100 Favourite 00s UK Top40 Singles

1. Dizzee Rascal – I Luv U
2. Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z – Crazy In Love
3. Daft Punk – Harder Better Faster Stronger
4. Felix Da Housecat – Silver Screen Shower Scene
5. Gwen Stefani – What You Waiting For
6. Christina Aguilera ft. Redman – Dirrrty
7. Girls Aloud – The Show
8. Fatman Scoop ft. Crooklyn Clan – Be Faithful
9. Missy Elliott – Work It
10. Wu-Tang Clan – Gravel Pit
11. Truth Hurts ft. Rakim – Addictive
12. Amerie – 1 Thing
13. Hot Chip – Over And Over
14. Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz ft. The Ying-Yang Twinz – Get Low
15. Basement Jaxx – Good Luck
16. Basement Jaxx – Where’s Your Head At?
17. Lisa Left-Eye Lopes – The Block Party
18. MIA – Paper Planes
19. Sugababes – Overload
20. Delays – Valentine
21. Kelis – Caught Out There
22. Röyksopp – Remind Me
23. Robyn – Be Mine
24. Three 6 Mafia – Stay Fly
25. B15 Project – Girls Like Us
26. Madonna – Hung Up
27. Panjabi MC – Beware Of The Boys
28. Wayne Wonder – No Letting Go
29. Justin Timberlake – Cry Me A River
30. Robyn – With Every Heartbeat
31. Kanye West – Love Lockdown
32. Ciara ft. Petey Pablo – Goodies
33. Tweet – Oops (Oh My)
34. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps
35. Sugababes – Freak Like Me
36. Mary Mary – Shackles (Praise You)
37. Kelis – Trick Me
38. Jaimeson ft. Angel Blu – True
39. DJ Shadow – Six Days
40. Green Velvet – La La Land
41. Scissor Sisters – Laura
42. Annie – Chewing Gum
43. Kraftwerk – Aero Dynamik
44. Wookie ft. Lain – Battle
45. Eve ft. Gwen Stefani – Let Me Blow Ya Mind
46. The Streets – Let’s Push Things Forward
47. CSS – Let’s Make Love And Listen Death From Above
48. Lisa Maffia – All Over
49. Britney Spears – Toxic
50. The White Stripes – 7 Nation Army
51. The Arcade Fire – Power Out
52. Rihanna – Pon De Replay
53. Dizzee Rascal – Stand Up Tall
54. Radiohead – There There
55. Rachel Stevens – I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)
56. Aaliyah – We Need A Resolution
57. Lumidee – Never Leave You
58. Mary J Blige – Family Affair
59. Hot Chip – Ready For The Floor
60. Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On
61. The Rapture – House Of Jealous Lovers
62. Snoop Dogg ft. Pharrell – Drop It Like It’s Hot
63. Omarion – Ice Box
64. Fischerspooner – Emerge
65. Moloko – Forever More
66. Shakedown – At Night
67. Ludacris – Saturday (Oooh Oooh)
68. Christina Milian ft. Joe Budden – Whatever You Want
69. Doves – There Goes The Fear
70. Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx – Gold Digger
71. Groove Armada – Out Of Control
72. Audio Bullys – We Don’t Care
73. Beyoncé – Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
74. True Steppers ft. Dane Bowers & Victoria Beckham – Out Of Your Mind
75. Daniel Bedingfield – Gotta Get Thru This
76. Roll Deep – The Avenue
77. Gnarls Barkley – Smiley Faces
78. Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris – Yeah
79. Spiller ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Groovejet
80. Sticky ft. Miss Dynamite – Booo!
81. Sean Paul – Like Glue
82. Britney Spears – Gimme More
83. Zed Bias – Neighbourhood
84. Little Boots – Remedy
85. Sway – Little Derek
86. DJ Marky ft. MC Stamina – LK (Carolina Cara Blena)
87. Jay-Z ft. Pharrell – Excuse Me Miss
88. Platinum 45 ft. More Fire Crew – Oi!
89. Alcazar – Crying At The Discotheque
90. Jem – They
91. No Doubt ft. Bounty Killer – Hey Baby
92. S Club 7 – Don’t Stop Movin’
93. The Strokes – Someday
94. Sisqo – Thong Song
95. Lady Gaga – Poker Face
96. Mis-Teeq – All I Want
97. Sugababes – Push The Button
98. Primal Scream – Miss Lucifer
99. Ciara – Like A Boy
100. The Veronicas – Untouched

Eminem probably the most glaring omission here but no Kylie or Goldfrapp either. Interesting that Sugababes got three singles in (more than any other act) while Girls Aloud could only manage one (tho it’s higher than any of the ‘Babes songs). Choosing ‘Smiley Faces’ over ‘Crazy’ isn’t contrarianism for its own sake either! Altho I’m sick of ‘Toxic’, leaving it out felt too wrong – unlike ‘Hey Ya’ or even ‘Miss Jackson’…

Basically doing a ‘Top 40 only’ just gave me an excuse to include a bunch of glitzy cheerful pop that I liked. Other tracks just missing out include Mint Royale’s ‘Show Me’, Supermen Lovers ‘Starlight’, New Order ‘Crystal’, Ian Brown ‘FEAR’, Sweet Female Attitude’s ‘Flowers’ (too late for a 90s list also), Louise ‘2 Faced’…ARGH. As with the other lists, the ‘only one track per album’ rule applied (particularly bad news for Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx) and this list does not include remixes, instrumentals or “b-sides”.

But congratulations to Dizzee for one of the greatest debut singles ever (if it can be called that) – a remarkable sonic event and artistic statement that still stands out years later as a definitive 00s sound. It’s also quite funny if not really danceable.

YouTube playlist here

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