“Stan” by Eminem featuring Dido

"Stan" is the dark heart of The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem's third album, and it went out as the record's third single in November 2000. The hook is borrowed from the opening lines of Dido's "Thank You", which is why she shares the writing credit with Eminem and Paul Herman. The 45 King produced it, with Eminem co-producing and Dr. Dre as executive producer, and Mike Elizondo's bass and Sean Cruse's guitar keep the gloom rolling.

Dido's drowsy, sorrowful voice floats above Eminem's coiled, tightening verses, and the contrast is chilling. It topped the charts in 12 countries, Britain among them, landed on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and its title character handed the language a new word for a fan who takes it too far; the Oxford English Dictionary now carries it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.