Turn back the clock a few years to the summer of 2000, turn on the radio, and it is the futuristic hip hop sound of Timbaland and Scott Garrett producing Aaliyah on "Try Again," jam band Vertical Horizon's pop breakthrough "Everything You Want," and the soulful crooning of Joe on "I Wanna Know" that are most likely to come to mind.
This list of the top 10 pop songs of the summer 2000 is based on data from record industry charts from the months of June, July, and August 2000.
1. Aaliyah - Try Again
Courtesy Blackground
2000 was a peak year for r&b vocalist Aaliyah. She made her movie debut co-starring with Jet Li in the martial arts thriller Romeo Must Die. The soundtrack for the film featured four Aaliyah songs including "Try Again," the first and only #1 pop single of her career. Sadly, Aaliyah perished in a plane crash near the end of the summer of 2001.
2. Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
Courtesy RCA
The jam band Vertical Horizon had rambled around for most of the 1990's performing live, recording an occasional album, and gathering a dedicated fan following. Near the end of the decade the band signed a major label recording contract with RCA Records. Vertical Horizon's first new album for the label, Everything You Want, included the smash hit title song that became one of the biggest radio hits of the summer of 2000.
3. Joe - I Wanna Know
Courtesy Jive Records
My Name Is Joe, the fourth album by the r&b singer Joe Thomas, better known simply as Joe, was a career-making album. He had been featured on Mariah Carey's #1 hit single "Thank God I Found You" in 1999 as well as having recorded a string of successful r&b singles. However, "I Wanna Know" became the hit pop single that just would not go away. Ultimately, it spent 44 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
4. NSYNC - It's Gonna Be Me
Courtesy Jive Records
Boy band NSYNC smashed the all-time record for first week album sales with their 2000 album No Strings Attached. It sold a phenomenal 2.4 million copies in the first week including a reported 1.1 million in one day. "It's Gonna Be Me," the second single from the album, became the group's first #1 pop hit single.
5. Matchbox Twenty - Bent
Courtesy Atlantic
After Rob Thomas, lead vocalist for Matchbox Twenty, became a recognized superstar singing lead on Santana's "Smooth," one of the biggest hit singles of all time, the band needed something special for their next effort. The album Mad Season provided that by spinning off the group's first #1 pop single "Bent."
6. Enrique Iglesias - Be With You
Courtesy Interscope
As 2000 began, Enrique Iglesias, son of the legendary Julio Iglesias, was the most successful Latin pop singer in the world. His song "Bailamos" from the soundtrack to the movie Wild Wild West reached #1 in 1999. That success set off a label bidding war for Enrique's contract. Signed to Interscope, his first English language album Enrique included "Be With You," his second #1 pop hit single.
7. Creed - Higher
Courtesy Wind-Up
Florida band Creed had a surprise hit with their first album, 1997's My Own Prison. They demonstrated that the grunge sound of the early 1990's could be welded to pop melodies to create a commercially potent sound. Their second album Human Clay debuted at #1 on the strength of the single "Higher" which became their first top 10 pop hit single.
8. Eminem - The Real Slim Shady
Courtesy Aftermath/Interscope
Eminem's Slim Shady LP was big in 1999 reaching #2 on the album chart, but the Marshall Mathers LP was huge the following year spending 8 weeks at #1 on the album chart and ultimately selling over 20 million copies worldwide. It was introduced to the world with the single "The Real Slim Shady" and its catchy chorus "please stand up, please stand up."
9. Toni Braxton - He Wasn't Man Enough
Courtesy LaFace
3 1/2 years after her breakthrough album Secrets, Toni Braxton released the single "He Wasn't Man Enough" as a preview for the album The Heat. It reached #2 on the pop singles chart and became one of the biggest hits of the early summer.
10. Faith Hill - Breathe
Courtesy Warner Bros.
The album Faith moved Faith Hill toward the pop mainstream and included the top 10 hit "This Kiss." However, it was her followup album and single Breathe that sealed the deal. Both the album and the single reached #1 and the song "Breathe" became the biggest radio hit of 2000.
