Here are a few songs that either went No. 1 or came pretty close in the early 2000s. If given a chance, we definitely think they’d be topping some charts today.
“Buttons” by The Pussycat Dolls (ft. Snoop Dogg)
The main reason I picked this one is that it has a lot of similarities to popular up-and-coming artists today, like Tate McRae. In fact, the Grammy-nominated artist actually has one song that bears a striking resemblance to “Buttons”. That would be her Top 10 hit “Sports Car”, which has an R&B feel that’s pretty reminiscent of this song. Girl groups like KATSEYE are also having a huge moment right now. It wouldn’t be too hard for a group like The Pussycat Dolls to find an audience today.
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“Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne
Shouty-punk-influenced songs like this one are all the rage today, especially when it comes to modern artists like Olivia Rodrigo. Countless songs from her catalog could be comparable to Lavigne’s style, especially hits like “Good 4 U” and “Brutal”. There’s just something about that “I don’t give a f***” energy that listeners seem to be obsessed with. “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne definitely brings that to the table.
“Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani
In a similar vein to Avril Lavigne’s song, Stefani truly does not come to play on this track. Especially on TikTok, where catchy hooks and choruses thrive in terms of virality, I have no doubt that Stefani’s B-A-N-A-N-A-S chant would go absolutely, well, bananas.
This one was written by Stefani, Chad Hugo, and Pharrell Williams, who has had plenty of modern hits. Williams actually helped come up with the beat of “Hollaback Girl”.
Stefani told NBC of their writing the song, “…[Pharrell] just goes, ‘Oh, you mean like this,’ and he went over and played this beat on his keyboard. This little tiny keyboard. I was so mad, I was like ‘Wait, this whole time, you had that in there and you didn’t play that for me?’”
“Put Your Records On” by Corinne Bailey Rae
Okay, so this song didn’t actually go No. 1 back in the day, despite its widespread popularity. “Put Your Records On” peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. However, Rae has a lot of musical parallels to a popular modern artist. That would be none other than 2026 Artist of the Year Olivia Dean. Her soulful pop songs have won over tons of mainstream listeners, especially in the past couple of years.
Just because of this similarity in style, I think that Rae would definitely have a shot at getting that No. 1 hit if this song came out today.
Photo by: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic