U2 Songs 2000s

[Tabita Knezevic]

TheTop 100 songs of the 2000s, featuring an eclectic mix of pop, rock, country, hip-hop, and R&B, reflect a decade of genre-blending and timeless tracks. Artists ranging from Eminem to Taylor Swift to Rihanna have left a lasting legacy with their chart-topping hits.

This selection not only spans musical styles but also generations, showcasing tracks that have remarkably stood the test of time. Delve into the diverse sounds that made the 2000s a memorable era for music enthusiasts.

Below are the Nolan Method Top 100 Songs of the 2000s. Depending on the decade, these charts are based on the best-selling and most popular songs played on Top 40 radio stations in the United States.

Also compiled under the Nolan method are the Top 100 Artists and Top 100 Albums of the 2000s. You can listen to all these great songs of the 1990s using our Spotify music player here: 2000s Playlists .

Walking around the city, I often take notice of how common low-rise jeans or large hoop earrings have become. Yeah, those are from the 2000s. As someone who loves fashion, this is honestly one of those fashion trends that excites me so much. Not only are we getting the music back, but we are also getting the fashion back, which makes the era all the more immersive.

Low-rise jeans are a fashion trend that I strongly disliked at first, but now, I love rocking a good pair of them from Zara, or even a pair of low-rise flares. I know the low-rise jeans trend has been popular for a while, but recently, I feel like wherever I look, someone is wearing a pair of them.

Sydney Sweeney also wore a similar dress to the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. While there was a lot of intense controversy around this fashion statement, I am in support of the trend, as it represents the nonchalant fashion of the decade.

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In Complex's epic Best of the 2000s series, we've already delved into the decade's best albums and music videos, but there's one more list we need to complete our musical obsession. To cap off our epic journey, we've got what might be our most controversial list yet: The 100 Best Songs Of The 2000s. There were too many amazing songs over the last 10 years, so we tried our best to select only the essential classics that kept the Complex world spinning. Whether you popped bottles to 50's "In Da Club," or jammed out to MGMT's "Kids" there's something for everyone to reminisce on. Just press play...

At the decade's onset, Southern rap was just becoming a viable commodity for the hip-hop community, and it took years for that to happen. So the last thing anyone expected was for this guy from the Midwest to come out of St. Louis and take over the rap game, but great songs help defy expectations. "Country Grammar" had street content, but the nursery rhyme hook made it equally irresistible to pop audiences, pushing sales of the album of the same name past 9 million.

You know those nights when you can't seem to get a grip on happiness no matter how many bottles you pop? LCD Soundsystem's instant classic, "All My Friends," was made for that moment. This eight-minute epic examines the feeling that comes along with the realization of older age; when drugs and disposable conversation no longer excite. With that said, we still "wouldn't trade one stupid decision for another five years of life," but thanks to James Murphy, we know we're not the only ones.

Before 'Ye devoted an entire album to the disintegration of a past love, he came up with this electro-tinged song about a girl who falls in love more with high life than life with him. All laser sharp synths and swelling strings, the song has Kanye doing what he does best: talking openly and unabashedly about his feelings. Ooh, he's so sensitive!

These four guys from Nashville are one of today's biggest rock acts, but if you ask us, they made their best music before they were on everyone's radar. In a discography full of mainstream and critically acclaimed hits alike, nothing stands out more than "King of the Rodeo," the third single from Aha Shake Heartbreak. In just over two minutes, we were taken aback by the band's unique brand of Southern rock and we still think it's much better than anything the radio has overplayed in the last year or so.

U.S. labels had given reggae a shot in the '90s, signing everyone from Shabba Ranks to Lt. Stitchie, but it was nothing compared to the gold rush after Sean Paul's party anthem flattened urban radio. He'd had crossover hits before ("Deport Dem," "Infiltrate"), but this one helped his album Dutty Rock to multi-platinum status.

Whoooooooooooooooooooo! The Crakk man one-ups Ric Flair in the opening seconds of this energetic club banger. You hear that sound, and you know it's on. Free rips it, Peedi steals it, and J.B. comes through with the remedy. Again.

The lead single off Rihanna's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, "Umbrella" marked a shift in sound that matched her makeover. With a more mature sound (not to mention a sexy-ass video in which she wore silver body paint) Rihanna won over fans and Grammy voters, taking 2008 "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" with Jay-Z. Oh, and it also fueled rumors that Ri-Ri was Jigga's side piece.

