Top 20 2000s One-Hit Wonders That Still Bang

MsMojo

Get ready to revisit the unforgettable tracks from the 2000s that still set the vibe wherever they're played. We're spotlighting those timeless chart-toppers that turned artists into instant stars—even if only for a moment. From dancefloor anthems to power-pop singalongs, these songs defined the decade and never fail to get the crowd moving whenever they come on. Which of these throwbacks still gets you hyped? Let us know below!

Transcript

00:00Five, six, and seven.

00:02Make them away downtown, walking fast, this is passing homebound.

00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo.

00:09And today, we're counting down our picks for the most unforgettable bops that defined the odds,

00:14and could still conquer the charts today.

00:16These songs had zero business being so catchy,

00:19but unfortunately did not propel the artist to lasting success,

00:23making everyone think they dipped.

00:30Number 20. Don't Think I'm Not, Kandi.

00:34Now I don't have to question where you were last night.

00:40You may know her from The Real Housewives of Atlanta or The Chi.

00:44However, for 90s kids, Kandi Burris is a certified hitmaker with Xscape fame.

00:49After winning a Grammy for co-writing TLC's iconic song No Scrubs,

00:53I don't want no scrub, no scrub doesn't gotta get no love from me.

00:58She had the world looking forward to her future.

01:00So when she went solo with Don't Think I'm Not, fans were obsessed.

01:07It was on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for months and dominated party playlists.

01:15The Miami bass beats and Kandi's smooth vocals were just hitting different.

01:19The song is still the perfect anthem for carefree queens who can't be played with.

01:23However, Kandi's solo singing career did not live up to the hype it built.

01:27She didn't make another album until 2010.

01:30And that is her latest.

01:32It's a mighty spot getting hot, don't stop.

01:35Just don't think I'm not, cause I'm not getting hot, fine.

01:39Number 19. Who Let the Dogs Out, Baha Men.

01:43Who let the dogs out?

01:44Who let the dogs out?

01:46Who let the dogs out?

01:48Who let the dogs out?

01:50Who let the dogs out?

01:52Are there any more songs ever?

01:53But fans beg to differ.

01:54This chaotic hit went platinum in the United Kingdom and peaked at number 18 on the U.S.

01:59Billboard Pop Airplay chart.

02:01It was viral before going viral was even a thing.

02:04However, the song wasn't able to build a solid identity for Baha Men in the international music scene.

02:17Most people only knew the catchy chorus and didn't actively seek out more music from the group.

02:22Sure, it was a Grammy-winning release, but it wasn't taken seriously,

02:25and the rest of the group's discography didn't have the same impact.

02:34Nevertheless, to this day, it is constantly referenced in pop culture and is a mainstay at sports events.

02:49Number 18, Absolutely, Story of a Girl, Nine Days.

02:59This power-pop love song soundtracked the story of many a teen's first crush.

03:03It was a hard-earned success for Nine Days, who had been in the music business for years without breaking into the mainstream.

03:17With Absolutely, Story of a Girl, they not only entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but also made it to the top 10.

03:23MTV and VH1 were generous with their promotion of the song, too.

03:27However, due to issues with their label, 550 Music, the band lost its momentum and could not deliver a strong follow-up.

03:42Years later, when different versions of Absolutely were created for and featured in Everything Everywhere all at once,

03:48Nine Days came under the spotlight again.

03:50Needless to say, each version was a masterpiece.

03:53Number 17, This Is Why I'm Hot, Mims.

04:07The New York rapper popped off with his signature record, paying homage to hip-hop greats like Mobb Deep, Snoop Dogg, and Ye.

04:13The beat switches up according to the area he's paying tribute to, but his rhythm and flow remain immaculate.

04:20This is why I'm hot, I'm hot cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not, this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot.

04:27What helped the track blow up even more was the lyrics.

04:30Simple and easy to follow.

04:32No wonder it topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and was one of the most popular ringtones back then.

04:3716 bars, 24 pop, 44 songs, give me what you got.

04:43All these years later, it is still impossible not to sing along to the chorus, even if ironically.

04:48However, Mims couldn't replicate his magic and eventually stopped releasing music entirely.

04:53This is why I'm hot, this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot.

04:58I'm hot cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not, this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot.

05:04Number 16, pop, lock, and drop it, Huey.

05:07Toot that thing up, mommy make it roll.

05:10Once you pop, pop, lock it for me, girl get roll.

05:13If your mama gave it to you.

05:15You couldn't walk into a party in the late 2000s without this banger blasting through the speakers.

05:20DJs never failed to include it in their set lists.

05:23And club goers had the titular dance moves down pat.

05:26Yeah, you cute, but don't let that shit go to your head.

