Gwen Stefani “Hollaback Girl” hit #1

Hollaback Girl Gwen Stefani

Writer(s): Gwen Stefani, Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo (see lyrics here) Released: March 22, 2005 First Charted: April 2, 2005 Peak: 14 BB, 19 DG, 16 RR, 18 A40, 8 RB, 8 UK, 1 CN, 11 AU, 14 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.60 UK, 7.99 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.40 radio, 256.20 video, 804.69 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Gwen Stefani was born in 1969 in California. She rose to fame as the lead singer with No Doubt, a ska-pop outfit that sold more than 15 million copies of their 1995 album Tragic Kingdom on the strength of hits like “Don’t Speak” and “the pop-feminist anthem” SG “Just a Girl.” In 2000, No Doubt released the platinum-selling Return of Saturn. That same year, Stefani guested on Moby’s “South Side” (#14) and Eve’s “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” (#2) before No Doubt released Rock Steady in 2001. It gave the band top-ten hits with “the cartoonish bop ‘Hey Baby’” SG and “the slow-winding love-ballad ‘Underneath It All.’” SG One more top-ten hit came in 2003 with the band’s cover of Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life.” Stefani embarked on a solo career in 2004 with the album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. “She had big ideas about centrist pop music, about bringing back the bright and dizzy ‘80s sounds that she’d loved in high school.” SG The album’s first single, “the hammering dance track ‘What You Waiting For?’,” SG was “about the anxiety of starting a solo career” SG and stalled at #47. The second single, “Rich Girl,” reunited Stefani with “Eve and Dr. Dre to flip a Fiddler on the Roof number into gleaming dancehall-pop,” SG reaching #7. It was the album’s third single that was most responsible for propelling the album to sales of eight million worldwide. The #1 single "Hollaback Girl” was “a berserk cheerleader-chant earworm about wanting to fight Courtney Love.” SG Stefani recorded the song with the Neptunes, the production team of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo with whom she’d worked on No Doubt’s top-20 hit “Hella Good.” According to Williams, supermodel Naomi Campbell inspired the song’s title. She referenced a song called “Holla Back” by Fabolous in telling someone she had a name and wasn’t a “hollaback girl.” SG For Stefani, however, it was retaliation for Hole’s Courtney Love characterizing Stefani as a high school cheerleader. SG For the song, Stefani adopted “the persona of a high-school kid confronting another high-school kid.” SG “Hollaback Girl” “ultimately comes off as less of a song and more of a collection of catchphrases.” SG “Stefani does more shouting than singing, and she does that singing in an exaggerated valley-girl Betty Boop accent.” SG The song’s “beat imitates the sound of funky Southern HBCU marching bands, and that sound animated a lot of the best rap and R&B hits of the mid-‘00s.” SG Resources: SG Stereogum (12/23/2022). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan Related Links: First posted 1/23/2026.

Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” spends 7th week at #1

Hot in Herre Nelly

Writer(s): Cornell Haynes Jr., Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Charles L. Brown (see lyrics here) Released: April 16, 2002 First Charted: April 26, 2002 Peak: 17 US, 12 RR, 16 RB, 4 UK, 13 CN, 3 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.6 UK, 2.93 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.4 radio, 158.0 video, 401.49 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Find…a summer song more apt to get any party started, no matter how resistant the crowd.” LR With its “ultra-catchy chorus” AB’00 “Hot in Herre” landed Nelly his first #1 pop song in the U.S. and became “one of the top party tracks of the decade.” AB’00 The song also hit #1 in Canada and was a top ten hit throughout the world. WK The Neptunes, comprised of the team of Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, produced the “catchy and flirty tune.” TB They also did songs for Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and others. SF The song incorporates the hook from the 1979 Chuck Brown single “Bustin’ Loose,” as well as samples from Neil Young’s “There’s a World” and Nancy Sinatra’s “As Tears Go By.” WK Two videos were made for the song – one set in a dance club and another at the St. Louis Arch. The first video featured cameos by actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer, NBA player Carmelo Anthony, and NFL players T.J. Duckett and Julius Peppers. In one scene, club goers shout the chorus for the 1984 dance song “The Roof Is on Fire” by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three – while there was an actual fire burning in the club. WK Weird Al Yankovic recorded a parody (“Trash Day”) about a man who refuses to empty the garbage. SF Instead of the “it’s getting hot in here” chorus, Weird Al sang “there’s somethin’ rotten here, you better hold your nose.” WK The song was also parodied in a Mad TV sketch and performed by other artists including Devo, Jill Sobule, Wang Chung, and Widespread Panic. Canadian electronic artist Tiga shot a video of the song with puppets depicting cliché scenes from hip-hop videos of the era. WK Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Nelly AB’00 About.com (2009). “Top 100 Pop Songs of the 2000s” LR LowResolution.blogspot.com (1/4/2010). “Retrospecticus: 100 Favorite Songs of the Decade” SF Songfacts TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 300. WK Wikipedia Last updated 3/31/2023.