Beyoncé hit #1 with “Crazy in Love”

Crazy in Love Beyoncé with Jay-Z

Writer(s): Shawn Carter, Rich Harrison, Beyoncé Knowles, Eugene Record (see lyrics here) Released: May 19, 2003 First Charted: May 24, 2003 Peak: 18 US, 12 RR, 29 A40, 13 RB, 13 UK, 2 CN, 2 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.57 US, 1.2 UK, 8.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 751.77 video, 969.72 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: For the modern day Supremes, the power pop/R&B trio, their diva leader Diana Ross, and the legendary music mogul romantically linked to the diva were recast as Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z. Like Ross, Beyoncé’s time with the group who gave her a taste of #1 success proved a stepping stone to solo success. Still, no one was quite prepared for what a monster she had right out of the gate. “Crazy in Love” won the 2003 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song and was the only tune from 2003 to top both the US and UK charts. SF On the strength of what NME magazine called her “finest single,” NME “The groove…was not quite like anything else on the charts – toughter than pop but too smooth for the average R&B hit. The extra element would seem to be the singer herself.” TC Beyoncé became “the definitive female R&B singer of her era,’” PF “the heiress to Ruth Brown and Etta James and Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin.” PD Beyoncé’s link to divas from other eras can be partially credited to Grammy-winning producer Rich Harrison. He’d sat for awhile on a demo built on a horn sample from “Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So),” a 1970 top 10 R&B hit from the Chi-Lites. When he shared it with Beyoncé, she thought it was too retro, but gave Harrison two hours to come up with lyrics. He was inspired by her saying “I’m looking “crazy right now.” WK “The freakishly charismatic Jay-Z” PF guests on the song and supposedly convinced Columbia Records to release this as Beyoncé’s first proper single. TB He thought the rap up in about ten minutes and didn’t even write it down before he delivered it in the studio at about 3 in the morning. WK It wasn’t the last the world would hear of B and J; the pair would go on to become “the power couple of the decade – prettier than Brangelina, more clout than the Obamas.” SP Resources: TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 634. NME NME.com (11/11/09). 100 Tracks of the Decade PF Pitchfork.com (8/21/2009). “The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s” PD Popdose.com (11/24/2009). “The Popdose 100: The Best Songs of the Decade” SP Spinner.com (11/24/2009). “Best Songs of the 2000s” Related Links: First posted 10/30/2019; last updated 9/5/2023.

Beyoncé Dangerously in Love hit #1

Dangerously in Love Beyoncé

Released: June 17, 2003 Peak: 11 US, 11 RB, 15 UK, 111 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 1.26 UK, 11.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: R&B

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Crazy in Love [with Jay-Z] (5/19/03, 18 BB, 18 BA, 12 RR, 29 A40, 13 RB, 13 UK, 2 CN, 2 AU, 1 RB, sales: 8 million) Naughty Girl (3/6/04, 3 BB, 2 RR, 8 RB, 10 UK, 2 CN, 9 AU, sales: 1 million) Baby Boy [with Sean Paul] (7/5/03, 19 BB, 19 BA, 14 RR, 15 RB, 2 UK, 2 CN, 3 AU, sales: 2 million) Hip Hop Star [with Big Boi & Sleepy Brown] Be with You Me, Myself and I (10/21/03, 4 BB, 18 RR, 2 RB, 11 UK, 7 CN, 11 AU, sales: 1 million) Yes Signs [with Missy Elliott] Speechless That’s How You Like It [with Jay-Z] The Closer I Get to You [with Luther Vandross] (7/24/03, 62 RB) Dangerously in Love 2 (7/3/04, 57 US, 17 RB) Beyoncé Interlude Gift from Virgo Daddy Total Running Time: 60:52

