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Biggest selling single in the world, 1996-2006

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http://www.everything-outkast.com/images/wholeworld.jpg

Poll Results

OptionVotes
2007: Rihanna featuring Jay-Z — "Umbrella"39
1999: Cher — Believe 12
2002: Shakira — "Whenever,Wherever" / "Suerte" 7
2000: Madonna —"Music" 6
2001: Shaggy featuring Ricardo "RikRok" Ducent — "It Wasn't Me" 6
2004: Maroon 5 — "This Love" 6
2006: Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean — "Hips Don't Lie" 6
1996: Los Del Rio — "Macarena" 6
2003: Evanescence featuring Paul McCoy — "Bring Me To Life" 4
2005: Green Day — "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" 2
1998: Celine Dion — "My Heart Will Go On" 1
1997: Elton John — "Candle In The Wind 1997" 0


― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 5 April 2008 20:19 (eighteen years ago)

Cher

― Mark Rich@rdson, Saturday, 5 April 2008 20:53 (eighteen years ago)

Green Day

― zeus, Saturday, 5 April 2008 21:10 (eighteen years ago)

wait are we guessing?

― Hurting 2, Saturday, 5 April 2008 21:20 (eighteen years ago)

Vote for the best. Elton John sold most, it's the biggest selling single in world history.

― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 5 April 2008 21:21 (eighteen years ago)

Shaggy/RikRok or Shakira/Wyclef. I'll get back to you.

― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 5 April 2008 21:40 (eighteen years ago)

Torn between two Shakiras.

― DavidM, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:04 (eighteen years ago)

top 3: It Wasn't Me, Bring Me To Life, Music.

fuck the rest, more or less.

― Alex in Baltimore, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:15 (eighteen years ago)

lol at Elton and RikRok being the only two Britishes.

― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

I thought Madonna was Britishes, she's got the accent and everything.

― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:26 (eighteen years ago)

Most of these are VERY bad, but there are some exceptions. Picked "Music" just ahead of "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams".

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:28 (eighteen years ago)

Another vote for "Believe."

― _Rockist__Scientist_, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:35 (eighteen years ago)

"this love", easy. other than umbrella and maybe 'hips' i don't need to hear the others ever again

― tremendoid, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:38 (eighteen years ago)

ok music is still listenable i suppose

― tremendoid, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:39 (eighteen years ago)

it wasnt me

― deej, Saturday, 5 April 2008 22:40 (eighteen years ago)

The world has shit taste.

― billstevejim, Sunday, 6 April 2008 00:27 (eighteen years ago)

Strange that all of these songs were inescapable at the time--except for the Green Day one, which I've never head of.

― mulla atari, Sunday, 6 April 2008 11:43 (eighteen years ago)

"lucky that my breasts are small and humble, so you don't confuse them, with mountains," obviously

― danzig, Sunday, 6 April 2008 11:49 (eighteen years ago)

2005: Green Day — "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"

Wow, I knew that was a big album, but this is still a bit weird.

― Bodrick III, Sunday, 6 April 2008 11:56 (eighteen years ago)

^^^Not my vote btw, that's going to Shaggy.

― Bodrick III, Sunday, 6 April 2008 11:57 (eighteen years ago)

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is something like the third biggest selling single in Indian chart history.

― Dom Passantino, Sunday, 6 April 2008 11:58 (eighteen years ago)

Paul McCoy vs RikRok is a battle for the ages, as well.

― Dom Passantino, Sunday, 6 April 2008 12:04 (eighteen years ago)

where did you get these stats from, Dom? Wikipedia has Daniel Bowter's "Bad Day" as the second best selling single in the 2000s behind Shakira/Wyclef!

― danzig, Sunday, 6 April 2008 12:11 (eighteen years ago)

My Heart Will Go On Bitches!

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Sunday, 6 April 2008 12:14 (eighteen years ago)

That song took over the nation. You couldn't even go to the bathroom without hearing flutes.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Sunday, 6 April 2008 12:15 (eighteen years ago)

My Heart Will Go On Bitches!

Ye-woah, if there were a biggest-selling single of such a title I'd vote for that imm-copulatin'-mediately, no shit!

As there ain't, though, I-mma gonna vote (for the firstest time in my life, I very much suspect) for Cher.

― t**t, Sunday, 6 April 2008 16:08 (eighteen years ago)

C'mon, it's totally "Umbrella" (but "It Wasn't Me" is also awesome)

― Tape Store, Sunday, 6 April 2008 17:04 (eighteen years ago)

where did you get these stats from, Dom? Wikipedia has Daniel Bowter's "Bad Day" as the second best selling single in the 2000s behind Shakira/Wyclef!

-- danzig, Sunday, 6 April 2008 13:11 (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

United World Chart. "Bad Day" may be the second biggest selling song of the decade, but that's because it was a hit in Europe in a different year than it was a hit in the US, right?

― Dom Passantino, Sunday, 6 April 2008 17:05 (eighteen years ago)

One for "Umbrella" here.

― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 6 April 2008 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

"It Wasn't Me" = my favorite karaoke song ever

― Tape Store, Sunday, 6 April 2008 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

Results 1 - 10 of about 970 for "rihanna's forehead". (0.17 seconds)

― Dom Passantino, Sunday, 6 April 2008 17:19 (eighteen years ago)

Hips Don't Lie.

