The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2007

 

The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2007

In the following article, I take a look at a decent year of the 2000s for the Hot 100 and take a look at some of the songs that elevate it to being decent.

Hey guys, welcome back to Fire’s Flaming Hot Takes for another year-end list. Today, we’re examining the top 10 best hit songs of 2007! Major apologies about the long wait for this one, there's this small little thing I was facing called burnout haha

So as I mentioned in my worst list, 2007 is a year that I feel kinda serves as a prequel to 2008, crunk was on its way out and the club boom was starting to make its way in, though not nearly as strongly as the following year, and being more present in hip hop and R&B, and post grunge had another pretty bad year. And then country...it was practically absent this year. So with that, let’s get this list started off, there were 40 songs on the Hot 100 year-end list for 2007 that I found good or better, including repeats from 2006 - and as a reminder of the rule, the songs had to debut on the year-end Hot 100 list for 2007 in order to qualify, so “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol is unfortunately ineligible for this list. So let’s get this shit started as always with our honorable mentions!

HM #1: Ciara - Like A Boy (YE: #68, PEAK: #19)

Oh boy, I get the feeling that I like this way more than I should haha. But the reason I really like this is pretty much the same reason I actually unironically like “Dear Future Husband” by Meghan Trainor, it’s very clearly tongue-in-cheek, and we know Ciara doesn’t really think boys are inherently unfaithful to their partners, and then there’s the production, with the strings sounding simply wonderful and tight and then there’s Ciara, who I genuinely think does a great job here. Yeah, fun bop that I may like more than I should haha.

HM #2: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony f/Akon - I Tried (YE: #58, PEAK: #6)

Yeah, this is another pretty big hard hitter. This song is about the struggles that Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Akon faced while on the streets, and you can tell that these guys are trying so hard to get away from that lifestyle and yet it seems that trouble follows them wherever they go. The reason this isn’t higher here is admittedly Akon’s kinda weak vocals here but credit where it’s due, he genuinely sounds crestfallen on this song. Add on top of that the guys in Bone Thugs-N-Harmony having great flows and the song is already pretty great but then there’s the production, which is very devastating sounding, from the minor key notes in the piano and the touches of strings it rings of the sadness that the content and all of our performers are expressing.

HM #3: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Face Down (YE: #52, PEAK: #24)

Oh boy, yet another heavy song…”Face Down”, though, I’ve found great even before I listened to the lyrics for it from the insanely catchy, energetic guitar progression with the distortion(?) only adding to the energy of the whole song, and then the content, which is tackling the very heavy topic of domestic abuse, and it’s done so well. The song is framed with frontman Ronnie Winter confronting the abuser asking the cutting questions “Do you feel like a man when you push her around?/Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?” And then he follows this up with “Well, I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end/As your lies crumble down, a/new life she has found”. And Winter sells this song so well with so much passion that if I were the abuser, I think I’d be really worried about what could happen to the relationship if I don’t change. Great little song, not an easy listen by any means, but still one that deserves a revisit.

HM #4: Timbaland f/OneRepublic - Apologize (YE: #66, PEAK: #2)

Timbaland had a very big year in 2007, this being one of his 5 year-end appearances in 2007, he did have some other really good songs this year like “The Way I Are” and “Give It To Me”, both of which just missed this list by a hair really only because they got beat out by stronger competition honestly. But I really like “Apologize” for its production and OneRepublic’s contributions alone. “Apologize” is primarily built off a piano melody that sounds quite nice and Timbaland’s production that even despite sounding admittedly dated still really slaps. And then there’s OneRepublic, I really love their contributions here; Ryan Tedder’s vocals sound awesome here, yeah, great song but I couldn’t justify putting it higher because there isn’t much I could really say about this.

HM #5: Ne-Yo - Because Of You (YE: #57, PEAK: #2)

Great melody and the kick and snare percussion gives this a bit of a light dancefloor vibe that I really like, and then Ne-Yo remains as superb a performer as ever. Great little song.

HM #6: Ciara - Promise (YE: #71, PEAK: #11)

Yeah, even if “Like A Boy” is really good, this song is clearly the better 2007 Ciara hit, it sounds sexy as hell, from Ciara selling this song so effortlessly to the production, consisting of synths and a distant-sounding kick. This is toe-to-toe with “Goodies” as Ciara’s best hit.

HM #7: Baby Bash f/T-Pain - Cyclone (YE: #84, PEAK: #7)

This isn’t even gonna be the highest guilty pleasure on this list, spoilers. But even if I can sorta see the hate, I’m sorry, “Cyclone” just goes super hard for me, Lil Jon slayed on the production, with the incredibly fire synths able to back up T-Pain’s autotuned vocals so well, yes even the part where he imitates a cyclone noise, even despite some admittedly cringey lyrics like “She wanna put it on me,/tryin' to show me her tsunami”, yeah, this is a fun ass jam. I don’t care.