05:29Cause what this cutie won't do, then another one will win.

05:33The song was a total earworm and impossible to forget.

05:36So famous MCs like Bow Wow and T-Pain jumped on remixes.

05:40By 2007, it had peaked on the U.S. Hot Rap Songs chart at number two and on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number six.

05:52Unfortunately, the success was short-lived and Huey retired from music to start a fashion company before passing away from a fatal shooting.

05:59Still, his legacy remains indelible because Pop, Lock, and Drop It never stopped being cool.

06:11A lot of things about this record were questionable.

06:22The music video was criticized for depicting a WLW relationship for shock factor.

06:27And the artists were accused of queerbaiting.

06:30However, one thing everyone acknowledged was that the song itself was hypnotizing.

06:34I've been serious.

06:36I feel totally lost.

06:37If I'm asking for help, it's only because being with you has opened my eyes.

06:42The mix of Eurodance and emo lyrics brought the pop fanatics and the scene kids together.

06:48Tattoo broke records, climbing up to the 20th spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and topped the U.K. singles chart, becoming the first Russian artist to do so.

06:56However, Tattoo never managed to outdo themselves.

07:07The track may have become a meme today because of its exaggerated angst, but there's no denying that we still head-bang to it.

07:22Number 14.

07:24Tipsy.

07:25Jay Kwan.

07:26The only problem with this song getting too big too fast was that everything else the artist released afterwards paled in comparison.

07:38Tipsy was a 17-year-old Jay Kwan's magnum opus.

07:41The lyrics channeled the carefree and rebellious energy of youth.

07:45And the beat was groovy enough to dominate club playlists.

07:48Everybody in the club get tipsy.

07:52Being a crowd pleaser, it landed high on the charts.

07:55Taking second place on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 list and topping the U.S. Hot Rap Songs ranking.

08:01It was not only ingrained into the pop landscape of the 2000s, but its impact is still felt, even though Jay Kwan's fame has faded.

08:08In fact, it's so timeless that when Shibuzy interpolated it for his song, A Bar Song Tipsy, it instantly became a chart-topping hit.

08:15Everybody at the bar get tipsy.

08:18Everybody at the bar get tipsy.

08:21Everybody at the bar get tipsy.

08:23This song was much more than an ode to a makeup staple.

08:33Lil' Mama gave teens all over the world the perfect dose of motivation to strut their stuff down intimidating school hallways.

08:40When that hook hit, it was like a shot of pure confidence, and you couldn't help stomping your feet to the beat.

08:45What you know about me? What you know about me? What you know about me? What you know about me? What you know?

08:49Except my lip gloss is cool. My lip gloss be poppin'. I'm sittin' at my locker and all the boys keep stoppin'.

08:55This was schoolyard rap at its simplest and best, and it was popping to say the least.

08:59Although the highest rank it reached on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart was 10th, it went platinum in teen bedrooms and school talent shows.

09:07Even now, if we heard that intro, we'd get to clapping.

09:16Meanwhile, Lil' Mama is focusing on her film and reality TV career.

09:20Yo, mom, this lip gloss is poppin'.

09:23Number 12, My Neck, My Back, Lick It, Kaya.

09:27All you ladies pop your f**k like this, shake your body, don't stop, don't miss.

09:32The enduring life of this song needs to be studied.

09:35Intellectuals have praised it for its empowering exploration of female pleasure.

09:39What really made it viral, however, was its unapologetically explicit lyrics set to a laid-back beat ideal for sweaty nights at the club.

09:46Don't stop, just do it, do it.

09:48Then you roll your tongue from the crack back to the front.

09:53One listen and you'd be hooked, repeating the chorus in your head until you got sick of it.

09:57Radio stations opted for a clean version, and all that airplay earned the track a place in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

10:03And my crack, my neck, my back.

10:07On social media, the name Kaya might now be synonymous with someone who's passed their peak.

10:11But the icon deserves respect for giving us this addictive hit.

10:15People still haven't forgotten the lyrics, and we doubt they ever will.

10:18I may be in my back, we'll come from the crack back to the front.

10:23Number 11, A Thousand Miles, Vanessa Carlton.

10:33This song has been inextricably linked to Terry Crews after his White Chicks character, Luttrell, jammed out to it in the film.

10:41And now I wonder if I could...

10:45However, the original music video by Vanessa Carlton is just as legendary.

10:50The singer is seen making her way downtown while playing a piano.

10:54Makein' my way downtown, walkin' fast, face is passin' and I'm homebound.

11:01It was simple, but struck gold.

11:04The lyrics resonated with listeners, especially young people who found it relatable.

