His hit song \u201cUptown Funk!\u201d with Mark Ronson was the No. 1 song of the entire 2010s, per Billboard<\/a>. It spent a total of 56 weeks on the Hot 100 chart and 14 weeks at No. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other hits include \u201cLocked Out Of Heaven,\u201d \u201cDie With A Smile,\u201d \u201cGrenade,\u201d \u201cJust The Way You Are,\u201d \u201cI Just Might,\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s What I Like\u201d and \u201cWhen I Was Your Man.\u201d<\/p>\n But beyond his own discography, Bruno Mars helped curate some of the most nostalgic songs of the 2000s \u2014 most of which through his songwriting and record producing team known as The Smeezingtons. The team, formed in 2009, consists of Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s take a trip through some throwback songs that hit differently once you realize Mars had his fingerprints all over them.<\/p>\n Photo by Kevin Winter\/Getty Images for The Recording Academy<\/p>\n 7. \u201cBow Chicka Wow Wow\u201d by Mike Posner<\/p>\n If Mike Posner\u2019s name instantly takes you back to \u201cCooler Than Me\u201d summer, you already know the vibe. \u201cBow Chicka Wow Wow\u201d came from Posner\u2019s debut album 31 Minutes to Takeoff (2010), and yes, Bruno Mars was behind it.<\/p>\n The track debuted on Billboard Hot 100<\/a> on March 12, 2011, and peaked at No. 30 on May 14, 2011. It spent 16 weeks on the chart and was one of four Posner songs to appear on the charts. Not a bad run for a song you can probably still hum right now.<\/p>\n 6. \u201cTears Always Win\u201d by Alicia Keys<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a deep cut for you. \u201cTears Always Win\u201d is one of the most underrated songs off Alicia Keys\u2019 fifth studio album, Girl on Fire (2012). It never appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 or Billboard 200, which is honestly a crime.<\/p>\n It was written by Keys, Mars, Lawrence and Jeff Bhasker and was the fifth single off the album. Keys debuted it on American Idol on May 9, 2013. If you missed this one, consider it your sign to go back and listen \u2014 knowing Mars co-wrote it adds a whole new layer.<\/p>\n 5. \u201cForget You\u201d by Cee Lo Green<\/p>\n OK, be honest \u2014 did you just hear the melody in your head the second you read that title?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cForget You\u201d was absolutely unavoidable. It was written by Cee Lo Green, Mars and Brody Brown and released on August 19, 2010, as the lead single from Green\u2019s third solo studio album, The Lady Killer (2010).<\/p>\n It\u2019s by far Green\u2019s most popular song, and the chart numbers back that up. The track debuted on Billboard Hot 100<\/a> on Sept. 11, 2010, and spent a whopping 48 weeks on the charts. It peaked at No. 2 on March 5, 2011. Nearly a full year on the charts.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s not just a hit \u2014 that\u2019s a cultural staple. And Bruno Mars helped write it.<\/p>\n 4. \u201cWavin\u2019 Flag\u201d by K\u2019naan<\/p>\n If you watched any of the 2010 FIFA World Cup \u2014 or even just existed near a television that summer \u2014 you know this song. \u201cWavin\u2019 Flag\u201d is by Somali-Canadian artist K\u2019naan, from his album Troubadour (2009). It was produced by Kerry Brothers Jr. and Mars.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what makes this one special: the song was originally written for Somalia and aspirations of its people for freedom. It became a global hit when it was rewritten and chosen as Coca-Cola\u2019s promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, hosted by South Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n That means Bruno Mars helped produce a song that soundtracked one of the biggest sporting events on the planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n 3. \u201cOne Day\u201d by Matisyahu<\/p>\n Speaking of the 2010 World Cup \u2014 Mars\u2019 fingerprints were all over that moment in cultural history. \u201cOne Day\u201d by Matisyahu was released in 2008 and was a last-minute addition to Matisyahu\u2019s album Light (2009). It was written by Mars, Levine, Lawrence and Matthew Miller and produced by The Smeezingtons.<\/p>\n The song became a global hit when it was heavily featured on the official 2010 FIFA World Cup Album. It is Matisyahu\u2019s second most popular song, debuting on Billboard Hot 100<\/a> on March 13, 2010, and peaking at 85 on April 10, 2010. It spent six weeks on the charts.\u00a0<\/p>\n So if that World Cup summer felt like it had a specific emotional texture, Bruno Mars was one of the people crafting it behind the scenes.<\/p>\n 2. \u201cRight Round\u201d by Flo Rida<\/p>\n This is the one that might genuinely shock you. \u201cRight Round\u201d was released as the lead single from Flo Rida\u2019s second studio album, R.O.O.T.S. (2009), and it also serves as Kesha\u2019s debut single. It was written by a long list of writers, including Mars and Lawrence, this track dominated everything.<\/p>\n The hit spent six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100<\/a> and 26 weeks on the chart in 2009. Six weeks at No. 1. And Mars himself knew exactly how big a deal that was.<\/p>\n In a 2010 interview with Entertainment Weekly<\/a>, Mars said of the song: \u201cWe wrote \u2018Right Round\u2019 for Flo Rida. That was a sample, obviously, but we got our name in there and got some publishing. And it was a No. 1 record. That was our first taste of what could really happen with a hit we hundred-percented.\u201d<\/p>\n That quote says it all. Before \u201cJust the Way You Are\u201d made him a household name, Bruno Mars was already tasting No. 1 success \u2014 just under someone else\u2019s name.<\/p>\n 1. \u201cAll I Ask\u201d by Adele<\/p>\n A collaboration with one of the greatest vocalists of our lifetime. \u201cAll I Ask\u201d was written for Adele\u2019s third studio album 25 (2015). It was written by Adele, Mars, Lawrence and Brody Brown and produced by The Smeezingtons.<\/p>\n The track spent one week on Billboard Hot 100<\/a> at No. 77 on March 5, 2016. But don\u2019t let that chart position fool you \u2014 this is Adele we\u2019re talking about, and the story behind the recording session is everything.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s a superstar. She walks into the studio, she\u2019s got all this attitude, she\u2019s a diva, she\u2019s like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to do this. I don\u2019t like that.\u2019 And then as soon as we hit a couple chords that she liked, we started rolling and that\u2019s where we got that song from,\u201d Mars said of working with Adele, per Billboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Remember when \u201cRight Round\u201d was inescapable? Or when \u201cForget You\u201d became the clean version you belted out in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-285697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"2259480876](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bruno-mars-wrote-some-of-the-biggest-songs-of-the-2000s-heres-proof-2259480876.jpg\")
Kevin Winter \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n