Top 50 Songs of the 2000s
The 2000s were the golden age of pop-punk, crunk, and a juvenile-aged internet to give basically anyone their 15 seconds of fame. This also made music from this particular era have multiple different conventions of certain genres that wouldn’t bleed out into the larger scene, which gave more attention to smaller artists and propel them to some level of stardom like MF DOOM or Soulja Boy and allowed us to have unprecedented contrast between genres like pop-punk and gangsta rap. It even split larger genres like hip-hop into subgenres that became radically different from each other like Kanye or Pharrell’s more arty and poppy rap styles and 50 Cent or Lil Wayne’s club hits and technically focused tracks (not that there wasn’t crossover, of course.)
Key: “Song” - Artist, Featured Artist
50. “Misery Business” - Paramore
A pop-punk hit with a catchy guitar hook and chorus written from the perspective of a school-age girl who finally got her dream boy from a promiscuous and deceptive classmate; written to that promiscuous classmate.
49. “Thnks fr th Mmrs” - Fall Out Boy
An emo rock anthem about partying hard to forget about one’s Ex-girlfriend with a versatile sound switching from orchestral to pop-punk to acoustic to drum-backed awesomely smoothly.
48. “Jesus Walks” - Kanye West
A bouncy gospel-style rap song analyzing religion's place in Kanye’s life and the society in general and bringing glory to our God in heaven with a soulful “bum bum bum” hook and choir and orchestra, although a bit braggadocious, as is custom of West.
47. “Poker Face” - Lady Gaga
A pop super-hit with an infectious minor-key techno-dance beat, unique and catchy vocal delivery in the verses that transitions to a belted delivery, and witty casino puns to deliver a message of requiring to have perceived emotional dissonance.
46. “Crescendolls” - Daft Punk
A soulful techno jam with a quirky synth bass, a cool guitar sample, a beat that really keeps the track, and a quasi-bridge consisting of a few bars of record scratching, and a few disco string hits.
45. “Potholderz” - MF DOOM, Count Bass D
A witty jazz-rap song with a catchy sample of a guitar riff, hard-hitting drums, and great flows and chemistry from between DOOM and Bass. The lyrics aren’t about anything in particular but seem meaningful because they’re discussing nothing with such passion in such a genuine way.
44. “Champion” - Kanye West
A celebratory rap anthem with a smooth Steely Dan sample and bouncy stomp drums with interludes of traditional tom-fills. It recognizes his high place in society, his father’s immense care for him as a child, and how he wants to be there like that for his kids.
43. “One Minute To Midnight” - Justice
A groovy electronic track with a cool bass riff, compelling synth background, a rough and gritty deep electronic bass sound that makes Justice unique, and the general sound of a science-fiction movie soundtrack.
42. “Viva La Vida” - Coldplay
A solemn and orchestral stadium anthem with an iconic string section hook, amazing orchestral instrumentation throughout and heartfelt lyrics about a king who’s lost his power, but hasn’t lost his hope.
41. “Red Velvet” - OutKast
A psychedelic-rock inspired track about violence in poorer Atlanta neighborhoods with a solid rap beat featuring amazing verses from both André and Antwan (one of which has pitch modulation) and a haunting chorus
40. “Scotty Doesn’t Know” - Lustra
A punk classic about a man so sleazy that he regularly has romantic relations with his friend Scotty’s girlfriend Fiona in van, including on Scotty’s Birthday. It has lot of angst, lots of energy, and a catchy guitar hook fans of 100 gecs might recognize
39. “Can I Watch?” - MF DOOM, Apani B
A retelling of an angsty teen romance from two perspectives, MF DOOM as Viktor Vaughn and Apani B as Nikki. The beat has samples of a soulful piano and guitar and subtle drum break.
38. “One Last Breath” - Creed
Deemed a “divorced dad rock” anthem, This song grapples with lead singer Scott Stapp’s mixed feelings of an ex-partner over crying, metallic and rich rhythm guitars, a heavy drum beat, and a solemn guitar riff.
37. “Put Your Records On” - Corrine Bailey Rae
A jaunty acoustic jam with an amazing backing ensemble of horns, drums, and electric guitar and bass, an amazing vocal performance from Rae herself, and themes of hope and relaxation.
36. “Perfect” - Snoop Dogg, Charlie Wilson, Pharrell Williams
A heartfelt Rap-R&B banger with Pharrell’s signature bouncy drums and chords. Amazing vocal performances and chemistry between Charlie and Pharrell about how attractive, divine, and precious the subject of the song is, and raps in which Snoop Dogg attempts to seduce the subject.
