Top 10 Pop Music Producers 2007

Timbaland continued on a hot streak in 2007 which keeps him at the top of the pop producers list for the second year in a row. His success was highlighted by 3 consecutive #1 singles from his own album Timbaland Presents Shock Value. Among those hits, he helped launch a new band, OneRepublic, to stardom by collaborating on the #1 single "Apologize." Other successes during the year included his work on 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology" and drum contributions to Kanye West's #1 smash "Stronger."

Stargate emerged last year as one of the top r&b/pop producers in the US after their move to New York from their native Norway in 2005. In 2007 they seemed to be everywhere. Among the production and songwriting successes were Elliott Yamin's top 10 hit "Wait for You," Jordin Sparks' chart smash "Tattoo," and 2 superstar duets, "Hate That I Love You" by Rihanna and Ne-Yo along with "Beautiful Liar" by Beyonce and Shakira.

will.i.am, a member of the Black Eyed Peas as well as being one of the top creative production talents in the music industry, is one of the most frustrating of artists. In the same year he can churn out nearly embarrassing sexual fluff like his own single "I Got It From Mama" along with masterful pop productions like his work on Fergie's instantly classic #1 hit "Big Girls Don't Cry" or work from critically acclaimed rap master Talib Kweli.

Dr. Luke, aka Lukasz Gottwald, first became known to many American music fans through a 10-year stint as guitar player in the Saturday Night Live house band. Since then he has achieved success as a pop music producer both working as a team with Max Martin and on his own. This year Dr. Luke went to the top of the charts co-producing Pink's "Who Knew" with Max Martin. However, his greatest success of the year is undoubtedly as one of the primary producers for Avril Lavigne's 3rd solo album The Best Damn Thing including the big hit single "Girlfriend."

Before 2007 Howard Benson was probably best-known for his work as producer on My Chemical Romance's breakthrough album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and All-American Rejects big hit album Move Along. Then, in 2006, he was asked to work on the first album by former American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry and his self-named band Daughtry. The result was the biggest selling album of 2007.

Prior to 2007 Nate Hills was mainly known as a protege of this year's #1 producer Timbaland. However, early in the year his work on the debut album from Katharine McPhee introduced him to many pop music fans. The big breakthrough, however, occurred with a little single called "Gimme More" by Britney Spears.

The first big pop hit single produced by J.R. Rotem was Rihanna's #1 pop smash "S.O.S." from the spring of 2006. However, he gained major music industry notice when he helped an unknown teenager named Sean Kingston to the top of the pop charts with a single named "Beautiful Girls" in the summer of 2007. His production work on the single "He Said She Said" also brought Ashley Tisdale into the pop top 40 for the first time. J.R. Rotem has also been a favorite gossip magazine subject during much of 2007 due to rumors of a romantic relationship with Britney Spears.

Mark Ronson is still not a household name in the US although he is quite popular at home in the UK. One of his clients, however, is known worldwide. Ronson produced the breakthrough single "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. Later in the year he also received acclaim for a remix of the hit single "Wake Up Call" by Maroon 5 featuring Mary J. Blige. His second solo album as an artist, Version hit #2 on the UK album chart in 2007.

Rick Rubin is a pop music legend. He continued to add to his long list of seminal works in 2007 by bringing back the band Linkin Park on their album Minutes to Midnight and successfully urging them to explore new directions in their music.

Butch Walker made 2007 a good year both through work on individual tracks from Avril Lavigne's album The Best Damn Thing and a breakthrough, top 40 album Santi by the group the Academy Is...