Never made it as a wise man, I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing

Continuing my trip up the list of the most streamed songs for each year.  

2001 : How You Remind Me - Nickelback

I know I know this track, but I can never remember it until I hear the first ten seconds and then I'm like "oh yeah - it's that one".

Oh yeah - it's that one.  Are we having fun yet?  If you listen to it all the way through, it's incredible how little content there is in the 3:48, but it's not a bad song - but it's also not one you'd want to listen to on repeat.  But ye gods, it's a overly earnest video featuring a scary-looking woman.

Wikipedia tells me this was the most played track on US radio in this decade - I can assure you this doesn't surprise me in the slightest.  The rest of the entry is pretty much "we wrote the song and loads of people listened to it" - and boy was it successful!  It got to #4 here, Sweden, Norway and New Zealand, #3 in Switzerland and Germany, #2 in Australia and Belgium and #1 in Austria, Denmark, Ireland and, of course, the US where it was certified quadruple platinum (4 million "units").

Wikipedia gives us a couple of cover versions - Avril Lavigne (not bad at all - although she sometimes manages to make it even more earnest) and Alkistis Protopsalti (a bizarrely random Greek entry which makes me suspect someone's been playing with updating Wikipedia).  secondhandsongs.com comes up with nothing new, so let's have a couple of random YouTube offerings from Lights (nicely stripped back a la London Grammar), Halocene (a very much not stripped back metal version) and Janet Devlin (probably my favourite).

I can quite believe this takes the year in the US, but I kinda feel like there must be more popular tracks over here.  Looking at the year-end chart, the best-selling single of the year was Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me" - a fine track, but you'd go mad if you listened to it too many times.  It was very closely followed a track that's better than its reputation, which is Hearsay's "Pure & Simple" - but once again, I doubt you'd want to listen to it that often.  However, #3 is Kylie's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" which is a definite improvement and the top five is rounded out by Atomic Kitten's "Whole Again" and DJ Otzi's "Hey Baby (Uhh Ahh)" (which I don't remember at all).  

Other tracks from the year-end list which are worth a mention are Wheatus's "Teenage Dirtbag" (my daughters listen to this quite a bit), Ian van Dahl's "Castles In The Sky" (I like this but I've not heard it in years), Nelly Furtado's "Like A Bird" and Outkast's "Miss Jackson" - not a massive selection, but there are loads of covers and Spice Girl solo efforts in there which obviously have to be ignored, as does Bob The Builder's "Mambo No 5" (which is BAD!).

Looking further down the chart throughout the year, we have U2's "Stuck In A Moment" (one of the few bearable tracks from their late catalogue - but still over 20 years old!), Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood", Missy Elliott's "Get Your Freak On", R.E.M.'s "Imitation Of Life", Dido's "Thank You", Travis's "Sing", Dandy Warhols' "Bohemian Like You" and Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Murder On The Dancefloor" (which may well be in the running after its recent renaissance).  Not a huge selection, but a nice variety of genres - there were an load more Spice Girl solo efforts I ignored though.

Looking over to the US, the top track in their year end chart was Lifehouse's "Hanging By A Moment".  Errr - OK!  I checked it out because I totally didn't remember it and I'm not convinced I'd ever heard it before - apparently it got to #25 here, but that was it (it doesn't sound all that different from Nickelback).  Alicia Keys's "Fallin" at #2 is at least a decent track but most of the rest of the chart is very average R&B, although I was surprised to see S Club 7's "Never Had A Dream Come True" at #61.

I know a lot of people are very rude about Nickelback and this track in particular but imho it's perfectly fine - although I'm sure I'd hate if I'd been listening to US radio playing it 24/7 for the year.  I do struggle to imagine it took the year here though - both Shaggy and Kylie felt far more ubiquitous at the time, although Wheatus might well have shown greater staying power than all of them (it has a timeless theme, after all).

2000 - I can't believe people listen to this that often
2002 - Both better and more popular than I remembered