Seeing what has come since, I'd definitely have ranked Stronger ahead of them haha - but each to their own and all that.

I have such a clear #1 for 2007 that I largely forget what else made the top this year, am trying not to spoil it for myself by looking

The only two songs I like a bit are "A Moment In Time" and "Beautiful Girls", but both no real favourites. Looking forward to the top 10.

10 Timbaland feat. Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake Give It To Me

#2s kept off #1: Stop Me (Mark Ronson)

 

Virginia-born producer Timbaland rose to prominence during the mid-90s after a hand in producing Ginuwine’s debut album Ginuwine… the Bachelor. In the following two years, he would become a highly sought-after R&B/Hip-Hop producer after playing a crucial role in the production on Aaliyah’s 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott’s 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly.

Through the turn of the millennium, Timbaland would continue to create magic with Missy and Aaliyah, as well as producing for the likes of Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg. He would also provide remixes for Destiny’s Child and a young Nelly Furtado as early as 2000!

Timbaland’s pop breakthrough came in 2002, when he teamed up with ex-NSYNC member Justin Timberlake on the track Cry Me A River. The innovative production combined with pop-perfect melodies (and some tasteless marketing choices) helped redivert Justin's debut solo album onto a successful path after his first single Like I Love You missed the top 10 in the US.

Justin and Timbaland’s working relationship tightened from there on. The following year, Timbaland produced the JT-assisted Bubba Sparxxx track Hootnanny. 2004 saw the pair collaborate on Shark Tale soundtrack Good Foot, then a year later also teaming up on the Black Eyed Peas track My Style for their album Monkey Business.

By 2006, it was time for Justin to deliver the follow-up to his hugely successful debut, of course enlisting the help of his reliable producer. Timbaland had a hand in 10 of the album’s 12 tracks, including all of the album’s 6 singles. The album proved a huge success and by Spring 2007 had spawned three top 5 hits and Justin’s first solo #1 single.

Timbaland’s 2006 was especially successful, having played a big role in not just one but two of the year’s biggest pop albums. Nelly Furtado had ditched her folk roots for her third album and instead enlisted the help of Timbaland to achieve a reinvention of sorts. Similarly to Justin, Timbaland’s production magic enabled Nelly to have her biggest era to date, nabbing three top 5 hits and her first #1 single. By the start of 2007, Nelly Furtado had become the first artist ever to achieve a top 10 hit with a download-only release: the sublime Say It Right.

It seemed natural then for Nelly and Justin to “return the favour” and feature on Timbaland’s own (re)introduction as a lead act (his 1998 debut Tim’s Bio: Life from da Basement was more a compilation of production credits). Give It To Me mainly serves as a triple-diss track taking aim at the likes of (allegedly) Prince, Fergie and Scott Storch. I’m unsure of how serious the supposed beef was, but the story goes Nelly took aim at Fergie for seemingly dissing her with the “I ain’t promiscuous” line on Fergalicious. Meanwhile, Justin clapped back at Prince for taking aim at his song Sexyback, who claimed sexy never left. Timbaland’s beef with Scott Storch seemed the most genuine of the three, with their fallout stemming from a production credits dispute involving the aforementioned Cry Me A River. Poor Scott was being publicly called out left, right and centre during this time: it was only the previous year Christina Aguilera released the track F.U.S.S. as part of her Back to Basics album, standing for ‘f*** you Scott Storch’!

The song proved a big success, earning Justin and Nelly their second UK chart toppers, while giving Timbaland his first as lead. It climbed from 8-1 with sales of 27,000 and finished the year as the 22^nd best seller. The song also became Timbaland’s first and only US #1 hit as lead artist.

Ok, the production is fab! The spacey synths paired with the Hip-Hop beats produces a strangely hypnotic sound which I love. Timbaland and Danja were really the dream team producers at this time. The pair’s innovational blend of genres is on full display here and it’s firmly the main attraction of the track for me. I’m not a huge fan of the spoken-rapped verses but can appreciate how they make sense here. The chorus is also a bit of a letdown. Considering the verses are full of attack, the chorus goes a bit limp which makes me wonder whether it was a bit of an afterthought, considering the verses are where the “drama” happens. Nelly smashes her verse (her voice has such a unique quality it’s difficult not to stan tbh) and Timbaland’s part is enjoyable enough. Even Justin brings the confidence (cockiness?) required for the track. That said, his verse is peppered with cringeworthy attacks such as Prince’s chart irrelevance and his supposed bitterness for not writing Sexyback(!!), making him appear more petty than anything. Overall, the song is just okay. Would I ever choose to play it? No.

