"Lonely" is a song by Senegalese-American singer-songwriter Akon; it appears on his debut album, Trouble. Featuring a prominent, high-pitched sample of the 1964 song "Mr. Lonely" by Bobby Vinton, the single was released on February 22, 2005. "Lonely" reached number one in several countries, including in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany, where it stayed for eight weeks. It also entered the top five in France, where it reached number two, and in the United States, where it peaked at number four.
"Belly Dancer (Bananza)" is the fourth single from R&B singer Akon's debut studio album, Trouble. "Belly Dancer (Bananza)" peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "Belly Dancer (Bananza)" peaked within the top ten of the charts in the United Kingdom. The song samples "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)" by Fun Boy Three and "Body Rock" by Treacherous Three, and borrows from the chorus of "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield. It was used in the 2009 teen comedy film Fired Up!. A remix of the track, featuring Kardinal Offishall, was later included as a B-side to "Pot of Gold".
"Smack That" is a song by Senegalese-American singer Akon featuring rapper Eminem from the former's second studio album Konvicted (2006). Produced by Eminem, it was written by the artists alongside Mike Strange and Luis Resto. The collaboration came after the two artists met during a recording session for Shady Records rapper Obie Trice. The song received acclaim from contemporary music critics for being a great club song.
"I Wanna Love You" is a song written and recorded by American singer Akon featuring American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released in October 2006 as the second single from his second studio album, Konvicted. It is also featured on Snoop Dogg's eighth album, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. This song was Akon's first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also Snoop's second #1 on the same chart. It also reached a peak of #3 on the UK Singles Chart. The track originally had Akon as a featured artist and was performed by rapper Plies from Fort Myers, Florida, but his verse was replaced by Snoop's and his name has been left out from the writers' credits. This song was #88 on MTV Asia's list of Top 100 Hits of 2007. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008.
"The Sweet Escape" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani from her 2006 second solo studio album of the same name. It was written by Stefani, Aliaune "Akon" Thiam and Giorgio Tuinfort, and produced by the latter two. Akon, who is also a featured artist, developed the song's beat before collaborating with Stefani. He designed it based on her previous work with No Doubt, and Stefani later commented that it put her "on the yellow brick road to the No Doubt record I might do". "The Sweet Escape" is an apology for a fight between two lovers and describes a dream of a pleasant life for them. As the album's title track, its title was chosen to help market Stefani's music and fashion lines.
"Don't Matter" is a reggae fusion–R&B song by American singer Akon from his second studio album, Konvicted (2006). The song was released as the album's third single in January 2007. In April of that year, it became Akon's second U.S. number-one single. "Don't Matter" was ranked number 31 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. This song was also ranked number 81 on MTV Asia's list of Top 100 Hits of 2007.
"Sorry, Blame It on Me" is the fifth single from R&B singer/songwriter Akon's second studio album, Konvicted. The song was co-written and produced by Clinton Sparks. This song was made after the nightclub incident in which Akon did a sexual dance with an underage girl. A demo of the song was leaked in February 2007, several months before the official version became available on Akon's Myspace. The song was put on iTunes on July 17, 2007. The song attained the number one position on iTunes on July 21, 2007, and July 23, 2007. The song was released to radio on July 24, 2007. The song debuted on the August 4, 2007 issue of the Billboard Hot 100 at number seven, unable to make as big of impact as Akon's previous single Don't Matter. A music video directed by Chris Robinson was produced to promote the single.
"Apologize" is a song written by Ryan Tedder, which first appeared on Timbaland's second studio album Shock Value (2007). It was then released as the third single from that album, along with the original recording by OneRepublic. It accordingly also served as the debut single for OneRepublic's debut album Dreaming Out Loud (2007), produced by Greg Wells. Timbaland's version omits the guitar solo after the second verse in the original, and includes an extra line of percussion, new backing vocals, and added sound samples, in addition to sound mixing and a few other minor changes. The song was the biggest radio airplay hit in the history of the Mainstream Top 40 chart in the United States, with 10,394 plays in one week, until its record was broken by Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love", which was also co-written by Tedder. The song was a major hit internationally, reaching number one in 16 countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, Turkey, and the Netherlands, as well as staying at number one for eight consecutive weeks on the Billboard Pop 100 chart. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, staying in the top-10 for 25 weeks, and spent 13 weeks at number one in Canada.
