleeper hit thanks to her rich vocals on both tracks.
You may be forgiven into thinking that this is a song explicitly about 9/11 given how the music video depicts a relationship which ends where a guy ends up fighting in Iraq, however it was actually about Billie Joe Armstrong has to cope with the death of his father every year which happened in September when he was a child. I guess he didn't want to make the ballad too personal when he released it as a single, hence the video.
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.
Given how Nicole Scherzinger was able to revive Diddy's popularity the previous year, it only makes sense that he was score a second hit from around this time with the assistance of Christina Aguilera who was also as the height of her popularity thanks to the success of her album Back to basics.
This was the third and final hit to come from Craig David's debut album in most parts of the world, it's a more standard RNB ballad from Craig as it's him walking out of a toxic relationship and indeed everything making his life worse than what it needs to be. No doubt the success of all of these tracks from his album led to the success of his American counterpart Usher later in the year worldwide.
Baby Spice was always my favourite from the Spice Girls, so it brings me great pleasure in presenting her one and only hit she had in her career away from her friends which sadly wasn't as big here as it was in NZ and throughout Europe. She was the member of the group most affiliated with adult contemporary, which is perhaps why she didn't find as much success as the likes of Ginger and Sporty.
I don't think "He's a dream" gets enough love from the Flashdance soundtrack, American EDM duo Deep dish seemed to agree as they took the track from Shandi and remixed it where it became a massive hit in Australia and the UK over two decades after the film came out. I guess in order to honour its source material, the duo named the remix after the film rather than the original track.
This was another popular EDM track to come from a French producer during the first stretch of the decade, here we have the one and only hit from Supermen lovers who is a sole DJ despite their stage name implying they were a group like Modjo or Daft Punk. I think this song made it big due to the video which depicted Claymation, we haven't seen one of these videos since the 80's on this site.
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.
This was the solo debut single for Justin Timberlake following the demise of his band N sync earlier in the year, it was meant to showcase him as a more mature pop star than his time as a boy band member which is perhaps why it was an instant success for him worldwide upon its initial release. Nowadays it's been overshadowed by the other three singles from the album due to them being more interesting.
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.
There was a theme on Gwen Stefani's album where she was playing with pop cliches of wanting to be rich and famous only to then denounce those desires as she already had everything she wanted in her life at the time, it was very clever for its time and perhaps the real reason why it was a massive success back in the day. This second single from the album is the finest example of that as well as it being her reunion with Eve from earlier in the decade.
One of the biggest girl groups of the 00's in the UK was Girls aloud, I bring this up because they never managed to have a hit anywhere in the world outside of their homeland likely due to being a product of UK reality TV which with few exceptions (such as Adele and 1D) only tend to have hits through association with the shows they were from rather than the quality of their music. It appears the world made an exception for band member Cheryl Cole's solo debut likely due to the presence of Will I am.
This was the first of three collaborations that Ja Rule made with Ashanti throughout the decade, each of them were for a "thugs need love too" ballad where she would provide him a catchy chorus while he spits bars about how much of a player and gangster he is. It appeared to connect with audiences back in the day as the formula did spawn three big hits for the duo not just in Australia but throughout the world.
This is the second single where Robbie Williams is questioning his place in this world, while it isn't as anti-religious as "Better man" was, it does have references to how he feels that God doesn't think much of him throughout the song that makes it somewhat similar to that song. It was a massive hit for him worldwide and likely the reason why his third album this decade was a massive success here in Australia.
This will be the only appearance from one of Michael Bublé's singles on this site, although I do remember hearing this on the radio more so than any of his other songs, so I have no problem believing this was a hit when the likes of "Sway" or "Everything" weren't. Naturally his audience was more inclined to buy his albums which is perhaps why even in the age of digital downloads, he hasn't had any other hits.
This gospel track from the sister duo Mary Mary was a massive flop in their native America, I'm not sure why as it was a massive hit for them everywhere else in the world including here in Australia where gospel music usually doesn't do so well as evidence by the absence of Mary J Blige on this site. For what it's worth, we Aussies were much more receptive to musicians of colour going forward in the 00's.