11:08It topped Billboard's pop airplay and adult contemporary charts in the U.S.

11:13However, Vanessa could not build on its popularity with her later releases,

11:17and even admitted that its unique charm could never be recreated.

11:20If I could fall into the sky

11:24Do you think time would pass me by?

11:29Nevertheless, A Thousand Miles will live on

11:32because every time we hear that piano riff,

11:34we'll be back in our teen heartbreak era again.

11:36If I can just hold you tonight

11:44Number 10, About Us, Brooke Hogan featuring Paul Wall

11:50Move over, Britney. Step away, Beyonce.

12:02It's time to make way for the first daughter of wrestling,

12:04none other than Hulk Hogan's eldest child, Brooke.

12:07In all seriousness, as the first single off of Hogan's debut album,

12:10About Us holds up as an irresistibly catchy time capsule.

12:14That's probably at least partially due to its head-bopping beat,

12:27produced by hip-hop mainstay Scott Storch.

12:30Hogan was signed to his record label, Storch Music Company.

12:32Rapper Paul Wall's effortlessly cool feature only adds to the song's authenticity,

12:37and Hogan shows genuine pop star chops,

12:39making it a genuine shame that her music career never took off.

12:44Potatoes on the side, chatterboxin'.

12:46Powerwild and Brooke got all the paparazzi watchin'.

12:49Number 9, Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.

12:52I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind.

12:57There was something so pleasant about that place.

13:01Where were you when you found out that Gnarls Barkley

13:03wasn't the name of a person, but a band?

13:05Okay, maybe that's just us,

13:07but the duo of CeeLo Green and producer Brian Danger Mouse Burton

13:10came out of nowhere to blow us all away in 2006.

13:13Does that make me crazy?

13:17Based on a Spaghetti Western sample and driven by Green's powerhouse vocals,

13:22Crazy sounded like nothing else on the radio,

13:24and it could be argued that nothing has sounded like it since.

13:27While Burton and Green would separately go on to have fruitful solo careers,

13:31they never again produced a hit as unique or as ever-present

13:34as this mid-2000s banger.

13:36Maybe we're crazy, probably.

13:46Number 8, Move Your Body, Nina Skye featuring Jabba.

13:53Yet another case of a duo with a confusing name

13:56that made them sound like a single person.

13:58Maybe that has something to do with why this Puerto Rican musical outfit

14:01never produced another major hit.

14:03Consisting of identical twins Nicole and Natalie Albino,

14:06Nina Skye's 2004 hit Move Your Body

14:08was designated by Pitchfork as one of the best songs of that year.

14:17And it's easy to see why.

14:21The song's hypnotic groove makes it nearly impossible

14:23to not move one's body.

14:25Riding high on the dance hall wave of the 2000s

14:27that also introduced Sean Paul and Rihanna to the general public,

14:31Move Your Body still gets audiences' hips shaking

14:33over 20 years after its initial release.

14:36Can you feel the beat?

14:37Can you, can you feel the beat?

14:39Number 7, Wherever You Will Go, The Calling.

14:42So lately, been wondering

14:45who will be there to take my place?

14:51Pull out the tissues for this one.

14:53A yearning, post-grunge ballad,

14:55Wherever You Will Go tugs at the heartstrings

14:57from its opening guitar plucks.

14:59It isn't exactly hard to tell what the song's about.

15:01Over an all-too-familiar chord progression,

15:04The Calling's Alex Band devotes his life

15:06without abandon to the subject of Wherever You Will Go.

15:16According to Band, the song was written after a funeral,

15:20in which I just started thinking of what it would be like to

15:22have your whole life change so dramatically

15:24and not for the best in a matter of moments.

15:26Landing at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100,

15:29Wherever You Will Go takes the remnants of grunge

15:32and cleans them up for radio.

15:33Look, let's get it out of the way first thing.

15:52Yes, Metro Station is a Disney-adjacent band,

15:55consisting of Mason Musso, older brother of Mitchell,

15:58and Trey Cyrus, half-brother to, well, you know who.

16:01But putting the Disney connection aside,

16:03Shake It! is more than a nostalgia fest.

16:05Now if she doesn't like this,

16:07it's when you do it like that.

16:08Now if she doesn't like this,

16:10it's when you touch your eye back.

16:12It's a rousing emo pop tune that'll instantly perk

16:15any millennial's ears up,

16:16before calling them straight to the dance floor.

16:18The perfect kind of pop song that doesn't take itself

16:21even the slightest bit seriously,

16:22the earworm chorus of Shake It!

16:24is undeniably a hook for the ages.

16:26Shake, shake, shake, shake, I shake it!

16:30Shake, shake, shake, shake, I shake it!

