I love "Ruby" - it is among my three favourite #1's of this year. "The Way I Are" is also fantastic and not far behind.

The last two are the best so far for me - I was glad 'Ruby' gave the Kaisers a #1, although it wasn't an instant favourite and unlike the singles from their previous album it didn't go straight onto my first iPod later that year, but I eventually added it a few years later after catching it on the radio. 'The Way I Are' is peak Timbaland - awesome production, earworm of a riff, and great vocal interplay with Keri (and let's not forget D.O.E., he and the similarly named Do share the feat of their only UK chart appearances being on a #1). I suppose Eminem had already taken 'The Way I Am', so a grammar cheat was needed! Still, it was incredibly bad luck for Kate Nash to miss out on #1 to 'Umbrella's 10th week by less than 150 copies, then increase sales by more than 50% the following week, only to miss out on #1 by a much smaller margin!

6 Beyoncé & Shakira Beautiful Liar

#2s kept off #1: Brianstorm (Arctic Monkeys), Your Love Alone Is Not Enough (Manic Street Preachers)

 

Beyoncé’s highly anticipated return as solo artist in 2006, while successful, didn’t seem to meet the expectations set by predecessor Dangerously in Love. While her 2003 debut spent its first five weeks at #1, on top of yielding the long-running classic Crazy in Love, second album B’Day underperformed in comparison. The first issue proved to be lead single, Déjà Vu. Although it topped the chart, it was widely criticised for being a lesser ‘Crazy’, reinforced more so by Jay-Z’s (at this point) obligatory feature on her lead single. The song failed to match Crazy’s longevity, while the album suffered its own tumble upon release. Debuting at #3, the album fell to 19-33-40, exiting the top 40 after only a month. On the other side of the pond, while the album gave B her second chart topper, the lead single debuted at #4 before sliding down the chart.

Second single Irreplaceable, helped in part by the easily imitable "to the left, to the left" hook, proved to be the hit of the album. Despite being released in October (peaking at #4), it managed to surpass Déjà Vu in the end-of-year best-sellers list, finishing at 29 to DV’s 56. The song also gave B that elusive sophomore era US #1 hit, spending 10 weeks at the top! The UK performance of the album was also salvaged, spending an additional 17 weeks in the top 40.

Despite Irreplaceable’s success during the 2006-07 winter, there seemed to be little faith in the rest of the album cutting it as singles, because as early as February, Beyoncé announced a repackaged version of B’Day, set for release the following April. Meanwhile, production team Stargate played a newly-written track to their manager, who thought it would make a perfect duet for Beyoncé and Shakira. Despite the producers thinking the idea impossible, Beyoncé liked the song upon hearing it and Shakira wasn’t difficult to convince either, having wanted to collaborate with B for a while. Once Shakira had recorded her part and added her Latin and Arabic influences on production, the scorned-lover team-up Beautiful Liar was born.

The pop diva duet of 2007 landed mid-April, entering the charts a fortnight prior to CD release at #10. The song vaulted to #5 the following week before climbing to the top and remained there for three weeks, equaling Crazy in Love’s run. The song became Beyoncé’s third #1 as a solo artist and Shakira’s second chart-topper, after the previous year’s behemoth Hips Don’t Lie. The song also managed to successfully land the deluxe at #8 in the album chart upon release, pushing the album towards double-platinum.

This song is such an underrated 00s gem and one I admittedly don’t play enough. Shakira’s influence on the record really makes it for me. Her voice just oozes the sex appeal and passion needed for this song. Not to discredit Beyoncé who more than delivers on her part. I think there could be an argument that considering the names involved this should be more explosive, but I think the song’s understated-ness is part of its charm. It has an effortless sexiness to it that doesn’t try too hard because it doesn’t need to: the fusion of Bey and Shakira’s sounds carry it, starting with that oh so sexy piping that grabs you at the start and then continuing on to that tease of a middle-8 instrumental. All in all, a brilliantly crafted duet that plays to both artists' strengths and totally authentic to each of them. I'm not sure how else I'd want a Bey/Shakira collab to sound to be honest.

Beautiful Liar’s three-week reign at the top happened to prevent two bands from securing what would turn out to be their final #1 each, as neither band would scale these heights again. The Arctic Monkeys’ Brianstorm was the first casualty: despite being only 9 copies from the top in the Monday midweek flash, it would lose steam against Beautiful Liar’s download sales. It’s never been an AM fave of mine tbh so I’m happy Beykira beat them. The second casualty was the Manic Street Preachers with Your Love Alone Is Not Enough. The song ended up becoming a third in a string of #2s for the band, despite initially showing signs of heading to the top. The MSPs were not exactly my typical taste as a 13-year-old in 2007 but there was something very instant about this song: the bluesy rock sound combined with powerful vocals and a catchy melody. It would’ve made for a fantastic UK #1 to be honest. 2007 was certainly one of the last years in which bands of the old era were still managing to gain hits, with bands such as Iron Maiden also scoring top 3 hits as late as January that year!

A trip down Buzzjack Memory Lane:

Sunday chart predictions:

For me this is a rare example of a superstar collaboration that actually works and is worthy of the hype. I love both the original version and the really excellent Freemasons remix <3 Great writeup Scene, and I agree, it didn't need to be explosive, it has a really good sensual groove that is irresistible enough without the song needing to shoot off in various directions.

I also really loved Irreplaceable and the Freemasons remix of Green Light but generally found B'Day to be a patchy body of work, although the deluxe certainly fleshed it out well.

Edited Wednesday at 22:501 day by gooddelta

Beautiful Liar is a wonderful song. Very deserving of a place in the top 6.

I preferred the Manics single to Beautiful Liar, but it's a good track. I would have it lower than The Way I Are, Ruby, and others, but it would be in the middle area of the list over-all I expect, as it just seems to take a while to get going. The last 2 minutes are pretty good though and I like the video, not sure Ive seen that before!

Hate it so much in its original version, Freemasons remix gives it a bit more life.

I always thought “Beautiful Liar” was style over substance. I do like the Eastern flavour though and it’s more interesting than “About You Now” at least.