Mercedes Top Of The Pops

It didn't sell the most cars last year, but Mercedes was still top of the charts - the US pop charts, that is.

Auto Express Car Reviews

10th February 2004

According to American Brandstand, a firm which monitors mentions of commercial products in songs, the German marque was the most popular in 2003. It appeared in the lyrics of 112 different records, and was a favourite of rap star 50 Cent, who included it in four of his six chart hits.

Lexus was the next most name-checked brand with 48 appearances, and was used by singer R Kelly in his number one record Ignition. Next came clothing label Gucci, with Cadillac fourth.

The list is based only on the US Billboard chart, but that didn't stop British car names getting mentioned in plenty of songs last year. Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar all provided inspiration for musicians, and even the diminutive MINI - which Madonna sang about in her song American Life - made the league table. Range Rover was given a name check in 29 songs, including Beyonce's UK number one hit Crazy in Love. The next highest American automotive brand was Chevrolet which, with 33 mentions, took tenth spot.