Give It To Me's release happened to coincide with the lead single from another hot producer of the moment - Mark Ronson. The Daniel Merriweather-assisted Stop Me interpolated The Smith’s Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before with The Supremes’ You Keep Me Hangin’ On, creating an orchestral-disco hybrid to rival Timbaland’s innovation. I have a firm preference for Stop Me, helped in part by the two original songs being fab. Daniel’s vocal carries so much soul and emotion, it really sells the song and I'm glad he managed to carve out a solo hit of his own soon after if nothing else. Unfortunately for Mark, he would miss out on another chance at #1 later in the year…  

A trip down Buzzjack memory lane:

The Sunday chart thread from the week Timbaland and co. made #1!

The Sunday chart predictions thread of Timba vs Ronson:

I think it's a fair placing for Give It To Me. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't near the best from any of those three artists that year.

Give It To Me was okay but I definitely thought it was a little underwhelming given the names involved in making it, it wasn't a patch on what both Justin and Nelly had produced with Timbaland on their recent albums. I much preferred the follow up so I'm glad to see that finish higher here too.

I adore this track, it would be top five for me. It's very minimal and subtle but the hypnotic groove and melody always worms its way around my head. I love Nelly Furtado's verse and the chorus is decent for me, and has become used in various club hits in the past few years. It topped my personal chart for three weeks.

Nothing else of note with that's dropped out so far but I do quite like 'Give It To Me' - though prefer the other one still to come!

It's a banger!

Not heard Timbaland's since 2007! 😮I rated it as a peak of 28 at the time, though it did have a long run of 18 weeks - so not up to the other 2007 Timbaland tracks, but it ticks over nicely enough without actually having a song to speak of in the mix.

9 Sugababes About You Now

#2s kept off #1: If That's OK With You / No U Hang Up (Shayne Ward), Let Me Think About It (Ida Corr, Fedde Le Grand), Valerie (Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse)

 

Six months after gaining their fifth number 1 with that collaboration, the Sugababes were gearing up to launch their fifth album and, more importantly, their first with newbie Amelle. I say newbie, by this point she had been in the band nigh on two years but was yet to put her stamp on a Sugababes album. She of course replaced Mutya’s vocals on a re-release of 2005’s Taller in More Ways and featured on a handful of new tracks on 2006’s greatest hits collection, but fifth album Change became the moment Sugababes 3.0. well and truly landed.

The group teamed up with loyal collaborators such as Xenomania and Dallas Austin for the record, while branching out to work with different producers, most notably Cathy Dennis and Dr. Luke. Dennis was the pop songwriter of the time, having penned recent hits such as Can’t Get You Out of My Head, Sweet Dreams My LA Ex and Toxic. She was also heavily associated with Simon Fuller, writing for Idol alumni Kelly Clarkson and Will Young, as well as his S Club groups. Dr. Luke had also found huge success writing for the likes of Kelly Clarkson (Since U Been Gone, Behind These Hazel Eyes) as well as for pop-rockers Pink and Avril. It seemed natural then to have the pair collaborate for the Sugababes’ all-important lead single. Among three tracks created for Change, About You Now was the obvious hit with it’s genre-blend of electro-pop and rock along with its instantly catchy chorus.

The song proved an almighty success for the group. After debuting at 35 in the UK, it climbed a whopping thirty-four places to become their sixth chart topper. In turn, the Sugababes became the first British act to reach #1 on downloads alone! The song spent four weeks at the summit and became the year’s sixth biggest seller! To date, it has sold over 1.25 million copies and ranks as the group’s best-selling single. Despite the song’s huge success (and the subsequent success of the album), the girls wouldn’t have another hit of this magnitude again. Follow-up singles Change and Denial would have modest top 20 success before falling away. The following year’s Catfights & Spotlights, despite capitalising on the Winehouse-inspired Soul revival of 2008, would give them their first album to miss the top 3 since their debut, limping in at #8. Lead single Girls became the first Sugababes lead single to miss #1 since their debut – not a surprise after the lazy sampling of that Boots commercial track. The shit would then properly hit the fan in 2009…