― Matt DC, Sunday, 6 April 2008 17:21 (eighteen years ago)

lol 2004 must have been a boring-ass year

― Curt1s Stephens, Sunday, 6 April 2008 19:42 (eighteen years ago)

2003: Evanescence featuring Paul McCoy — "Bring Me To Life"

The fuck? I know I'm pretty out of it sometimes (eg have never heard "My Heart Will Go On") but I've never even heard of this.

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 6 April 2008 19:44 (eighteen years ago)

Paul McCoy? thought it was some other really boring name

Evanescence featuring Gavin McCann - "Bring Me Off At Half-Time"

― blueski, Sunday, 6 April 2008 19:53 (eighteen years ago)

"(eg have never heard "My Heart Will Go On")"

impossible

― Lingbert, Sunday, 6 April 2008 21:42 (eighteen years ago)

totally cher.
i have that song in my head all the time and i probably haven't heard it in at least 5 years.

― ian, Sunday, 6 April 2008 21:56 (eighteen years ago)

cher

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 6 April 2008 21:57 (eighteen years ago)

"Umbrella" obvs, but I also like the Cher and even the Celine

― abanana, Sunday, 6 April 2008 22:21 (eighteen years ago)

umbrella

― J0rdan S., Sunday, 6 April 2008 22:21 (eighteen years ago)

still listen to it wasn't me sometimes tho

― J0rdan S., Sunday, 6 April 2008 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

i don't think i have ever heard umbrella.

― ian, Sunday, 6 April 2008 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

"Umbrella", but I would love to read a 2008 defense---an earnest defense---of "Macarena".

lol at "dean of diversity" at my institution (loony bin) asking the Latino faculty last month to perform the Macarena at this year's diversity retreat...very culturally astute dean obv.

― Euler, Sunday, 6 April 2008 22:26 (eighteen years ago)

I don't even know what to say about that.

― _Rockist__Scientist_, Sunday, 6 April 2008 23:04 (eighteen years ago)

shakira must be minted by now.

― or something, Sunday, 6 April 2008 23:12 (eighteen years ago)

brewstered.

― or something, Sunday, 6 April 2008 23:13 (eighteen years ago)

Rihanna featuring Jay-Z — "Umbrella"

― nicky lo-fi, Sunday, 6 April 2008 23:58 (eighteen years ago)

I kind of don't believe you never heard "Bring Me To Life," Doctor Casino. That's the "WAKE ME UP/Wake me up inside" song.

― HI DERE, Monday, 7 April 2008 00:15 (eighteen years ago)

What's with the Outkast image? I see no Outkast in the list....

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 7 April 2008 08:44 (eighteen years ago)

Big Boi and Dre got a writing credit on "My Heart Will Go On".

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 7 April 2008 08:52 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for Bring Me To Life for being the silliest.

― chap, Monday, 7 April 2008 09:08 (eighteen years ago)

"Umbrella", but I would love to read a 2008 defense---an earnest defense---of "Macarena".

"Macarena" is a great, fun dance single that suffers only from being overplayed. I seriously considered voting for it, but I find "Hips Don't Lie" even better as a catchy and non-self-conscious dancefloor tune.

― Tuomas, Monday, 7 April 2008 12:16 (eighteen years ago)

Funniest thing about Macarena: people who don't really know Spanish (like me) trying to sing to it with some odd approximation of the lyrics.

― Tuomas, Monday, 7 April 2008 12:20 (eighteen years ago)

Torn between 'Umbrella' and 'Whenever, Wherever', though I do like 'It Wasn't Me'. I think the first is probably the best.

I sincerely hope nobody votes for Maroon 5.

― emil.y, Monday, 7 April 2008 12:21 (eighteen years ago)

Close call between Cher and Rihanna and I suspect that "Believe" will be the most enduring record but at the moment I just about prefer "Umbrella."

― Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 7 April 2008 12:28 (eighteen years ago)

Was I in a coma during 2001, 2005 and 2006? How come I don't know these three songs? Where was I?

― Rob M v2, Monday, 7 April 2008 12:43 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think I've ever heard the 2004 and 2005 songs.

― Tuomas, Monday, 7 April 2008 12:45 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― ILX System, Thursday, 10 April 2008 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

How the hell was "Bring Me to Life" a bigger hit than "Hey Ya"?

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 10 April 2008 23:53 (eighteen years ago)

I sincerely hope nobody votes for Maroon 5

i thought i had already but i hadn't! nice save

― tremendoid, Friday, 11 April 2008 00:04 (eighteen years ago)

How the hell was "Bring Me to Life" a bigger hit than "Hey Ya"?

-- Mr. Snrub, Friday, 11 April 2008 00:53 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ILX thread put a lot of people off of it.

― Dom Passantino, Friday, 11 April 2008 00:04 (eighteen years ago)

seriously people really don't like "This Love"? i didn't really go mad over it till last year for some reason, probably after my gym stopped playing it finally lol

― tremendoid, Friday, 11 April 2008 00:09 (eighteen years ago)

A no-brainer: "Umbrella". "Believe" comes second.

― daavid, Friday, 11 April 2008 04:32 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― ILX System, Friday, 11 April 2008 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

lol in your face reg dwight

― blueski, Friday, 11 April 2008 23:05 (eighteen years ago)

'xactly wot blueski sayeth

― t**t, Friday, 11 April 2008 23:55 (eighteen years ago)


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