Beyoncé hit #1 with “Single Ladies”

Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) Beyoncé

Writer(s): Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (see lyrics here) Released: October 12, 2008 First Charted: October 25, 2008 Peak: 14 US, 13 RR, 16 A40, 112 RB, 7 UK, 2 CN, 5 AU, 4 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 13.0 US, 1.4 UK, 15.9 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 934.31 video, 577.17 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: With “Single Ladies” Beyoncé gave the world “a dance craze that requires little more than the deployment of jazz hands with a wrist twist.” NPR’09 It helped that the song was accompanied by a “stunning, iconic black and white video” AB’00 which featured Beyoncé and two other dancers. It was famously lampooned on Saturday Night Live by Justin Timberlake and launched more than a few parodies on YouTube. Rapper Kanye West thought it so worthy of attention that he infamously interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the Video Music Awards to tell the world so. With a message “as complicated as half a decade of psychotherapy,” TM the song captured the persona of Beyoncé as a woman “who won’t settle for less than the best.” TM She “sounds like a total pro: contained, on-message,” NPR’09 as she issues “her definitive statement for ladies stuck in limbo with a dude who can’t commit.” RS’09 Musically, “Single Ladies” “encapsulates the lessons pop songs have picked up from hip-hop: that a great beat and a great voice can carry a lot of weight, that a slightly sour sound (the little electronic swoop that keeps tugging at the song’s fringe) can make everything else sweeter, that looping your audience into a hook is a great idea.” TM The song also established The-Dream and Tricky Stewart as “the premier pop songwriters and producers of the late 2000s” NPR’09 and even let Beyoncé “stake a claim to the title Queen of Pop,” NPR’09 even if the likes of Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry were waiting in line to swipe it from her. Resources: ID Idolator.com (11/23/09) NPR’s Songs of the Decade from Boy Bands to “Single Ladies”. By Becky Bain. RS’09 Rolling Stone (12/9/09). “Songs of the Decade” TM Time magazine (10/24/2011). “All Time 100 Songs” Related Links: First posted 1/29/2021; last updated 9/5/2023.

Rihanna hit #1 with “Umbrella”

Umbrella Rihanna with Jay-Z

Writer(s): Terius “The-Dream” Nash, Christopher “Tricky” Stewart/Jay-Z (see lyrics here) Released: March 29, 2007 First Charted: April 8, 2007 Peak: 17 US, 14 BA, 15 DG, 2 RR, 28 A40, 4 RB, 110 UK, 14 CN, 16 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 1.2 UK, 11.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 1127.2 video, 1205.67 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Rihanna had a string of hits throughout the decade, but “this song was 2007, plain and simple” PE and “may be the track that most defined pop music in the ’00s.” PD While constructed around a hip-hop beat and given a slick R&B-style production, it also had “an edgy rock sound” AB and a “quasi-yodeled chorus” CBC “so toweringly great it transcends genre boundaries.” NME Rihanna told Q magazine “’it was one of the most original sounds that I’d heard for a while. But a lot of people didn’t really understand it. They thought the repetition was annoying. But I knew that was what people would catch on to right away, because that’s what stuck in my head.’” SF As Adam Graham notes in the Detroit News, “just try to deny that you’ve added your own ‘ella… ella… ay’ every time you’ve heard or used the word umbrella since.” DN The song was first sent to Britney Spears, who had recorded “Me Against the Music,” which Nash also helped pen, but after her people rejected it as not having hit potential, it was offered to Mary J. Blige. However, Jay-Z aggressively pursued the song, deciding it was perfect for Rihanna. SF He even added “a fairly unnecessary, but marketable, guest rap.” PD The song also works as a metaphor as Rihanna sings to a partner about being there for him through good and bad. SF She says, “‘an umbrella is protection, it protects you from rain. The rain in this case is negativeness and vulnerability.’” SF Rihanna told the Daily Mirror umbrellas have now cropped up in mass quantities at her shows and dancefloors. SF The song became the longest-running #1 of the decade in the U.K. and topped the charts in multiple other countries. Resources: AB About.com: Top 100 Pop Songs of the 2000s by Bill Lamb. CBC CBC News (11/6/2009). “The 10 Defining Singles and Albums of This Decade” DN Detroit News (12/26/2009). “The Top 10 Songs of the ‘00s Grapevine” NME NME.com (11/11/09). 100 Tracks of the Decade PD Popdose.com (11/24/2009). “The Popdose 100: The Best Songs of the Decade” PE PopEater.com (11/24/2009). “Best Pop Songs of the Decade” Related Links: Last updated 7/23/2023.