100 songs turning 20 in 2024: From Busted to Girls Aloud and Britney Spears to Usher

There's only one possible response to this list of 100 songs turning 20 next year: "2004, what a time to be alive!"

The first new Number 1 of the year was Michelle McManus' Pop Idol winner's single All This Time, which topped the Official Singles Chart for three straight weeks after being released in January. Once Pop Idol was succeeded by The X Factor, it became standard practice for winners' singles to drop in December just in time for the annual festive chart battle. In fact, from 2005 and 2014, seven Christmas Number 1s in 10 years were claimed by the latest X Factor winner.

Anyway, back to 2004. It was a year where four beloved artists – Busted, Britney Spears, McFly and Usher – claimed two Number 1s apiece. Busted reached the top with Who's David and their double A-side release Thunderbirds/3AM, while Britney scored Number 1s with her iconic dance-pop banger Toxic and gorgeously haunting ballad Everytime – that's what we call range.

Meanwhile, McFly gatecrashed the mainstream in style by reaching Number 1 with their first two singles – the perky pop nuggets 5 Colours in Her Hair and Obviously – and then scoring a Number 1 album with their debut, Room on the 3rd Floor. Like Britney, Usher displayed his range by making Number 1 with a club banger (Yeah!) followed by a more reflective ballad (Burn).

Other notable Number 1s included Eamon's scathing break-up bop Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back) and Frankee's equally salty answer record F.U.R.B. (Fuck You Right Back). Though Frankie claimed at the time to be his real-life ex, Eamon insisted this was just a clever marketing ploy. "I have never met Frankee and she is definitely not my girlfriend or ex-girlfriend," he told MTV News at the time. "The only way I was associated with [her song] was when I was asked for licensing permission by Frankee's representatives, which makes me a writer on her song by copyright law."

The final Number 1 of the year was a much more family-friendly effort: Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid 20, the third iteration of the charity supergroup following 1984's original team-up and 1989's Band Aid II. Performers who featured on the 2004 recording of Do They Know It's Christmas? included Busted, Sugababes, Dizzee Rascal, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Beverley Knight, Dido, Jamelia, Joss Stone and Will Young. Their collaborative single went on to spend four weeks at Number 1 – just one less than the 1984 version managed. 

Meanwhile, 2004 also yielded some absolutely classic Number 2s – among them Girls Aloud's The Show and Love Machine, Rachel Stevens' Some Girls, Kelis' Milkshake and Kylie Minogue's I Believe in You. On top of this, it brought the Official Singles Chart debut of The Killers' Mr Brightside, which has gone on to spend more weeks in the Top 100 than any other song in history. We'll say it again: what a time to be alive!

Update: In May 2024 Official Charts announced The Killers' Mr Brightside had overtaken Wonderwall to become the biggest song of all time never to have topped the chart.

Number 1 Singles

Michelle McManus - All This Time

LMC vs. U2 - Take Me to the Clouds Above

Sam & Mark - With a Little Help from My Friends

Busted - Who's David?

DJ Casper - Cha Cha Slide

Britney Spears - Toxic

Usher feat. Ludacris and Lil' Jon - Yeah!

McFly - Five Colours in Her Hair

Eamon - Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

Frankee - F.U.R.B. (Fuck You Right Back)

Mario Winans feat. P. Diddy and Enya - I Don't Wanna Know

Britney Spears - Everytime

McFly - Obviously

Usher - Burn

Shapeshifters - Lola's Theme

The Streets - Dry Your Eyes

Busted - Thunderbirds / 3AM

3 of a Kind - Baby Cakes

Natasha Bedingfield - These Words

Nelly - My Place / Flap Your Wings

Brian McFadden - Real to Me

Eric Prydz - Call on Me

Robbie Williams - Radio

Ja Rule feat. R. Kelly and Ashanti - Wonderful

Eminem - Just Lose It

U2 - Vertigo

Girls Aloud - I'll Stand by You

Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas?

Top 10 Singles

Victoria Beckham - This Groove/Let Your Head Go (3)

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - I Won't Change You (9)

Kelis - Milkshake (2)

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out (3)

Keane - Somewhere Only We Know (3)

Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb (10)

Snow Patrol - Run (5)

Jamelia - Thank You (2)

George Michael - Amazing (4)

Kylie Minogue - Red Blooded Woman (5)

Jennifer Lopez - Baby I Love U! (3)

Will Young - Your Game (3)

N.E.R.D. - She Wants to Move (5)

Anastacia - Left Outside Alone (3)

Blue - Breathe Easy (3)

Maroon 5 - This Love (5)

Christina Milian - Dip It Low (2)

The Rasmus - In the Shadows (3)

Kelis - Trick Me (2)

The Killers - Mr. Brightside (10)

D12 - My Band (4)

Keane - Everybody's Changing (4)

O-Zone - Dragostea Din Tei (3)

Peter Andre - Insania (3)

Jessica Simpson - With You (7)

Kylie Minogue - Chocolate (6) 

George Michael - Flawless (Go to the City) (8)

Razorlight - Golden Touch (9)

Christina Aguilera feat. Missy Elliott - Car Wash (4)

Outkast - Roses (4)

Beverley Knight - Come As You Are (9)

Black Eyed Peas - Hey Mama (6)

Goldie Lookin' Chain - Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do (3)

Girls Aloud - The Show (2)

Joss Stone - You Had Me (9)

Nina Sky - Move Ya Body (6)

Shaznay Lewis - Never Felt Like This Before (8)

Rachel Stevens - Some Girls (2)

Anastacia - Sick and Tired (4)

Ashlee Simpson - Pieces of Me (4)

Kelis feat. Andre 3000 - Millionaire (3)

Dizzee Rascal - Stand Up Tall (10)

R.E.M. - Leaving New York (5)

Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending (5)

The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now (2)

V - Hip to Hip/Can You Feel It? (5)

The 411 - Dumb (3)

JoJo - Leave (Get Out) (2)

Girls Aloud - Love Machine (2)

Green Day - American Idiot (3)

McFly - That Girl (3)

Twista - Slow Jamz (3)

Will Young - Friday's Child (4)

Khia - My Neck, My Back (Lick It) (4)

Jay Sean - Stolen (4)

Kanye West - Through the Wire (9)

Duran Duran - (Reach Up for The) Sunrise (5)

Dannii Minogue vs. Flower Power - You Won't Forget About Me (7)

Destiny's Child - Lose My Breath (2)

Jamelia - See It in a Boy's Eyes (5)

Lemar - If There's Any Justice (3)

Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For? (4)

Geri Halliwell - Ride It (4)

The Darkness - Love Is Only a Feeling (5)

Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten (6)

Britney Spears - My Prerogative (4)

Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell - Drop It Like It's Hot (10)

Kylie Minogue - I Believe In You (2)

Daniel Bedingfield - Nothing Hurts Like Love (3)

Manic Street Preachers - The Love of Richard Nixon (2)

Ronan Keating feat. Yusuf Islam - Father and Son (2)

Shania Twain - Party for Two (10)