Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" was the first US chart-topper to include the word "funk" in the title.
An unknown Ke$ha sang on Flo-Rida's #1 hit "Right Round," but refused to appear in the video because she wanted to make a name for herself.
Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits wrote "Private Dancer," which went to Tina Turner when he realized it wasn't a song for a man to sing.
Lyrically, Elvis Costello's "Watching The Detectives" was inspired by American detective shows; musically, it was inspired by The Clash.
"The Way We Were" was the first of five Hot 100 #1 singles recorded by Barbra Streisand. She is the only artist ever to receive an Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy as well as record a #1 single and album.
Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin got the name "Levon" from Levon Helm, who was the drummer in The Band.
What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?
One of the most popular classical vocalists in the land is lining up a trip to space, which is the inspiration for many of her songs.
Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.
With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.
When he was asked to write a song for the Singles soundtrack, Mark thought the Seattle grunge scene was already overblown, so that's what he wrote about.