Returning to About You Now, there is no denying this is a fantastically constructed pop track. The girls shoot through their verses effortlessly and the melody of the chorus is totally infectious, elevated by Keisha’s beautiful ad-libs at the end. That said, I have always had my grievances with this song. To me, Sugababes with-Mutya had a grittiness and edge to their music that was notably absent here. Whereas earlier hits like Freak Like Me and Round Round were dripped in attitude and sass, as were later leads, Hole In The Head and Push The Button, About You Now always felt sanitised in comparison.. perhaps lacking in personality? There is of course no knocking their ability to sniff out a hit though: the sales speak for themselves!

During the song's 4-week reign at the top, it managed to prevent three big releases from hitting #1. First up was Shayne Ward. He was gearing up to release his lead single from second album Breathless, the clumsily-written If That's OK With You. I vividly remember the single getting a muted response from radio and public alike, causing Cowell to hastily tack on the sensual mid-tempo No U Hang Up - almost just as corny as the other A-side. The single looked like a second chart topper for Shayne when the Monday midweeks came in, but by Friday the Sugababes had overtaken him on the power of downloads alone. Second casualty was Fedde & Ida with their dance anthem Let Me Think About It. The song was aiming to give Fedde his second #1 within 12 months but had to settle for #2. The final song to be prevented by the Sugababes was little-known hit Valerie. The track, originally released by The Zutons the previous year, was rerecorded by Amy Winehouse for Mark Ronson's Version album. The song followed in Stop Me's footsteps and ascended the chart to #2. Unfortunately, this would be Amy's only real shot at bagging a #1 but it wasn't to be.

One of the positives about this release was the Live Lounge version being used during Max Cunningham's funeral in Hollyoaks back in 2008, causing the song to re-enter the top 40!

A trip down Buzzjack memory lane:

Sunday chart show:

Sunday chart predictions:

'About You Now' is another strong lead from Sugababes for me. Never forget when it charted first at 35 then straight up to 1 the following week also. The follow ups were great too. Wished they both went top 10 and really wanted 'Change' too especially which like AYN topped my chart, was my Christmas 1 that year.

Oh I’m glad “About You Now” isn’t too high. I think it’s terribly bland. It relies heavily on the melody because there isn’t a lot else going on.

“Give It 2 Me” is almost the opposite as it’s all production and not much melody. That’s much more interesting for me though.

'Give It To Me' went over my head a bit at the time but I like it more nowadays, albeit not as much as Timbaland's other chart-topper this year, so I'm glad that one is still to come. He was on a crazy run with his production during the 2000s and this song is no different, with the distinctive drums and infectious beat. Nelly particularly puts in a standout performance where the vocals are concerned. Everything about Janet's 'nipplegate' experience leaves a sour taste in my mouth so I don't love that Justin's verse appears to allude to that at the start, even if fitting with the general diss theme. This is one of Timbaland's most popular releases on Spotify, I assume aided by Skibidi Toilet, which was the final nail in the coffin for me no longer feeling 'down with the kids'

'About You Now' has a special place in my heart as it was #1 in the first Radio 1 chart show countdown that I remember listening to *.* at that time I also recall my grandparents buying the accompanying album based on this song, while my parents got me into them in earlier years via their copies of Angels With Dirty Faces and Three. Unfortunately the first album of theirs I bought at the time of release with my own money was... Sweet 7 💀 but yes, an act with cross-generational appeal in my family, it seems! Musically, 'About You Now' is... fine, with some hooky song-writing and solid electro-pop production, but it has never really excited me that much. I agree with you that it lacks some of their earlier grit. But still better than the Miranda Cosgrove cover that the U.S. is more familiar with, much like Jonas Brothers taking 'Year 3000' into the chart there instead of Busted.