This was the final hit that Ronan Keating had in his career, mainly because it's a cover of the Bob Seger classic but using the Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton format as that version was more popular back in the day. Here he recruits 60's legend Lulu who finally escapes the one hit wonder bin after over thirty years given how she never had another hit on her own in Australia apart from "To sir with love" in 1967.
Unlike in Australia where these guys didn't have much success past the boy band wars save for their cover of a Billy Joel classic, it appears the kiwis still had plenty of love for one of the finalists of the second boy band wars of the 90's as the lead single to their second album proved to be a massive success to the point where said album was also a hit for them over there.
From what I can gather, Riva is an alias for the Dutch duo Chocolate puma who only scored success under this pseudonym with this collaboration with Dannii Minogue. This was sort of a comeback for Dannii given how she hadn't troubled the charts since "All I wanna do" from four years prior and would go on to have a string of minor hits off her next album worldwide.
I debated about including this entry as the original version of this track was a huge flop here in Australia and the remix is what I would consider to be a "fan single," I guess I allowed both versions to appear on here as one entry given how I've since combined both versions of "I'm real" for these lists and felt it was necessary to do the same here.
This was originally an album track on N sync's third and final album Celebrity, as such there wasn't chance of the original becoming a hit for the boy band which wasn't good because the album had failed to produce a hit for them due to it being the end of the boy band wars in America. They decided to get Nelly to contribute a guest verse for the remix which allowed it to become a massive hit for them.
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 Kylie Minogue has had to date in her career, although she has tried to recapture her past glory over the years which does lead her to still occasionally chart even to this day. I will say that she's doing a better job at being a legacy pop diva than Madonna as she's yet to release something with the intention of it becoming a meme such as what Madonna's latest singles from the 2010's.
This is the final appearance that Bryan Adams will be making on this site, mainly because he scored a massive hit with the British DJ Chicane who felt he could make a dance track with the Canadian crooner providing vocals. He turned out to be correct as this was a massive worldwide hit for the duo, although it was also the DJ's only hit as none of his other collaborations caught on anywhere.
Westlife were on a roll over in NZ as they managed to achieve a huge hit with the lead single to their third album, an album that once again, saw a ton of success over there and virtually no success over here likely due to us Aussies already moving on from the boy band wars by the time it was released. It would be their final album to find success over there until they reinvented themselves later in the decade.
This was too minor of a hit to appear on the Australian side of my site; indeed, it only manages to appear on this side of my site due to it becoming a hit twice in NZ as it rebounded on their charts when Ciara released her second single "1 2 step" with Missy Elliot for some reason. This song has become infamous for the production, specifically due to it sounding like a screeching siren throughout its runtime.
You better believe there was a time when David Guetta had some success before he got on board some of the biggest names in music worldwide, this is the biggest hit he had prior to when he got the likes of Kelly Rowland, Akon and Flo rida to sing over his beats.
This was the second single to come from Mika's debut album, it was also a massive hit here in Australia even though it didn't have a particularly interesting subject matter like his earlier entry on this list. I should point out that he was a member of the LGBT community which is perhaps why his debut album appealed to the queer community when it first came out, although his popularity didn't extend to his second album.
Much like Ginger Spice, Sporty was also able to score more than one hit on her own around the turn of the millennium as this second single from her solo album managed to be a huge sleeper hit here in Australia following the success of her earlier entry on this list. Her last hit would be her reunion with the Spice girls also from earlier on this list before she became little more than a legacy act.
This is the final new entry on this list (at least on this side of my site) it was the first hit that Pharrell had as a lead vocalist here in Australia given how he had already made his mark on the chorus to Snoop Dogg's "Beautiful" the year prior to when this came out. It's another song that was pushed aside here in Australia for all the reality show contestant’s Australian idol launched into our music industry.
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.
This is the last big hit that RHCP had here in Australia, although internationally that honour would go to "Snow" from the same album as this served as the lead single for which either way should tell you that this was the last album that they would be superstars with before their popularity evaporated going into the 2010's. This song would've done alright with its physical sales; however, its success largely came from digital sales.
This was the one and only hit from Norwegian singer Lene Marlin over in NZ, it was a bit hit for her likely due to it coming off what many have dubbed as the Lilith Fair scene where many female singer/songwriters saw a ton of success during the late 90's and early 00's worldwide. It wasn't a hit here in Australia likely due to the trend losing its steam this year only to regain it later in the decade.
