Singles Rate: 2003 (Winner announced!)

[TwistedElegance™]

2000 Winner: Doesn't Really Matter by Janet Jackson

2001 Winner: All For You by Janet Jackson

2002 Winner: Tie between Lose Yourself by Eminem and Work It by Missy Elliott

 

 

2003 was the year the United States invaded Iraq; Arnold Scwarzenegger was voted governor of California; and on its 28th mission, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart in a ball of fire while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, killing the seven astronauts aboard.

Destiny's Child never managed to have the No. 1 song of the year, though the trio came close in 2000, when Independent Women Part 1 finished in second place. The first member of the group to top a year-end recap was Kelly Rowland, who was featured on Nelly's Dilemma, the No. 1 single of 2002. In 2003, it was Beyoncé's turn. Baby Boy, featuring Sean Paul, ranked No. 1 for the year. Like Nelly in 2002, Beyoncé had two songs in the Top 4 of 2003. Crazy In Love, featuring Jay-Z, ended up in fourth place. It was the first single from her Dangerously In Love album and it had an eight-week run at No. 1. The follow-up, Baby Boy, lasted one frame longer, reigning for nine weeks. While Kelly Rowland was featured on the top song of 2002, Beyoncé was the first lead female artist to have the No. 1 song of the year since 1996, when Toni Braxton led the annual recap with Un-Break My Heart.

The No. 2 single of 2003 was by Curtis Jackson from South Jamaica, Queens, New York. A drug user and dealer by the time he was 12, he borrowed the name 50 Cent from a local thug. "I'm named after a gangster from the Fort Greene projects," he explained. "There was another 50 Cent ahead of me who was running around the street. Me finding success as a rap artist is a dream that's bigger than anything that guy has ever done in his life, but he'll be remembered because of that name." 50 Cent was originally signed to Columbia Records, but he was dropped from the label after he was shot nine times while on his way to a tattoo parlor. He worked on mixtapes for the independent G-Unit imprint and sent tracks to Eminem's manager. In June 2002, Eminem and Dr. Dre signed 50 Cent to Shady/Aftermath. When 50 Cent heard a track that had been discarded as a D-12 song for the 8 Mile soundtrack, he grabbed a notepad and within an hour had written the verses and choruses for In Da Club. He recorded most of his vocals that same night. The single ruled the Hot 100 for nine weeks. The follow-up, 21 Questions, also went to No. 1 and is the No. 11 song of 2003. It samples a Barry White song, It's Only Love Doing Its Thing, chopped up and transformed into a different melody. The track found its way to Dino Devaille, senior vice president of A&R for Universal Music, who passed it along to 50 Cent. The rapper declared it was a hit record and wrote the words. "I like to write my lyrics to the music... I start with the chorus because that's what it's about." 50 Cent had five songs on the 2003 recap. In addition to In Da Club and 21 Questions, he was on the tally with his own P.I.M.P. at No. 26 and Wanksta at No. 63. He was also No. 14 with Magic Stick, billed to Lil' Kim featuring 50 Cent.

The Atlanta-based duo OutKast had its highest-ranked year-end hit yet with Hey Ya! at No. 3, outdistancing the No. 22 position of Ms. Jackson in 2001. Ms. Jackson topped the Hot 100, but Hey Ya! was a runaway smash, sitting at No. 1 for nine weeks, just like Baby Boy and In Da Club.

Beyoncé wasn't the only artist with two hits in the Top 5 of the 2003 tally. Her guest artist on Baby Boy, Sean Paul, was also No. 5 with his own hit, Get Busy. Paul grew up in Kingston listening to the music that his mother loved - ballads by The Beatles, The Carpenters and Simon & Garfunkel. He heard reggae music on the radio and started writing his own songs as a teenager. He was the first artist born in Jamaica to have the No. 1 song of the year, but not the first to be in the Top 10. In 1974, Carl Douglas ranked No. 6 with Kung Fu Fighting. Some 20 years later, Ini Kamoze had the No. 9 song of 1994, Here Comes the Hotstepper. And in 2001, Shaggy and featured artist RikRok were No. 8 with It Wasn't Me.

Nelly, fresh from finishing first and fourth the year before with Dilemma and Hot In Herre, respectively, was back in the annual Top 10 with a song form the soundtrack to Bad Boys II. Shake Ya Tailfeather, recorded with P. Diddy and Murphy Lee, was No. 6 for the year. Diddy was also in the Top 10 for the second year in a row; he had the No. 10 song of 2002 with I Need a Girl (Part One), recorded with Usher and Loon. Diddy was also No. 13 for 2003, thanks to his collaboration with B2K on Bump, Bump, Bump. It made 2003 the best chart year for Diddy since 1997, when he was still Puff Daddy. He had the No. 3 song that year, I'll Be Missing You, with Faith Evans and 112, and the No. 4 song, Mo Money Mo Problems, with the Notorious B.I.G. and Mase.