I cannot round off this post without mentioning the inclusion of 'About You Now' in an all-time great McDonalds Happy Meal series:

5 minutes ago, Jade said:

'Give It To Me' went over my head a bit at the time but I like it more nowadays, albeit not as much as Timbaland's other chart-topper this year, so I'm glad that one is still to come. He was on a crazy run with his production during the 2000s and this song is no different, with the distinctive drums and infectious beat. Nelly particularly puts in a standout performance where the vocals are concerned. Everything about Janet's 'nipplegate' experience leaves a sour taste in my mouth so I don't love that Timberlake's verse appears to allude to that at the start, even if fitting with the general diss theme. This is one of Timbaland's most popular releases on Spotify, I assume aided by Skibidi Toilet, which was the final nail in the coffin for me no longer feeling 'down with the kids'

'About You Now' has a special place in my heart as it was #1 in the first Radio 1 chart show countdown that I remember listening to *.* at that time I also recall my grandparents buying the accompanying album based on this song, while my parents got me into them in earlier years via their copies of Angels With Dirty Faces and Three. Unfortunately the first album of theirs I bought at the time of release with my own money was... Sweet 7 💀 but yes, an act with cross-generational appeal in my family, it seems! 'About You Now' is... fine, with some hooky song-writing and solid electro-pop production, but it has never really excited me that much. I agree with you that it lacks grit. But still better than the Miranda Cosgrove cover that the U.S. is more familiar with, much like Jonas Brothers taking 'Year 3000' into the chart there instead of Busted.

I cannot round this off without mentioning that this song of course featured in an all-time great McDonalds Happy Meal series:

Oh I didn’t even register the Janet diss. 🫢 Totally agree with your feelings around Nipplegate. He got away with so much back then!

It's Buzzjack, so I predict Robyn and Rihanna in top 2.

I really like About You Now, I know it's a bit basic compared to some of their earlier releases but it brings back good memories of uni. In my opinion the second half of 2007 was one of the strongest periods for music in this century to date and this was part of that, although the aforementioned uni memories probably play a part in that take.

The track to me was like the Push The Button sound but with an added sprinkle of what the likes of Kelly Clarkson were doing at the time, presumably to give it more global commercial appeal, not that they generally needed that. The verses are great although I have a bone to pick with whoever did the radio edit, because cutting out part of the first verse and going straight to the bridge too quickly always confuses me when I hear it as I was more used to the album version.

Also, I'm always here for the trend of 2000s videos that heavily leaned into showing mobile phones. Because everything else about that video could have been recorded today... but the constant display of phones help to time stamp it 'just w8 4 me'...it's amazing how quickly txt spk faded out when smartphones came in.

8 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

I really like About You Now, I know it's a bit basic compared to some of their earlier releases but it brings back good memories of uni. In my opinion the second half of 2007 was one of the strongest periods for music in this century to date and this was part of that, although the aforementioned uni memories probably play a part in that take.

The track to me was like the Push The Button sound but with an added sprinkle of what the likes of Kelly Clarkson were doing at the time, presumably to give it more global commercial appeal, not that they generally needed that. The verses are great although I have a bone to pick with whoever did the radio edit, because cutting out part of the first verse and going straight to the bridge too quickly always confuses me when I hear it as I was more used to the album version.

Also, I'm always here for the trend of 2000s videos that heavily leaned into showing mobile phones. Because everything else about that video could have been recorded today... but the constant display of phones help to time stamp it 'just w8 4 me'...it's amazing how quickly txt spk faded out when smartphones came in.

I'm so thankful txt spk faded out with the arrival of the iPhone. I hated trying to decipher it. 🤣

This hurts me to say as a massive Sugababes fan but About You Now is not in my top 10 Sugababes singles. Where hits like Freak Like Me, Round Round, Hole In The Head and Push The Button feel authentically Sugababes About You Now feels generic and bland in comparison. I loved it at the time but I've cooled a fair bit on it now.

@gooddelta made a good point about it seeming like chasing that global appeal, though I'd say more US appeal. As when you look at it, it only reached #57 in Australia and this was off the back of Push The Button reach #3 and Ugly #13 in 2005/6. It also peaked lower in New Zealand than many of their other singles.

I do enjoy About You Now. It always reminds me of starting university as it was being hammered on the radio and it topped the chart just a week or so in.

To me, 'About You Now' is very beige and devoid of the personality of the earlier Sugababes hits, well, for mks. I & II anyway. I'd even swap 'Beautiful Girls' into the top 10 ahead of it 💀 'Give It To Me' can stay and is another great production, although I'm glad the other Timbaland #1 is ahead, and I was going to say I thought most of Justin's diss was for Janet, which doesn't do him any favours.