16:33Number 5, Flavor of the Week, American Hi-Fi.

16:37She paints her nails and she don't know

16:40He's got her best friend on the phone

16:43With a clear, indelible ear for crafting unshakable hooks

16:46and finely tuned pop songs,

16:48American Hi-Fi's lack of enduring success

16:50is an unfortunate curiosity.

16:53Maybe it owes to radio programmers' insistence

16:55on grouping them in with pop punk acts

16:57like Blink-182, Sum 41, and Good Charlotte

17:00when they were really closer to vintage acts

17:02like Cheap Trick and The Cars.

17:03Her boyfriend, he don't know anything about her

17:09Whatever the case may be,

17:11Flavor of the Week tells a classic suburban

17:13semi-love story of wanting but not having,

17:16Featuring a sugary, sweet chorus

17:18and nimble guitar licks that deserve to be blasted

17:21from your parents' six-disc CD changer,

17:23it may be a shame that the band never took off

17:25the way they should have,

17:26but at least they can be your best-kept secret.

17:29She's just the flavor of the week.

17:33Number 4, Stacy's Mom, Fountains of Wayne.

17:36Stacy, can I come over after school?

17:42After school.

17:44Speaking of power pop bands,

17:45Fountains of Wayne members Chris Collingwood

17:47and Adam Schlesinger specifically engineered the song

17:50to be reminiscent of The Cars.

17:52Stacy's Mom contains one of the catchiest choruses

17:54in pop music, which almost makes up for its,

17:57um, let's say, questionable lyrics.

18:00Stacy's Mom has got it going on

18:03She's all I want and I've waited for so long

18:07As if the actual story of the song wasn't bad enough,

18:10its actual inspiration was a childhood friend of Schlesinger's

18:13who bore a crush on the fountains of Wayne Bassett's grandmother.

18:16Said Schlesinger of The Awkward Situation,

18:18quote,

18:19Hey, you're stepping over the line,

18:21but at that point in life,

18:22I wouldn't put it past anyone.

18:24Must be nice to have a friend as forgiving as Adam.

18:26Stacy, can't you see?

18:28You're just not the girl for me.

18:30Number 3, Teenage Dirtbag, Weedus.

18:33Her name is Noelle

18:35I have a dream about her

18:39She rings my bell

18:40If you haven't guessed from our last few entries,

18:42the Y2K era may have been the golden age of pop punk.

18:45Case in point, this all-time sad boy banger,

18:49which many have mistakenly attributed to Weezer.

18:51Even the Buddy Holly boys never produced a song

18:53so in tune with the mainstream sensibilities of the time.

18:56Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby

19:01Teenage Dirtbag immediately strikes a chord

19:04or should we say a power chord

19:06with its belt out loud hook

19:07and eternally relatable lyrics.

19:09So Y2K is this Weedus jam

19:11that its music video is a spinoff of the 2000 film Loser

19:15starring American Pie alums Jason Biggs and Mina Suvari.

19:18It doesn't really get more Y2K than that.

19:21Listen to our young maiden, baby, let me be

19:27Number 2, Pieces of Me, Ashley Simpson.

19:30On a Monday, I am waiting

19:32Tuesday, I am fading

19:35Poor Ashley Simpson.

19:37When you listen to Pieces of Me,

19:38you can hear a new Avril Lavigne in the making,

19:41an emo pop queen for the 2000s.

19:44Unfortunately, the only thing anyone can associate Pieces of Me with

19:47at this point is Simpson's now infamous

19:48Saturday Night Live performance

19:50in which the singer was caught lip-syncing red-handed.

19:53On a Monday, I am waiting

19:55Tuesday, I am fading

19:58Which is too bad, considering she was on Doctor's orders not to sing.

20:08It also takes away from the genuine head-banging, lay-it-all-out greatness of Pieces of Me,

20:13which had the potential to launch Simpson into pop superstardom.

20:17Although that didn't end up happening,

20:18at least she can take solace in the fact Pieces of Me still goes hard.

20:22That chorus chills.

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20:47We can't say that we expected Paris Hilton of all people to come up with the hottest reggae slapper of 2006.

21:03To be clear, we're not complaining.

21:05Stars Are Blind is a legitimately great, somehow even moving pop hit.

21:09The lead single from Hilton's self-titled debut album,

21:12the idea of the socialite recording a musical project was derided by critics and audiences at the time as a mere vanity record.

21:27Stars Are Blind forced the world to sit up and take notice of the possibility of a hot new musical talent on the horizon.

21:34While that, of course, wasn't the case in the end,

21:36we can still relish in the moment when it looked like Paris might become the next Britney or Christina.

21:50Which of these songs do you think would still top the charts if they were released today?

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