01 – 3 DOORS DOWN – “KRYPTONITE” 2000

“Lead singer Brad Arnold stated in an interview with Songfacts that “Kryptonite” is not asking the questions in the lyrics, but a hidden question is being asked. The lyrics “If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?” is really asking “If I fall, will you still be there for me?” while the lyrics “if I’m alive and well, will you be there holding my hand?” is asking “if I’m doing good, will you be there for me? Will you not be jealous of me?”

02 – AVRIL LAVIGNE – “SK8R BOY” 2002

“The song, which captures the divide between cliques and cultures, is about a teenage girl who rejects a skater boy with a crush on her because her friends didn’t approve of him — even though she secretly likes him. Years later, he becomes a famous rock star and she is left with regrets.”

03 – BLACK EYED PEAS – “MY HUMPS” 2005

“What you gon’ do with all that junk? All that junk inside your trunk? I’ma get, get, get, get, you drunk, get you love drunk off my hump.”

04 – CREED – “WITH ARMS WIDE OPEN” 2000

“Scott Stapp wrote the lyrics when he found out that he was going to be a father. In July 2000; a month later it reached the U.S. Top 40. In September, it was announced that Creed would release a limited edition single of “With Arms Wide Open” with some profits benefiting Scott Stapp’s foundation to “promote healthy, loving relationships between children and their families.”

05 – ENRIQUE IGLESIAS – “HERO”

“The music video for “Hero” was directed by Joseph Kahn and features Iglesias as an honorable criminal hunted by his enemies, Jennifer Love Hewitt plays his love interest, while Mickey Rourke plays one of the men hunting him.

After the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, the song was one of the few songs chosen by Radio DJs in New York to be remixed with audio from police, firefighters, civilians at Ground Zero and Politicians commenting on the attacks.”

06 – GWEN STEFANI – “HOLLA BACK GIRL”

“”Hollaback Girl” received many award nominations, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year at the 48th Grammy Awards, and became the first digital download to sell one million copies.”

07 – J LO – “JENNY FROM THE BLOCK”

“The video alternates between several different scenes of Lopez and Affleck in their daily life: the two sitting around their apartment in various states of undress, out in their car, on a yacht in the ocean, Lopez shopping, and Lopez at a high-fashion photo shoot; in each case, the view is meant to be from a hidden camera or a photographer’s lens.”

08 – JAMES BLUNT – “YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL” 2006

“The song holds the honor of being the only song by a British artist to top the Latin America Top 40.”

09 – JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – “SEXY BACK” 2006

“Timberlake revealed to MTV News that he went “left”, regarding going more rock, not in how he developed the song, but in the way he sang the song. “I wanted to sing the song like a rock & roll singer, not an R&B singer. That’s the approach.”

10 – KELLY CLARKSON – “SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE” 2005

“The song was listed as #18 in the “100 Best Songs of the Decade” by Rolling Stone magazine.”

11 – KID ROCK “COWBOY”

“He describes the song as “Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Run-D.M.C..” The song is a genre all to itself fusing elements of rap, heavy metal, folk and southern rock. The song contains samples of The Allman Brothers “Midnight Rider” and the piano break of the Doors “L.A. Woman” in which during the video Joe C. and Gary Coleman duel it out while porn star Ron Jeremy rocks the piano.”

12 – LIL KIM & 50CENT – “MAGIC STICK”

“Lil’ Kim not a whore, but I sex a nigga so good, he gotta tell his boys. When it, come to sex don’t test my skills ’cause my head game have you head over heels. Give a nigga the chills, have him paying my bills, buy matchin Lambo’s with the same color wheels.”

13 – LIL WAYNE – “LOLLIPOP” 2008

“Lollipop reached #1 in 2008, was #5 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Best Songs of the year, and is the single most downloaded song of the 2000s.”

14 – LIMP BIZKIT “BREAK STUFF” 2000

“The music video depicts Limp Bizkit performing in a big room, complete with a stage and skateboard ramps. Cameos include Snoop Dogg, Jonathan Davis of Korn, David Hasslehoff and many others. The video for the song won the MTV Video Music Award for The Best Rock Video in 2000.”

15 – NELLY & TIM MCGRAW – “OVER AND OVER” 2004

“On September 14, 2004, Nelly released two albums, Sweat and Suit. Suit, an R&B-oriented album, debuted at number one on the Billboard albums chart, and Sweat, a rap-oriented album, debuted at number two. From Suit, the slow ballad “Over and Over”, an unlikely duet with country music star Tim McGraw, became a crossover hit.”

16 – PINK – “GET THE PARTY STARTED” 2002

“At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, the music video won in the categories of Best Female Video and Best Dance Video.”

17 – R KELLY – “TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET 1 THRU 5″ 2005

“Trapped in the Closet” is an urban hip-hopera which tells the story of a one-night stand that sets off a chain of events, which gradually reveals a greater web of lies, sex, and deceit.”

18 – SHAGGY – “IT WASN’T ME” 2001

The song starts out with Rikrok running to Shaggy’s mansion to explain to him that he cheated on his girlfriend and got caught. Shaggy tells him to tell her that “it wasn’t me.”

19 – SOULJA BOY – “CRANK THAT” 2007

“Crank That (Soulja Boy)” is the number 21 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.[3] The song received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song at the 50th Grammy Awards.

20 – SISQO – “THE THONG SONG” 2000*

* Though recorded in 1999, “The Thong Song” was released in February of 2000 as a single on Unleash the Dragon. And therefore through a technical miracle sent down by the hip-hop Gods, Sisqó’s 7x Multi-Platinum song is the decade’s pièce de résistance.