Alright, now for the list proper!

10…Yes, this song is this low on this list...

10. My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade (YE: #59, PEAK: #9)

Ok, I’ll preface by saying this: if you consider this the best hit of 2007 or for that matter, the 2000s as a whole, I completely understand, but let me just make my case for this song only being #10 here, I have not heard the album The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance, the most I know about it is that it’s an album written about a man’s final moments before death from cancer. That said, “Welcome To The Black Parade” has something about it that prevents me from loving it like so many do, and I honestly am unsure of what that is. Now, I’ve gone on about why this song is not topping this list, now for why it’s on the list at all - well “Welcome To The Black Parade” takes you on a journey, from that opening G note to Gerard Way’s passionate and cathartic delivery throughout and some of the hardest-hitting guitars you’ll hear on any song on the year-end list for 2007 and then there’s the marching band percussion. It’s just a grand symphony of a song that may be a bit too much of a song I respect more than like, but it’s absolutely a great song and more than deserving of all its critical acclaim.

9...Pop (almost) perfection coming right up...

9. Rihanna f/Jay-Z - Umbrella (YE: #2, PEAK: #1)

Imagine the pride 7-year old me felt when I heard this song on the radio one day in like 2012 and being the only person in my family to correctly identify the singer as Rihanna, and this was at a time where the only song I knew from her was “Diamonds” haha. But onto “Umbrella”, it’s a great song, and arguably Rihanna’s most acclaimed song, or at least going head-to-head with “Disturbia”. The song is built off of synths and drums mixed incredibly well, and the song is about being there for this lover even through the toughest of times, and Rihanna’s tone in this song is super caring and it matches the content perfectly. Even if it feels like Jay-Z is really phoning it in here, Rihanna’s performance does more than enough heavy lifting here to the point where I can even look past the repetition here! Great song. And rightfully one of Rihanna’s most acclaimed hits.

8...Well, Flaming hot take incoming, because I know this has actually topped at least one worst list of another critic in the past...

8. Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend (YE: #12, PEAK: #1)

Okay, let me start by saying I understand the hate for this, it’s a song where Avril is trying to steal another girl’s boyfriend and there’s a rap bridge that reminds me way too much of “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, one of her worst hits by far, but honestly, I really enjoy “Girlfriend” for many of the same reasons I enjoy “Want U Back” by Cher Lloyd unironically, it’s definitely a very toxic sentiment but it’s sold with enough energy and has a great enough melody that show that the song is leaning into the toxicity directly, it’s not asking you to sympathize with Avril here, it’s just asking you to be swept along for the fun, which it is doing to me at least, and it’s not even too obnoxious for me to turn off the song, or maybe I like this just because it’s in D major? Whatever the reason, this is a banger, sue me.

7...And continuing with the guilty pleasures...

7. Colbie Caillat - Bubbly (YE: #67, PEAK: #5)

That said, unlike “Cyclone” and “Girlfriend”, I don’t understand the hate for this one at all, I mean sure, it’s probably played in every department store in the US, but it’s still super inoffensive at worst. It’s a really adorable song about the way this guy makes Colbie Caillat feel, and it’s genuinely sweet, from Caillat’s gentle vocals to the chill guitar melody stripped back enough to make the vocals and lyrics the main focus, yeah, this song is super cute and overhated, deserves way better.

6...Man, this asshole really didn’t deserve to be this good in the 20000s...

6. Kanye West - Stronger (YE: #27, PEAK: #1)

I hate that I like so many of Kanye’s hits from the 2000s, because he’s definitely an asshole, but fuck it, “Stronger” is a banger, the production is built entirely off of drums and a sample of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” by Daft Punk, a significantly more upbeat dance song than this one, and how Kanye uses the sample goes so hard, it’s just the beat but he also interacts with it so well, like in the bridge - “Don't act like I never told ya”. And yeah, Kanye somehow managed to make an original upbeat dance jam into a minor key track that hypes you up successfully, and before I forget, Kanye also has tons of intensity in his flow that just makes this work so well for a song with this much intensity as is.

5...So, I’ve touched on it a few times on this blog before, but the unfortunate thing about music is that it tends to hit harder or get added pathos after the passing of an artist, and this very well may be the biggest example of that...

5. Amy Winehouse - Rehab (YE: #74, PEAK: #9)

Oh boy, yeah, “Rehab” was a shoe-in for this list from the very start. On the surface, this does sound like a song I would probably respect more than like, but it’s the content that propelled this song this high. It’s about a woman knowingly a drug addict and knowing she needs help refusing to get said help, which hits in a bit of a different angle now to say the least, considering the tragic passing of Amy Winehouse in 2011 at the far too young age of 27 due to alcohol poisoning. But that’s not to count out the production, a fusion of soul influences and modern pop with horns that have a lot of swell and give this an even darker, tenser atmosphere if that was even possible. And then there’s Winehouse’s vocal delivery, which is heartbreaking as hell in its pompousness with the added context of her passing. So why did this not top the list? Well, while I get that objectively this song may be better than my top 3, it’s purely down to subjective opinion for this one, I just don’t revisit this song as much. That said, this is a great song, and rightfully a cult classic.

