Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Britain in the 00s had some great number one singles. Songs that summed up a moment, stretched the boundaries of what pop could be, yet have stood the test of time. “Stan”. “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”. “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”. “Umbrella”. “Bad Romance”. From this list you would think the British record buying public had excellent, undeniable taste. But then there are other songs where you wonder “how did that become the most popular song in the country?” Whether that’s because it’s defiantly uncommercial, a random novelty or just offensively not very good. Does this make them bad? Not necessarily, but it's weird they topped the UK charts. This is an exploration of those songs, the stories of the Most Bizarre UK No. 1s of the 2000s.

#00sPop #musiclist

Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.

00:00 Introduction
00:48 Oxide & Neutrino - Bound 4 Da Reload
03:49 Limp Bizkit - Rollin'
08:19 Bob The Builder - Mambo No 5
11:39 Las Ketchup - Aserejé
13:57 Michael Andrews ft Gary Jules - Mad World
17:12 Eamon & Frankee
20:10 Crazy Frog - Axel F
23:21 Chico - It's Chico Time
25:57 Sandi Thom - I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker
28:59 Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name

Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine (soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Luar - Anchor (soundcloud.com/luarbeats)

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Sources
1000 UK Number One Hits by John Kutner & Spencer Leigh (2005) Omnibus Press
“The revolution will not be trivialised” John Robinson, NME, Jan 2000
“Bob the Builder makes number one” Staff, BBC News, Dec 2000
“Limp Bizkit: Hellraiser” Marc Weingarten, Vibe, Dec 2000
“Chart victory 'dream' for singer” Staff, BBC News, Dec 2003
““What Goes Up Must Come Down, The Important Thing Is That We’re On Top Now.”” Staff, Terra Networks, 2004 [translated from Spanish]
“Eamon: Ho-Wop Sinsation” Jon Wiederhorn, MTV News, Feb 2004
“Eamon’s Alleged Old Flame Burns Him With Dis Track” Jon Wiederhorn, MTV News, Mar 2004
“That Eamon Dis Track? Ho-Wopper Now Claims He Was Behind It” Jon Wiederhorn, MTV News, Mar 2004
“Eamon Distances Himself From Frankee Track, Welcomes Her To Ho-Wop World” Jon Wiederhorn, MTV News, Mar 2004
“'The Crazy Frog sound? That's my fault.'” Giles Wilson, BBC News, Jan 2005
“Crazy Frog hops to chart success” Staff, BBC News, May 2005
“Interview with ERIK WERNQUIST, animator at Kaktus Film Sweden and creator of Crazy Frog” Jan Blumentrath, HitQuarters, Oct 2005
“Was Sandi Thom's effortless rise just too good to be true?” Paul Kelbie, The Independent, May 2006
“An internet superstar - or just another rock'n'roll swindle?” Owen Gibson, The Guardian, May 2006
“Supposing ... Sandi Thom is the musical antichrist” Charlie Brooker, The Guardian, Jun 2006
“Sandi Thom - Article” Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, May 2008
“Top Of The Noughties Pops” Bob Stanley, The Guardian, Dec 2009
“Cowell: Facebook music campaign 'cynical'” Staff, BBC News, Dec 2009
“Rock anthem outselling X Factor winner Joe McElderry” Staff, BBC News, Dec 2009
“Rage Against The Machine swear on 5 live” Staff, BBC News, Dec 2009
“So Solid Crew: 'What We're Doing Is Bigger Than Music'” Angus Batey, The Guardian, Jan 2010
“Why Bob the Builder is keeping women out of construction” Kate Lloyd, The Guardian, Jul 2014
“OXIDE AND NEUTRINO – "Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)"” Tom Ewing, Popular Number Ones, Mar 2015
“12 Years On, We Reflect On The Feud Which Shook The World Of Music To Its Core” Gavin Casey, The Sliced Pan, Nov 2015
“Limp Bizkit: "We Got too Big, The Label Milked Us, We Fell Apart..."” Terry Bezer, Metal Hammer, Oct 2016
“Oxide & Neutrino: how we made Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)” Dave Simpson, The Guardian, Jan 2019
“How Rage Against the Machine Created ‘Killing in the Name’” Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, Aug 2020
“GARY JULES ft MICHAEL ANDREWS – "Mad World"” Tom Ewing, Popular Number Ones, Sep 2021
“Ding Ding! Crazy Frog to make a comeback in December” Staff, BBC Culture, Nov 2021
“‘I Think We Opened Doors’: Las Ketchup Look Back on ‘The Ketchup Song’ at 20” Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, Jun 2022
“True story behind Eamon and Frankee's infamous 'break-up' diss songs that weren't as they seemed” Ali Condon, Unilad, Apr 2023
“When People Run In Circles: Gary Jules And ‘Mad World’” Robin Murray, Clash Music, Dec 2023
“‘It knocked Eminem’s Stan off No 1’: how we made Can We Fix It? by Bob the Builder” Rich Pelley, The Guardian, Dec 2024
“Controversial call behind iconic earworm, 'The Ketchup Song'” Nine Honey Celebrity, Nine dot Au, Apr 2026