"Goodies" wasn't that big of a success here in Australia due to its obvious absence on my previous list, however that didn't mean that Ciara was a no show in our music scene as her second single managed to be a huge success for her here. Admittedly this might be due to the presence of Missy Elliott as the two would collaborate twice this year, the second time being on "Lose control" which is still to come on this list.
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 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.
This was the one song from Eminem's Encore that received universal acclaim from even the most diehard of haters from the rapper, mainly because it was a song about how he feared that the youth of the day would eventually become conscripted into fighting for the American army given the questionable politics of the (then) American president George Bush. It also received praise for sampling "Toy soldiers" by Martika in a tactful manner.
I feel like Newton Faulkner was the world's warm up to Ed Sheeran given how this was similar to what his ginger haired counterpart would release from his debut album going into the new decade, it explains why the likes of "The a team" and "Lego house" was a success worldwide given how this would fit right in with those songs were they all to appear on an album together.
Given how his British counterpart Craig David was scoring massive worldwide success with his debut album this year, it only seems fitting that Usher would follow suit in his success when he released his own album this year which kicked off the cycle with this ballad about how the person he's singing to reminds him of an ex he used to go out with. I think we've all been in the situation he describes in the song which explains its success.
This was the first hit that Outkast managed to achieve outside of their native America, I'm guessing because people took an interest in the song's subject matter about how the narrator is apologising to the mother of his girlfriend and how he impregnated her during the relationship. Both rappers take a different approach to the song with Andre being more sympathetic whilst Big Boi isn't as such.
One of the more popular songs to come from the UK this year was this cover of an obscure reggae track from the early 70's, in fact I'm willing to bet more people are familiar with the Baha men version from the mid 90's than the original as that's seemed to have popped up in recent years for some reason. In any case we have this version from the British band Toploader crossing over here in Australia due to its funky beat.
Given how her earlier entry on this list was a massive success over in NZ, it only seems fitting that Dido was able to score a second hit over there given how this remains one of her most popular singles to this day and that it was a massive hit throughout Europe as well. This did chart here in Australia, although supposedly its success was taken away from it due to how strong the album sales were over here.
I'm not sure why the deluxe edition of Ronan Keating's debut album was a flop over in NZ considering how it's one and only bonus track managed to be a massive success over there, I guess this song's success was the tradeoff to the album's failure considering how the inverse was the case for both the song and the album here in Australia despite me hearing this quite a bit on the radio back in the day.
This was the penultimate hit that Brandy had here in Australia, it's a cover of the Phil Collins classic (which was his penultimate here funnily enough) that she turned into a duet by recruiting RNB singer Ray J. If the name Ray J sounds familiar to you, that's because he was the reason why Kim Kardashian became famous later in the decade after the pair starred in a sex tape together.
Well, I did mention when I talked about the original version of this track that this version was a much bigger hit here in Australia a mere three years later, so here we are with this version which was the only other hit that Blue was able to achieve here likely due to our familiarity with the original. I feel they were the 00's equivalent of MN8 as they too combined harsher RNB elements with the boy band sound.
This is the third version of the Rockwell classic I've now featured on this site, the other two being the original and the DJ Bobo version which I feel counts as that heavily relies on the nostalgia of the former track. This is a straight cover of the 80's hip hop track by Dutch group Beatfreakz, naturally it was a hit in NZ due to the unwritten rule of allowing Dutch artists to dominate their charts being in effect this year.
It appears that P Diddy was still trying to find the next teen idol for his label as he signed (then) teenage model Cassie Ventura to his label where she scored a massive worldwide hit with this RNB track before fading into obscurity. There were a lot of female RNB stars in this vein who were likely trying to become the next Ashanti or Ciara, although Cassie was by far the most successful in this vein.
This was originally a flop for Nelly here in Australia due to his album not making many waves in our music scene despite its international success, however it got a second chance when it was featured in the film Scary movie 2 due to it being made by the Wayan brothers who were known for using drugs in their films and this song having a ton of drug references throughout its runtime (which were all censored on the radio of course.)