Rating: 3.887 out of 5.00 (average of 31 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born in 1981 in Houston, Texas. As a teenager, she was signed to Columbia Records as part of the R&B group Destiny’s Child, which was managed by her father Mathew Knowles. They released five studio albums from 1998 to 2004, producing Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers with “Bills, Bills, Bills,” “Say My Name,” “Independent Women,” and “Bootylicious.” She “was always presented as the star of Destiny’s Child…so it was a natural step for her to step into the diva spotlight with a solo album in 2003…Still, a singer takes a risk when going solo, as there’s no guarantee that her/his star will still shine as bright.” AMG The resulting album, Dangerously in Love, found a way to “appeal to a broad audience while making it sound relatively easy.” AMG The album was “a mixture of uptempo tracks and ballads, all of which are primarily R&B songs, while also incorporating elements of soul, hip hop, and Arabic music.” WK The title cut, actually called Dangerously in Love 2, was a reworking of a song first recorded by Destiny’s Child on their 2001 Survivor album. When Beyoncé realized it “fit the overriding theme of her album” WK she re-recorded it for her solo album. The album’s thematic focus on love helped fuel the rumors at the time of a relationship between her and rapper Jay-Z. Of course, Beyoncé and Jay-Z would marry in 2008 and become the music industry’s greatest power couple, but at this point their relationship hadn’t been made public. The two had collaborated in 2002 on his song “03 Bonnie & Clyde” and then re-team on “the deliriously catchy” AMG Crazy in Love, the lead single from Dangerously in Love. The song would go on to rank in the Dave’s Music Database’s list of top 100 songs of all time. That #1 hit was followed by Baby Boy, which paired her with dancehall superstar Sean Paul. Like its predecessor it soared to the top of the pop and R&B charts. Throughout the album, Beyoncé “sounds assured and sexy on the dance numbers, particularly when she has a male counterpart.” AMG “These are the moments when Dangerously in Love not only works, but sounds like Knowles has fulfilled her potential and risen to the top of the pack of contemporary R&B divas.” AMG The first half of the album is highlighted by the appearance of those two singles as well as Naughty Girl and Me, Myself, and I. Both were top five hits on the pop chart and reached the top 10 on the R&B chart. That “ first half is good enough to make Dangerously in Love one of the best mainstream urban R&B records released in 2003.” AMG The Grammys apparently agreed, naming it the R&B Contemporary Album of the Year. “The astrological ode Signs,” AMG which pairs Beyoncé with rapper Missy Elliott, shows up at about the halfway point, serving as a divider between the stronger, more upbeat material and “a prolonged sequence of ballads that get stuck in their own treacle.” AMG These are “capped off by the unbearably mawkish closer, Gift from Virgo, where she wishes her unborn child and her husband to be like her daddy.” AMG This was five years before Queen Bey was married and nine years before she gave birth to Blue Ivy, her first child. These songs “are a little formless” AMG but “impeccably produced” AMG. They “would have been more digestible if spread throughout the record.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 1/20/2009; last updated 3/3/2024.

100 years ago: “Hiawatha” hit #1

Hiawatha (His Song to Minnehaha) Harry MacDonough

Writer(s): Neal Moret (music), James O’Dea (lyrics) (see lyrics here) First Charted: May 1, 1903 Peak: 14 US, 13 GA, 16 SM (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Originally subtitled “A Summer Idyll,” “Hiawatha” was written by Charles N. Daniels under the pseudonym of Neil Moret SM and published in 1901. It was an instrumental tribute to Hiawatha, Kansas. SM Moret had lived in Kansas City and dated a girl from Hiawatha. TY2 The melody came to him one day when he was headed to visit her. TY2 John Philip Sousa introduced the song, adding it to his band’s repertoire. TY2 James O’Dea wrote lyrics for it a few years later which changed the song into one about a man who falls for an Indian princess. The subtitle changed to “His Song to Minnehaha,” a reference to a fictional character in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Song of Hiawatha.” SM The song started a trend of Indian songs, DJ including Fred Hager’s “Laughing Water,” Kerry Mills’ “Red Wing,” Egbert Van Alstyne’s “Navajo” and “Seminole,” and Percy Wenrich’s “Silver Bell.” TY2 Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan recorded a parody version called “Parody on Hiawatha.” TY The first chart version of the song was by the Columbia Orchestra in April 1903, reaching #3. Harry MacDonough followed with the most popular version of the song, going all the way to #1. Dan Quinn also had a hit with it that year, hitting #3. Sousa recorded the song as “Hiawatha Two-Step,” and it was also a #3 hit. At the time, it was common to record songs on cylinders, which had a limited run time. However, “Hiawatha” was recorded on a 78 rpm flat disc to allow for a longer, three minute + run time. SM Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 75. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 20. Related Links: Last updated 12/15/2022.