A sick video featuring So-Me's vibrant art pushed this funky feel-good disco anthem into the American mainstream, a first for the previously obscure French electro-house duo. The throwback beat and chorus of kids, which uses lines from various Michael Jackson songs, had everyone from rappers to indie rockers actually dancing.

Back when Rocafella was one big happy family, Killa and Kanye teamed-up on this track that mixed soulful production with ignorant raps. In the song, all three verses contain some of Cam's most quotable lyrics, which included him playing razor tag, and harlem shaking at people's wakes.

It had been a minute since Baby Cham had run the charts, but when he dropped the "Baby" and emerged with another Madhouse exclusive, the streets DUN. Spare, chilling, and hopeful, all at the same time.

Karen O is fantastically spastic and fierce on her band's debut LP, Fever to Tell, but on the third single she showed her vulnerable side, pleading with a lover as the distance between them grows. "Maps" not only made her a stronger lead singer but it also provided solace for lots of people suffering through a breakup. We're sure it's come in handy for all the chicks we've stepped out on.

The Miami vet has made a lot of great songs, but none of them are quite like this wistful ode to blowing dro that had America chanting "Trick Love the Kids!" It's Jazze Pha's least annoying song ever, a winning combination that brought a fitting blues vibe to Trick's distinctive old-soul voice.

As soon as you hear The-Dream croon: "Girl I'm in love with you, baby!" you already know what it is: Another club banger. Over Tricky's intoxicating and jovial production, The-Dream straddles the line between crude and endearing as he admires a girls moves and frame from afar. We've all been there before, which is why the song resonates so damn well.

Most Americans don't know shit about Indian bhangra music, but if Hov tells us something is cool we listen. While vacationing in Europe, he caught wind of this smash bhangra/hip-hop mash-up, which samples the Knight Rider theme, and decided to hook up with Panjabi MC for a remix. Just like that we all started banging bhangra, and Indians forgave Jigga for once asking, "red dot or feather?"

Critics always said that Fab was always better on other people's songs, but when this Just Blaze-produced track dropped, the critics were silenced. Think of all the material Fab has put out, and then realize this was his best song ever. Says a lot.

When the classic Taxi riddim got re-licked for the umpteen millionth time, Buju's cut about a weed smugger giving instructions to a driver was the clear standout. "I got a Nextel phone and a cellular chip/any problem you can reach me pon this/pounds dem a buy when the tons dem a ship/green like grass, brown like chocolate." Sorry, Rawse, this is what the drug game is really like.

Underrated Alabama rapper Rich Boy hit the pop charts with his debut single, a soulful ode to his Cadillac that still stands as one of the decade's most effortlessly anthems. It's the rare song that can make you feel wistfully nostalgic while reciting lyrics like "Take a bad yellow bitch, make her drop them draws/I'ma show you how to ball, middle finger to the law!"

The debut album from these British electro poppers put them on the indie music map, but it was "Over and Over," the first single from their sophomore effort, The Warning, that made sure Hot Chip didn't become another one of the scene's forgotten buzz bands. They've made a respectable amount of good music since, but "Over and Over" is poised to stand the test of time as Hot Chip's crowning achievement.

The Neptunes production turns this a sad, scornful topic into a upbeat, joyous party anthem. Balancing his Teflon playa image perfectly with that of a guy who's heart on his sleeve has been broken, it made for a good song to play if your girl played you. And for a minute, this song made us think Usher might be the new Michael Jackson.

Like his waist size, Officer Ricky's first hit was huge. Besides proclaiming (and lying in the process) that "The Real Noreaga" owes him like 100 favors, the Bawse made a paper-chasing anthem that inspired a million screwed-hook copycats and gave Miami rap a second chance at life.

Mars Volta on pop radio?? The relentlessly experimental rockers almost crossed over with this heart-wrenching ballad from their 2005 opus Frances The Mute, one of their few songs that actually sounds better outside of the album context.

In many ways, Baton Rouge's Trill Entertainment picked up where Mannie Fresh-era Cash Money left off, with bouncy synth anthems and sentimental thug ballads. Their popularity peaked in the summer of 2007 on this sinister club anthem. The song's original owner, Foxx, was overshadowed on the hit remix by the label's two stars, especially Boosie Bad Azz's hilariously cool verse about Fresh J's and girls trying to steal his underwear.

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