Much like her earlier entry, this second single from Avril Lavigne was much more successful here in Australia than its placement would otherwise suggest, however I've already gone over why that's the case, so I won't repeat myself here. Instead, I'll talk about the songs which are both iconic to this day due to them showcasing the complicated feelings that Avril has during throughout her life at this point.
I think this is the first hit to become as such thanks to the power of text to speech, and who says that AI generated content is a recent phenomenon when it was able to give Italian DJ Benny Benassi a hit in the early to mid 00's? Of course, the real success of this song comes from its two music videos, both of which are completely bizarre which of course makes it a shoe in for my inevitable weirdest videos list.
It's a bit weird that this was only a sleeper hit here in Australia given how vividly I remember hearing this getting overplayed on the radio back in the day, admittedly it was a bigger hit here than Sonique's international hit "It feels so good" (stay tuned for that in a bit) and is second only to her appearance on "Theme from S'express" from over a decade prior as the biggest hit of her career down under.
This was meant to be the last song that Eminem released before he retired from music, of course that retirement lasted all of four years as he would return by the end of the decade with his album Relapse which was a commercial success for the rapper despite also being panned by critics like Encore was. In America, the big hit off his greatest hits album was "Shake that" which was his attempt at a strip club anthem.
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.
It appears that EDM was still here to stay as this track from the American duo IIO was a massive hit in most parts of the world except of course for their native America given how EDM rarely does well on Billboard at the best of times, it was a massive hit here in Australia likely due to how lovestruck the track is as well as it being catchy enough to be played on the dance floors.
This was the last song to become a hit for Craig David outside his native UK, although I get the feeling this was the case due to it sampling Sting's "Shape of my heart" from his 1993 album Ten summoner's tales and even managed to get Sting to rerecord the chorus on this track which connects the verses together. It was also the first time Sting managed to score a hit anywhere in the world in over a decade.
If you felt that her earlier entry on this list was too much of a victory single from a reality show, then fear not as the rest of Delta's catalogue (well at least most of it) is a lot more personal such as this second single from her debut album which details her trying to live without her partner at the time. It was the second of six consecutive chart toppers here in Australia for her which predictably led to her backlash.
This was the second big hit to come from Fedde Le Grand this year, this time it's a remix of a track from Danish pop star Camille Jones from two years prior that became a massive hit not so much for the track itself but rather for its strange music video which showcases a bunch of secretaries being sexually provocative to an office worker throughout its runtime.
This was the last hit that Ricky Martin was able to achieve in most parts of the world, I'm guessing because his Latin lover shtick had grown stale by this point as other Latin crooners such as Enrique Iglesias and Marc Anthony had released less bombastic tracks from the genre to massive success. I know it would've been a bold move at the time, but I kind of wished he made these songs for men given his sexuality.
It's funny how the Razzies would revive the worst original song category for this one year only for each of the nominees to wind up on this list, this theme song to Crossroads sadly taking home the prize over Britney's other entry on this list (despite both of these songs coming from the soundtrack from the previous year) as well as Madonna's Bond theme, goes to show how much the Razzie organisation dislikes both of these women.
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.
This would've been the last hit that Mariah Carey had anywhere in the world were it not for her 2013 effort "#beautiful" which became big that year due to having a # in its title, I guess it's safe to say that the 90's diva had to resort to meme culture to keep her relevancy going given how this song references YouTube among other things that made it a success in NZ but not here in Australia.
It looked like that Madonna was here to stay for the third decade in a row as this third single from her album Music was a massive success for the queen of pop worldwide, although her popularity would quickly fade away when she released her next album later in the decade where she attempted to tackle politics to dismal results. The decade would turn out to be a rocky one for her, although at least she had some success throughout.
This served as the world's introduction to Brian McFadden and Delta Goodrem as a couple given how this duet appears on both of their albums from around this time, it was the first hit that the former had as a solo artist and would've been the latter's seventh consecutive chart topper had it been released before "Mistaken identity" which finally broke her impressive record on the Australian charts.
This is one of those EDM tracks that managed to become a success thanks to its video blowing up on YouTube, this was a popular phenomenon during the website's early years as we've already seen many tracks on these lists to make it big this way that never would've touched the charts had they been released prior to its launch.
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