Get Ur Freak On
2001
Timbaland set a tumbi melody over tabla and left Elliott acres of empty space to fill.
★ 8.5
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2001
Showing 49 songs from 2001
Last Nite
2001 · From Is This It
Built on the bones of Tom Petty's American Girl, which Petty confirmed without complaint, and recorded in Gordon Raphael's basement.
★ 7.7
Harder Better Faster StrongerDaft Punk
Harder Better Faster Stronger
2001 · From Discovery
Edwin Birdsong's Cola Bottle Baby, found in a record bin, vocoded into a mantra Kanye West later borrowed wholesale.
★ 7.6
EtherNas
Ether
2001 · From Stillmatic
Ron Browz's beat, handed over before he knew its target, and a release date set on Jay-Z's birthday.
★ 7.5
Can't Get You Out of My HeadKylie Minogue
Can't Get You Out of My Head
2001
Dennis and Davis wrote it in three and a half hours, and Minogue committed after twenty seconds of the demo.
★ 7.5
Clint Eastwood
2001
Albarn built it on a melodica and an Omnichord's first preset; Del cut his verses in half an hour.
★ 7.4
In The EndLinkin Park
In The End
2001
Shinoda's piano figure under Bennington's chorus took nu metal to number two, and the RIAA finally certified it diamond.
★ 7.4
Izzo (H.O.V.A.)Jay-Z
Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
2001 · From The Blueprint
A Jackson 5 chop, an arena chant, and Jay-Z's first solo top ten, courtesy of a young Kanye West.
★ 7.3
Fallin'
2001
Two chords, one piano, and Keys writing and producing her own debut single straight to Song of the Year.
★ 7.0
New Slang
2001 · From Oh, Inverted World
Sub Pop pressed it as a one-off single in 2001; three years later Garden State made it a generational password.
★ 6.8
Family Affair (Mary J. Blige)
2001 · From No More Drama
Dre's instrumental sat titled Fragile for months before it was renamed Family Affair and took six weeks at number one.
★ 6.6
Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)Jay-Z
Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)
2001 · From The Blueprint
A Bobby Bland soul record from 1974, rebuilt by Kanye West, and Jay-Z sounding untouchable and unloved at the top.
★ 6.3
Let Me Blow Ya Mind
Eve and Gwen Stefani
2001
Ninety beats a minute, Dr. Dre and Scott Storch on the track, Gwen Stefani's hook, Eve at number two.
★ 6.3
The Middle
2001
Capitol dropped the band, Trombino produced on credit, and the drum pattern came straight off Tom Petty's You Wreck Me.
★ 6.2
Hard to Explain
2001 · From Is This It
Four feet of air between hi-hat and snare mic, and a drum machine sketch reborn as live New York rock.
★ 6.2
Island in the Sun
2001 · From Weezer (The Green Album)
Not planned for the Green Album until Ocasek fought for it, then Spike Jonze filmed the band among wild animals.
★ 6.1
Whenever, Wherever
2001
Panpipes, a charango, and Gloria Estefan rewriting Shakira's Spanish lyric in English; it hit number one in twenty-two countries.
★ 6.0
Survivor
2001
A radio host's joke about the lineup changes, flipped into a Grammy winner Beyonce largely wrote on a flight.
★ 6.0
Sweetness
2001
Capitol passed on the Clarity demo, then a dropped band self-funded Bleed American and made those wordless hooks stick.
★ 5.7
Lady Marmalade (Christina Aguilera)
2001
Four singers, one Rockwilder beat, and Missy Elliott turning a Labelle cover into 2001's best-selling single worldwide.
★ 5.6