"Closer" is a song by American recording artist Ne-Yo. The song was produced by Stargate. It was released as the lead single from Ne-Yo's third studio album, Year of the Gentleman (2008).
"All Summer Long" is a song by American recording artist Kid Rock. It was released in March 2008 as the third single from his seventh studio album, Rock n Roll Jesus (2007). It samples Bob Seger's song "Night Moves", "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon.
"Dangerous" is a song by Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall featuring American singer Akon. Produced by DJ Kemo and hAZEL, it was the first single from his fourth album, Not 4 Sale. It was released to radio in March 2008, and on iTunes on April 1. On the week of May 13, at the American iTunes Store, the song was offered as a free download. The song won the award for Single of the Year at the 2009 Juno Awards. In January 2023, the single was certified 4× platinum by Music Canada and 3× platinum by the RIAA.
"Sex on Fire" is the first single released from American rock band Kings of Leon's fourth studio album, Only by the Night. The song gave Kings of Leon their first number-one single in Australia, Finland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, charting at the top spot on digital downloads alone in the latter country, before its physical release. In September 2009, it was Britain's second most-downloaded digital single ever. The song has sold 1.2 million copies in the United Kingdom as of November 2012. It has also gained significant popularity in the United States, reaching number one on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the band's second highest-charting song there on the former chart.
Freedom is the third studio album by Senegalese-American singer Akon. The album was originally named Acquitted; however, Akon changed it before it was released. It was released as a download on December 1, 2008, and in stores December 2, 2008. The album debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200 with 110,600 copies sold in its first week.
"Use Somebody" is a song recorded by the American rock group Kings of Leon. It was the second single from the band's fourth studio album Only by the Night, and it entered American and British charts in early October 2008, three weeks after the album release. The single was augmented with a music video released a month later.
"Beautiful" is the third single from Akon's third studio album, Freedom. The song features American pop singer Colby O'Donis and a rap verse from Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall. "Beautiful" was released to radio on January 6, 2009. The song has also been released in other three international versions, with different featured artists replacing both Colby's vocals and Kardinal's rapping: in Portuguese with Brazilian singer Negra Li, in Dutch with Dutch singer Brace, and in Spanish with Mexican singer Dulce María. The original version peaked at number nineteen on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States, the original version peaked within the top ten of the charts in Israel and the United Kingdom.
"Hotel Room Service" is a song by American rapper Pitbull released as the third single from his fourth album, Pitbull Starring in Rebelution. It was released to both iTunes and mainstream radio on June 16, 2009. The song peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it his second top 10 hit following "I Know You Want Me ".
"Sexy Bitch" is a song by French DJ David Guetta recorded for his fourth studio album One Love (2009). The song features vocals from Senegalese-American recording artist Akon. It was released as the second single from One Love internationally. The song was serviced to mainstream and rhythmic crossover radios on 1 September 2009 in the United States, through Astralwerks, together with Capitol Records.
"All the Right Moves" is the lead single by American band OneRepublic from their second studio album Waking Up (2009). It was released to mainstream radio on September 24, 2009 and released for digital download on October 6, 2009. It is the band's first single of the album for all countries except Austria and Germany, where "Secrets" serves as the first single from the new album.
"Play Hard" is a song by French DJ and record producer David Guetta featuring vocals from American singers Ne-Yo and Akon. It was released on 15 March 2013 as the third single from the 2012 re-release of Guetta's fifth studio album, Nothing but the Beat (2011). This is the third collaboration between Guetta and Akon since "Sexy Bitch" in 2009 and "Crank It Up" in 2011. All three artists co-wrote the song along with Frédéric Riesterer and Giorgio Tuinfort, both of whom produced the song with Guetta. It features a prominent synthesizer riff sampled from the 1998 song "Better Off Alone" by Dutch Eurodance project Alice Deejay; as a result, Sebastiaan Molijn and Eelke Kalberg are credited as songwriters.
"Take You Dancing" is a song by American singer Jason Derulo. It was released as a single on July 21, 2020, by Atlantic Records, a sister of his previous home label Warner Records. The song was written by Teemu Brunila, Derulo, Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou, Sarah Solovay and Shawn Charles.
