When it comes to hit songs, we don’t think too much about it besides the lyrics and the artist who sings it.
But there is actually a lot more that goes on behind-the-scenes, including songs being originally written for completely different artists.
Yep, the popular songs you know today were almost completely different! Come see which ones fall into this category.
1. “Party in the USA”
Miley may have made the song famous, but it was actually written by Jessie J for herself.
While her record passed on it, it wasn’t a total letdown as the song royalties paid Jesse’s rent for three years.
2. “Toxic”
The sultry pop song was initially offered to another pop singer: Kylie Minogue.
“I wasn’t at all angry when it worked for her,” Minogue said about the song reaching success. “It’s like the fish that got away. You just have to accept it.”
3. “Halo”
If you’ve ever heard of beef between Beyoncé and Leona Lewis, this song could be why.
While it was originally written for Beyoncé, trouble started when she took too long deciding whether to take it or not.
This led the songwriter to reach out to Leona’s team prematurely.
“I sent it to them and they flipped on it. They loved it and instantly said they wanted to do it. I was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, no, it’s not free yet! It’s just in case,” producer Ryan Tedder told Alex and Lucy on Key 103’s In:Demand.
4. “Sorry”
The biggest hit on the singer’s “Purpose” album wasn’t written by Bieber; it was written by Julia Michaels.
Awkwardly enough, she has since become super close to Justin’s ex, Selena Gomez, and even shares a matching tattoo with her.
5. “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”
Since the song is arguably Aerosmith’s most famous hit, it makes it crazy to think that it was almost sung by Celiné Dion!
It was written by Dianne Warren with the Canadian singer in mind.
6. “If I Ain’t Got You”
There are a lot of layers to this hit song by Alicia Keys. First, Alicia wrote it based on the death of R&B singer, Aaliyah.
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When Alicia heard the news while on a plane, she told The Guardian that the lyrics just “poured out” of her.
Despite this connection to the song, she almost gave the song to Christina Aguilera.
She never did since her record team intervened. It’s a good thing they did since it’s one of her greatest hits.
“It took me 300 different ways to get to what it sounds like today,” she told The Guardian .
7. “Cheap Thrills”
Before Sia released her own music, she was a songwriter behind some of your favorite hits for names such as Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Madonna.
This included “Cheap Thrills,” which she originally wrote for Rihanna.
8. “Telephone”
We almost missed out on the epic collaboration with Lady Gaga and Beyoncé thanks to the roots of the track.
It was originally written by Lady Gaga for Britney Spears. But after Britney passed, Gaga made it her own.
9. “All About that Bass”
Just like Sia, Meghan Trainor got her start in Hollywood by writing hit tracks for several big names.
She originally wrote “All About That Bass” — the song that launched her career and earned her a Grammy — for Adele.
10. “Miss Independent”
The iconic song passed by many artists’ hands before Kelly Clarkson made it her own.
Destiny’s Child was given first dibs at it. But after they passed, it was given to Christina Aguilera, who also passed.
11. “Umbrella”
While Rihanna has passed up on a lot of great songs, she didn’t pass up on “Umbrella” after Britney did!
This ended up changing the trajectory of Rihanna’s career as she won a Grammy in 2008 for the hit.
12. “Rock Your Body”
Believe it or not, the song that helped launch Justin Timberlake as a solo artist post-NSYNC was originally written years earlier for Michael Jackson.
It had been written by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo in the ’90s.
13. “S.O.S”
We would have needed an SOS signal if anyone but Rihanna sang the iconic song.
But this almost happened, as Christina Milian even recorded a version of the song . Since she didn’t include it on her album, Rihanna got it.
14. “Black Widow”
Katy Perry helped write the hit single, but she didn’t keep it for herself.
“[Perry] had just put her album out,” Iggy Azalea, who recorded the song, told Ryan Seacrest. “So I said, ‘Hey, Katy, why don’t you let me take this and do something for it?”
15. “Shape of You”
If you can believe it, Rihanna almost sang the gorgeous love song that was written by Ed Sheeran.
At the time, he was writing songs for many different artists. He told BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show that he wrote “Shape of You” with RiRi in mind.
But everything changed once the song started to really take shape into a different direction.
“And then I started singing lyrics like ‘putting Van the Man on the jukebox’ and I was like, ‘Well, she’s not really going to sing that, is she?'” Sheeran said.
16. “I Will Always Love You”
This has to be the most surprising song on this list.
Whitney Houston’s most famous song was actually written and even sung by Dolly Parton . Whitney covered it, transforming it from country to one of the most powerful love ballads there is.
