The Ten Best Selling Songs in Austria in 2001

This was one of the first songs I knew as a child, and I remember having been fully mesmerized by the video with Kylie in her different extravagant dresses.

Years later, I still love both the song and the video all the same. It may have a disco beat, making it danceable, but doesn't it sound mysterious still? Both the electrifying beat with its subtle layers of unusual synthetic elements and Kylie's slow, drawn-out, and calm "won't you stay" vocals have that certain aura that well-cast and directed film noir femme fatales also have. It stands out very much among the other pop songs of the decade.

It's not as good as "La Passion", which I so highly praised in my last list, or his hit "L'Amour Toujours", but the oriental main motif definitely has something. It's a fine techno banger, no more, no less.

A harmless, light, and positive little pop song by the foremost German girl group, whose big success started the decade-long craze for talent search shows (or casting shows as they are called in German), as they were formed in the show "Popstars". You will definitely see many more winners of such shows in the lists to come.

The theme of the movie "Loser", also used in "Dawson's Creek".
College rock riff, edgy lyrics, indie acoustic guitars, and scratches - this is as turn-of-the-millennium as it gets, and for getting into the zeitgeist of its time, this is really fine.

I am not so much into this song. I can't really tell you why, but I guess as a love song, it does not have enough emotion, and for a summer hit, it's not fun enough. It's somewhere in between but not enough to convince as each.

Peak position: 1
Having spent 8 weeks on top of the charts, the reggae song is the biggest number 1 hit of the year, tied with Kylie's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head".

Hands down, the greatest hip hop song and the song with the best lyrics ever. Yes, I used the superlative. I could write an entire essay on the depth and different levels this song works on, and maybe I will, but for this list, let me simplify it. It can be broken down into three major qualities.

Firstly, this is a song filled with character complexity not often found in feature-length films. Stan's issues, his relationships, his inability to differentiate between reality and fiction, his clinging to one thing to prevent his emotions that have been boiling underneath from a lifetime of suppression from bursting out violently, his way of not thinking things through and acting impulsively... this is all fleshed out, credible, and nuanced.

Secondly, there is the build-up that causes the emotion to cut so very deep. This is done at first by the telling of some of the positive things that would have been: Stan has a little brother and a pregnant girlfriend. He could have been happy if he had used them as his straw to cling to instead of Eminem. But ultimately, it is the final verse that makes it so hard to handle: Eminem actually would have answered. He would have given him good advice, comfort, helpful words. If only he had waited a bit more, all of this senseless violence could have been prevented. This is what makes it such a haunting story: to know if just a tiny thing was different, this could have ended in Stan having a family and finally finding peace if he followed Eminem's suggestions. Instead, three people died. Eminem's very optimistic tone and how much time he takes to sensitively write to him make it all the harder when he realizes that the person he writes to is already dead.

And thirdly, this song is one of the quintessential tracks that deal with the impact of the media on people's minds. Eminem (the real one, not the one in the story) realized how his words leave an impression on people, and maybe not the one he intended to. Some... more

Another light, positive pop song by a girl group. Back then, most of them were very pleasant to listen to as they had such an easy-going feeling to it that brings a smile to your face. They did not need to overflow with kitsch, they did not need to be annoyingly happy and fit for a dance party, they simply felt like a warm summer breeze during sunset.

This song is so lengthy and boring. There's this German word called "dahinplätschern", which describes it perfectly. It is a verb used to describe when (mostly) music or (sometimes) movies go on and on with little evolution or excitement going on.

A beautiful new age song by a beautiful artist who managed to maintain a musical style over decades that only she and no one else has made, and after all these years still manages to have a hypnotic, fantastic attraction.

We all know why this was so successful in 2001, but remembering it solely for that reason really wouldn't do Enya's graceful, magical music justice.