Making an appearance in the year-end Top 10 for the third consecutive year was Jennifer Lopez, No. 10 with All I Have, a song that featured LL Cool J. In 2002, Lopez and Ja Rule were No. 5 with Ain't It Funny. One year earlier, they were No. 4 with I'm Real. Teaming with Lopez in 2003 gave LL Cool J his first year-end Top 10 hit. He ranked No. 30 in 2002 with Luv U Better, No. 26 in 1996 with Loungin, and No. 13 in 1995 with Hey Lover.

R. Kelly equaled his highest year-end position by placing 8th with Ignition. He had also been No. 8 in 1994 with Bump N' Grind. In 1998, his duet with Celine Dion, I'm Your Angel, ranked ninth. In addition to Ignition, Kelly was also No. 42 for 2003 with Step In the Name of Love, No. 54 with Thoia Thoing, and No. 84 with Snake, which featured Big Tigger.

Kelly Clarkson had finished the previous year in 18th place with her debut single, A Moment Like This, the first song by and American Idol finalist to appear on a year-end chart. In the second year of the series, the highest-ranked Idol song was by that season's runner-up, Clay Aiken. The native of Raleigh, North Carolina, had the No. 39 single of the year with his debut release, This Is the Night. The song had been written for the first season of the series at a songwriting camp run by Desmond Child. During one session, songwriters Aldo Nova, Gary Burr, and Chris Braide teamed up and wrote the song based on a melody composed by Nova. Clive Davis, head of RCA and J, assigned This Is the Night to top four finalists Aiken and Josh Gracin. Gracin was voted off, and Aiken sang This Is the Night on the season finale. At the same time, Davis assigned another song to top four finalists Ruben Studdard and Kimberley Locke. When Locke was voted off, Studdard sang Flying Without Wings on the season finale. A remake of a song by Irish boy band Westlife, Flying Without Wings finished 2003 as song No. 58. Clarkson was also on the year-end chart with No. 49, Miss Independent.

 

Click the link below to see all the songs which made it to the Top 5 of Billboard's Hot 100 for 2003. Submit your vote by scoring each song out of 10 (10 being the greatest). The average will then determine our Singles Rate for the year. Votes must be submitted in the next 72 hours.

 

VOTE HERE!

[jarrylf]

[Rock & Roll Hall of Game]

But seriously... This year has SOOO many gems 

[jarrylf]

Yea this was a really good year 

[bu.]

Y'all better leave your bias out the door and do Beyoncé right

 

[hotboy06]

VOTED.

[hotboy06]

I gave out so many 10's.

[RedSimba]

Oh shoot, I got 55 hours left lol! I'll submit my votes tonight but I'll have to relisten to a some of these (a couple I never even heard before lol)

[bu.]

I can't open the link

[TwistedElegance™]

I can't open the link

Neither could Andy. I've re-created the form so it should be working now.

Game, Jarryl & hots (and anyone else) - you'll have to re-submit yours, sorry. I don't know what went wrong.

[LyricalLesson]

This year was fantastic...SO many 8's 9's and 10's given out!

I screenshot my votes so I can remember when the placements are revealed.

I LOVE playing this singles rate game.

[hotboy06]

Neither could Andy. I've re-created the form so it should be working now.

Game, Jarryl & hots (and anyone else) - you'll have to re-submit yours, sorry. I don't know what went wrong.

dka;ljdf;lkaj;dfj;akljdf;alkjdf;klajd'f

Lemme sabotage a few songs for your treachery.

 

[hotboy06]

Why couldn't this go wrong for 2002?

[bu.]

Neither could Andy. I've re-created the form so it should be working now.

Game, Jarryl & hots (and anyone else) - you'll have to re-submit yours, sorry. I don't know what went wrong.

Google was like "I'm planning a family"

 

[hotboy06]

The page isn't working.

[Rock & Roll Hall of Game]

Google was like "I'm planning a family"

 

 fuck you!!!

nnext time I go on vacation and I have to submit vacation time.. The comment will be "I'm planning a family"  

[bu.]

 fuck you!!!

nnext time I go on vacation and I have to submit vacation time.. The comment will be "I'm planning a family"  

!!

 

Edited May 25, 2016 by Dammn Bu

[hotboy06]

impactNET.

[Rock & Roll Hall of Game]

!!

 

FUCCCCKKKKKI THAT IS FUNNY  

[RedSimba]

Just submitted!  2003 was a heads and shoulders improvement over 2002 iyam. I handed out a lot more 8+ ratings this round

[Rock & Roll Hall of Game]

Neither could Andy. I've re-created the form so it should be working now.

Game, Jarryl & hots (and anyone else) - you'll have to re-submit yours, sorry. I don't know what went wrong.

#ConspiracyTheory #Make2003GreatAgain

Edited May 26, 2016 by Game

[TwistedElegance™]

Just waiting on hotboy's votes to be re-submitted.

[Rock & Roll Hall of Game]

Or nah  

@hotboy06 HURRY UP

[Bailey]

Y'all better leave your bias out the door and do Beyoncé right

 

thats exactly what I intend to do with her

[Bailey]

shit its soooo many 10's though

Edited June 1, 2016 by Stealth