Nelly

Rap superstar Nelly has been one of the biggest-selling pop stars of the 21st Century, with 20 million albums sold in the US alone, and several No.1 and Top 10 hits since he first released "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)" on Leap Day 2000.

Debut album Country Grammar was released in the summer of 2000, after the debut single of the same name peaked at No.7 in the US and UK charts. “Ride Wit Me” was more successful – it hit No.3 on both sides of the Atlantic. Country Grammar went on to sell nine million copies in the US alone. Second album Nellyville (2002) went triple platinum just a few weeks after release, before Nelly topped the Hot 100 for a combined total of 17 weeks with “Hot In Herre”, and “Dilemma” (featuring Kelly Rowland). He was nominated for 14 Billboard Awards that year, winning six of them, including the much-prized Artist of the Year. In 2003, Nelly had another Hot 100 chart topper with “Shake Ya Tailfeather”, a collaboration with P Diddy and Murphy Lee.

In September 2004, Nelly released two albums simultaneously, Sweat and Suit. Suit topped the US album chart, selling 50,000 more copies in its first week than No.2 Sweat. Nelly then released several singles alternating between each album. The Suit singles were more popular, with "My Place" and "Over and Over" both topping the UK charts and going Top 5 in the US. In 2005 he released Sweatsuit, a compilation of tracks from both albums which also included the new song “Grillz”, which became Nelly’s fourth Hot 100 No.1.