Stan (song)

"Stan"
Single by Eminem
from the album The Marshall Mathers LP
ReleasedNovember 20, 2000
Recorded2000
GenreHorrorcore[1]
Length
  • 6:44 (album version)
  • 5:31 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Eminem singles chronology
"The Way I Am"
(2000)
"Stan"
(2000)
"The Watcher"
(2001)
Audio sample
"Stan"
Music videos

"Stan" is a song by American rapper Eminem, with vocals sampled from the opening lines of British singer Dido's song "Thank You". It was released in 2000, as the third single from Eminem's third album, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). "Stan" peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "Stan" topped the charts in twelve countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Ireland.

The 45 King-produced track also uses a slightly modified break from "Thank You" as its base sample; both songs were released as singles in late 2000. Retrospectively, "Stan" has been called one of Eminem's best songs, and, alongside "The Real Slim Shady" and "Lose Yourself", is considered one of his signature songs. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Stan" 296th on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, rising to 223rd in a 2021 updated list.[2] The song was also listed 15th on VH1's list of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time and named in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

The song was nominated for multiple awards, including Best Song at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Video of the Year, Best Rap Video, Best Direction, and Best Cinematography at the MTV Video Music Awards. It won Best International Artist Video at the MuchMusic Video Awards. In April 2011, Complex magazine put together a list of the 100 greatest Eminem songs and ranked "Stan" second.[3] The eponymous character's name gave rise to a slang term that refers to overzealous or maniacal fans of a celebrity or personality; the term has since been included in the Oxford English Dictionary.[4]

  1. ^ White Noise: The Eminem Collection. Thunder's Mouth Press. 2003. ISBN 978-1-56025-534-5. 'Stan', Eminem's most celebrated track, folds an epistolary rap into a horrorcore scenario.
  2. ^ "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 15, 2021. Archived from the original on September 18, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  3. ^ "The 100 Best Eminem Songs". Complex. Archived from the original on December 26, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  4. ^ "Eminem-inspired 'stan' added to the Oxford English Dictionary". July 12, 2018. Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2020.