A few weeks ago we welcomed Beyoncé to the top of the charts, and now we welcome another twenty first century icon…
Love Don’t Cost a Thing, by Jennifer Lopez (her 1st of three #1s)
1 week, from 14th – 21st January 2001
It does seem a bit laughable to compare Jennifer Lopez with Beyoncé now, in 2025, but in the early years of the millennium there were few bigger pop stars than J Lo. And for her first number one, the Beyoncé comparison is very fitting, as I hadn’t realised how much ‘Love Don’t Cost a Thing’ owed a debt to Destiny’s Child and their fluttery style of R&B.
It’s also similar to ‘Independent Women (Pt 1)’, though Lopez compares love, rather than independence, to wealth in the lyrics: Baby credit cards, Aren’t romance, Still you’re tryna buy, What’s already yours… Call me a cynic, but I’m not totally sold on the idea that J Lo would be happy dating a pauper, but at least it gives us a treasure trove of early ‘00s slang: Think you gotta keep me iced, You don’t… If I wanna floss I got my own… Rumours at the time suggested it was a dig at her then-boyfriend, P Diddy, who apparently had the cash but not the class. Looking back, if the worst he did was buy her a few Mercedes then she probably got off quite lightly…
Musically it’s fine. It rattles along at a fair clip, not giving you a chance to pick holes with some of the now pretty dated production touches. I do like the synthy drum fills, and the break where squelchy horns take over the beat. Like most US pop songs at the time its slick and polished, though it comes nowhere close to the heights of a Britney or a Christina record from the same time.
In fact, without giving too much away, I find all three of J Lo’s number ones slightly underwhelming. She had some great tunes fall short, such as her other classic of false modesty ‘Jenny From the Block’, and the banging ‘Play’, which made #3 a few months after this chart-topper. This is decent enough pop, very much of its time – a time capsule record – but perhaps not the sort of record that would have topped the charts at any time other than January.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Interesting fact: J-Lo had multiple #1s in the US & the UK, but there was no overlap between the countries. Other acts like that: Petula Clark, Queen, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross (solo), U2, & (unfortunately) R. Kelly.
That is the nichest of niche chart facts, but I love it. Thanks!
I never got the appeal to her…ever. In acting or especially music.
She’s looking very good for her age these days! And some of her songs have a nostalgic value, for me anyway
Oh yes…she does still look very good for her age…she just never appealed to me for some reason. Someone like Spears…although I don’t like her music by any means, she has always been interesting…yes for some bad things as good but interesting.
I get the nostaligic part…some songs take me back to a moment….even if I like it or not.
Yeah she’s always felt very polished. Not hugely interesting, for better or worse
Perfect description…thats what I think about much of the Eagles stuff.