4...Taylor Swift is a queen in any era, that’s all I can say here...

4. Taylor Swift - Teardrops On My Guitar (YE: #89, PEAK: #13)

The beauty of “Teardrops On My Guitar” is in its simplicity, the production is just an acoustic guitar and Taylor Swift’s vocals reflect a pretty innocent vibe that makes an incredible fit for the content, which go through Taylor’s unrequited love for her classmate, who I’m just learning got arrested in 2015 for child abuse...yikes but that fact aside, this song works for many of the same reasons that “You Belong With Me” works, Taylor isn’t making any big swings for this guy, she knows he is in a relationship already, all she does is put herself to the sidelines and wishes that one day maybe they’ll end up together or that she’ll be able to move on. Great song, man, it’s a bummer she seemingly won’t be performing this at her Eras tour, at least according to a setlist I found on USA Today haha, sorry for spoilers if you didn’t want that haha, moving onto the 4 songs I found better than this though...

3..Yup, she’s making this list twice!...

3. Avril Lavigne - Keep Holding On (YE: #64, PEAK: #17)

So let me get this out of the way first: I never even heard of the movie Eragon before writing this entry, and as of now I know nothing about it other than that it was quite awful. But I’ve seen many people say that this song alone is better than the entirety of the movie, the song is simply beautiful, from the guitar to the strings and then there’s the content, which is Avril  encouraging an unnamed person that she’ll stick with them with whatever adversity they’re facing, and Lavigne’s vocals are very reassuring and it makes me feel like she’s talking directly to the listener and she does enough to make this not fade into the background like a lot of cheesy AC ballads, yeah, this definitely hits hard for me considering my circumstances right now, but still 2 songs I found better, so what could top this beautiful song?

2..This my #1 pick in my first draft of this list but it just got overtaken in the end, that doesn’t stop it from being excellent though!...

2. Boys Like Girls - The Great Escape (YE: #77, PEAK: #23)

I guess I just have a huge soft spot for songs that sound like they could go on Disney Channel haha, just see Hot Chelle Rae’s entire album Whatever for proof of that, haha. But “The Great Escape” is an absolutely excellent song that’s about frontman Martin Johnson’s high school graduation, where he has only one night left to spend with his best friends and they spend it doing all sorts of crazy things, it’s easy to see this as a song of reckless abandon but that’s why it works so incredibly well, and the production kicks all amounts of ass too, the guitars played with so much high amounts of energy that support the “reckless abandon” sentimentality of the song, and it’s a song that makes you feel wild, free, and like you can do anything you want. I could argue that the “reckless abandon” feel of the song laid the groundwork for the club boom to slide in the following year. That said, I did say this was my #1 pick in my first draft of this list, so what overtook it in the end?

1...So the song I put at #1 was originally just an honorable mention here, but the more I listened to it, the more I found myself genuinely choking up every time I listened, yeah, it really couldn’t be anything else...

1. Ludacris f/Mary J Blige - Runaway Love (YE: #35, PEAK: #2)

Oh boy, this one's quite heavy. This song dives into the very dark lives of three little girls, one per verse, each ending with the line “She says she's 'bout to run away and never come back”, delivered with such bite and intensity that it really cuts deep, and the stories are told with such descriptive detail that make you wanna hug the little girls tight and take their pain away, Luda also did a great job of keeping the writing within the realm of believability and yet still descriptive enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. And then you get to near the end of the song, where Ludacris offers some hope and comfort to people who may have run away or are thinking about doing so. He doesn’t offer a solution because he knows he can’t, it’s just a show of empathy that I’ve very rarely, if ever, heard in any song, let alone a top 2 hit. And then the production which is just hauntingly beautiful - an incredible mix of synths, drum machines, synths, and guitars all delivering a beautiful melody and additionally being dialed back enough to put the focus on the content. Yes I do wish Mary J Blige’s chorus was more properly developed, but it’s still haunting and beautiful. This is a hard-hitting song and a reminder that even young children can be subject to horrifying, traumatic things. Excellent song, and easily the best hit song of 2007, more songs with a showing of empathy like this one in the mainstream today would be greatly appreciated. Looks like I underestimated you 2007, you were quite great in terms of the best hits.

Next stop on our journey through the 2000s is 2008! And as always, Spotify playlist is below this article and if you wanna comment your own lists of the best hit songs of 2007 or predict what my 2008 worst list could be, please comment below, I’m eager to see them! That said, 2008’s lists won’t come out for a bit, I have AP exams haha. But until then, you’ve been reading Fire’s Flaming Hot Takes, and I’ll see you next time!

Spotify Playlist