35. “Makes Me Wonder” - Maroon 5
A groovy electronic pop-rock ballad expressing immense anger to an ex-girlfriend featuring electronic drums and distorted bass with compelling guitar, both rhythm and lead, and a passionate and impressive vocal performance from Levine himself
34. “Lying From You” - Linkin Park
A nu-metal classic with haunting lyrics about struggling to break up with a girlfriend. It has intense and full nu-metal rap and screamo vocals, both a gritty riff and heavenly chords on electric guitar.
33. “Grown Man” - Lil Wayne, Currency
A quirky and romantic R&B tune about hitting on an older woman that has great layered vocals between Currency and Wayne, great string and guitar licks throughout and cool bouncy drums in a wonderful R&B ensemble.
32. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” - Radiohead
A rock-inspired jam with cryptic mumbled lyrics, a prominent acoustic guitar, a unique drum kit, It has some really cool movement between the verses and the instrumental chorus.
31. “Maneater” - Nelly Furtado
A tense, passionate, varied, and well-written song with a marchy sound and synths playing minor patterns and interesting chords underneath lyrics about a passionate, manipulative, and sexy maneater.
30. “Crack A Bottle” - Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent
A sonically massive and hedonistic rap anthem with heavy horns and pianos, a catchy chorus, generational verses from Em, and 50, and what just might be Dr. Dre’s greatest verse of all time.
29. “Family Business” - Kanye West
An inspiring and heartfelt rap about family values and good times over a mellow major-key piano beat with groovy machine drums and vocal chops and lots of choirs.
28. “Harder To Breathe” - Maroon 5
A downbeat, angsty and jerky alternative rock track about general difficulty in a relationship with a harrowing vocal performance from Adam Levine and varied and dynamic and grooves
27. “Flashing Lights” - Kanye West, Dwele
An orchestral synth-pop hit with amazing string and synth sections that have so much chemistry, imaginative and romantic rap lyrics from one of the greatest artists of the 21st century, and pretty good chorus.
26. “21 Questions” - 50 Cent, Nate Dogg
An impressive sample chop over amazing machine drums with thoughtful, romantic rap lyrics asking about whether his partner would love him in all sorts of random hypothetical ways and expressing love with an impressive flow.
25. “Disturbia” - Rihanna
An absolute pop masterpiece with a catchy hook and chorus, a perfectly done bridge with a key change and a little extra synth line and cryptic and creepy lyrics about city life throughout.
24. “Encore” - JAY-Z
I’m not JAY-Z’s biggest fan, but when he locks in, he really cooks up something special, and also says a bunch of random numbers. This track has top-tier flows from a widely-considered greatest-of-all time, and a great hook, all over one of Kanye’s greatest beats of all time.
23. “Genesis” - Justice
An eclectic and electric bop with all sorts of unique and interesting sounds, especially in the main bass melody, the horn sample from Godzilla, The palmed “I Wanna Be Your Lover” style guitar, all so amazing.
22. “Ignorance” - Paramore
A passionate, yet uniquely teenage delivery of melodramatic lyrics over one of the hardest pop-punk beats of all time with lyrics about Hayley’s ex ignoring her, hence the name.
20. “I Hate Everything About You” - Three Days Grace
Another “divorced dad rock” classic, the song has a very moving groove with good ambiance, a hard-hitting and catchy riff blended into its chorus with lyrics about confusing and anger-inducing mixed feelings about a romantic partner.
19. “Welcome To Heartbreak” - Kanye West
A symphonic and electronic emotional epiphany that he’s lonely that begins with a concert bass solo and builds into an amazing electronic yet hard-hitting beat with a cool piano loop, some 808s, and amazing string section
18. “Heard ‘Em Say” - Kanye West, Adam Levine
A heartfelt yet inspiring rap classic with amazing drums and samples with lyrics acknowledging and accepting life’s difficulties and injustices, but encouraging the audience (or perhaps a past Kanye or mentee) to push on calmly.
17. “Hate It Or Love It” - The Game, 50 Cent
An inspiring hip-hop classic with a great beat and great lyrics from The Game and an absolutely astonishing verse from 50 Cent to completely overshadow it (The overshowing may be due to it being first)
16. “Paranoid” - Kanye West
A synthpop dance hit from an otherwise not-very-synthpop artist with amazing chords banging drums, and lyrics about Kanye’s desire to be the only man to make a woman feel truly safe.
15. “Int’l Players Anthem” - UGK, OutKast
A glorious Frankenstein of a rap hit with loving and romantic rap verses from André 3000 and Big Boi ballad and an absolute gangsta classic with Pimp C and Bun B, all over an amazing Willie Hutch sample.
14. “Last Call” - Kanye West
A jazz-rap masterpiece with an amazing groove, with witty self-glorifying lyrics acknowledging the difficulties he’s overcome and how amazing he is with impressive flow and puns. After rapping for two minutes, he tells a ten-minute rendition of his origin story over the beat while competing with subtle saxophone and synth solos14.
13. “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” - Kanye West, JAY-Z
A masterfully put-together orchestral rap hit with two equally amazing versions. The “Remix” is a condemnation of the jewelry industry’s unethical mining practices and also Kanye’s relationships, with an extra JAY-Z verse about nothing in particular.
The “bonus track” features less meaningful lyrics with a more impressive flow from Kanye, without JAY-Z.
12. “RoboCop” - Kanye West
An innovative orchestral pop masterpiece with an amazing string section playing oddly christmassy chords, hard-hitting drums, and possibly misogynistic lyrics about a romantic interest of Kanye’s love interest being an “overly controlling”* “RoboCop”
*This is not a direct quote from the text, I’ve put this i n quotation marks because i believe the subject of the song is actually in the right, against the point of view of the text
11. “Overnight Celebrity” - Twista, Miri Ben-Ari, Kanye West
A masterclass in build-up with a novel idea that was executed beautifully over a classic Kanye beat: A hip-hop song featuring a “hip-hop violinist” to play underlicks and two thirty-second absolutely heavenly build-ups.
10. “Face To Face” - Daft Punk, Todd Edwards
An arty pop hit, melancholy and romantic boy-band esque lyrics about some “clear” conclusion sung by Todd Edwards, and samples drawn and seamlessly fused from 14 different songs, including a guitar riff taken from ELO’s “Evil Woman”
9. “Number One” - Pharrell Williams, Kanye West
A chemically amazing collaboration between two of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. A duet between Pharrell and Kanye over a pop beat with bouncy drums and a slew of beautiful pianos and synths. Every melody is amazing, dare I say, perfect.
8. “I Don’t Wanna Know” - Mario Winans, Enya, Diddy
A heartbreaking ballad that takes Mario through all kinds of emotions due to being cheated, ultimately deciding that he doesn’t even want to know in the first place. You can hear the raw emotion in every violin, piano, and hitting kick drum.
7. “Fancy Clown” - Madvillain
A jazz-rap classic that where MF DOOM plays Viktor Vaughn while he faces anger for cheating of DOOM himself over one of acclaimed producer Madlib’s most creative beats to date.
6. “Roses” - Kanye West
A heartbreaking headbanger centered around Kanye and his family’s emotional reaction to a grandmother dying. It has a soulful sample, organ and choir resulting in a soulful sound seldom found in 2000s music, and an innovative drum pattern that makes the song inappropriately yet beautifully groovy.
5. “I Wonder” - Kanye West
An absolute hip-hop classic with hard-hitting drums, a masterfully flipped sample from Labi Siffre’s “My Song” with an absolutely heavenly orchestral break-down and lyrics about achieving lifelong goals.
4. “Comfortable” - Lil Wayne, Babyface
A romantic R&B cut from Tha Carter III with an amazing string section and drum pattern, a catchy chorus, and romantic lyrics and genuine lyrics about not taking love for granted, with a scandalous undertone of “not getting too comfortable
3. “We Major” - Kanye West, Nas, Really Doe
Seven minutes and twenty-seven seconds of a beat made from pure ecstasy to hold up an underrated rap classic with verses from two of the greatest rappers of all time, and a horn part so glorious I am convinced I will hear it during Jesus’second coming.
2. “Jesus of Suburbia” - Green Day
A modern yet nostalgic (from the lens of 2003) rock symphony featuring all sorts of sound from a riff-driven rock section, a Billy Joel esque softer section, and a theatrical and punky fast section. There’s way too much going on here to describe briefly, but it’s spread over eight minutes, so it works, but still feels blissfully chaotic.
1. “Something About Us” - Daft Punk
A heartbreaking yet hopeful love song debating whether or not to pursue a relationship with a woman, with a funky solo a shuffling drum beat, ending in two overlapping synth solos.
