15 Songs Written for Another Artist

Promotional Photo of the Pussycat Dolls

There are many great music artists out there that write their own songs. Since the days when record albums started to gain popularity and purchasing music became a massive retail industry, there have been song writers that write songs for other music artists. More music artists write their own music than ever today, but there still have been some hit songs written by these writers that your average music fan has never heard of.

These songs are often written with a music artist in mind, but things don't always go as planned. Sometimes the artist doesn't like the song or it doesn't fit in with the music they are currently working on. At other times the labels get involved and pitch the song to another artist that they think the song fits better.

Here's a list of songs that most people know because they topped the music charts at some point. What you might not know is that these songs were made into hits by artists that they weren't originally written for.

1. "Disturbia" by Rihanna: One of the songs that solidified Rihanna as one of pop music's heavy hitters, it was originally written for her then boyfriend, Chris Brown. With the rumors of how much hell Chris Brown put Rihanna through, this may have been the best thing he gave her in their time together. The song fits her personality more and combined with the music video, it fit her like a glove.

2. "Telephone" by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce: This was big hit that featured two of the music industry's biggest female pop stars. What people don't know is that Britney Spears was originally tapped to sing this song. There are even copies of her version that could be heard at such websites such as YouTube. Listening to it you'll probably agree that it was better that it was done by Lady Gaga.

3. "I'm a Slave 4 U" by Britney Spears: A pop hit that Britney Spears did end up releasing was "I'm a Slave 4 U" which was written by the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo). The song that helped Britney shed the teen pop princess image was originally written for Janet Jackson who has released songs in the past with kinky undertones. There have also been rumors that the song was offered to Jennifer Lopez before Britney got her hands on it. It is not known why Janet Jackson passed on this song, but Britney benefitted from this decision.  It is Britney's only song to ever chart on Hot R&B/Hip Hop charts.

4. "Rock Your Body" by Justin Timberlake: Another hit song written by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo was not originally intended for Britney's famous ex. The song was originally given to Michael Jackson for his Invincible album, but the singer passed up on this song along with other tracks that the Neptunes wrote for him. Two years later they sold the song to Timberlake.

5. "Call Me" by Blondie: Blondie's biggest release ever, it wasn't meant for them originally. The theme song for the movie American Gigolo, it was brought to Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac by the song's writer. Due to a contractual conflict, Nicks was unable to work on the song. The producer then to Debbie Harry. The rest is history.

6. "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith: The biggest hit by the legendary band Aerosmith was the hit soundtrack song for the 1998 hit movie, Armageddon. It was written by Dianne Warren who originally wrote the song for Celine Dion. It's not known why Dion never performed it, but it turned out to be a windfall for Aerosmith.

7. "Umbrella" by Rihanna: The beneficiary of another song that another A-list music artist passed on, Rihanna took this song and made it one of her most successful releases of her career. This song put her on the music map and put her in the eyes of the mainstream media. People don't realize that the song was never written for her. It was written for Britney Spears with the intention of reviving her career while she was going through a tough time in her personal life.

8. "Don't Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls: Originally written by Sir Mix-a-Lot, Busta Rhymes, and CeeLo Green for music artist Tori Alamaze, the song was actually released to little fanfare. Alamaze had conflicts with her record label and signed over the rights to the song to void her contract. The song was then offered to the Sugababes and then to Paris Hilton who was trying to kick off a music career, before it fell into the laps of the Pussycat Dolls.

9. "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson: The lead single on Clarkson's album Breakaway, the song was power-pop song that empowered women all over the country. Little do people know that Clarkson was not the first choice for the song written by Max Martin. It was first offered to Pink, but she turned it down. Then it was offered to Hilary Duff, but Duff was unable to vocally hit the high notes in the song. Finally legendary producer Clive Davis got involved and convinced the writers to offer it to Clarkson. She made it her own when she tailored it to her personality by adding heavier guitars and harder drums.

10. "Holiday" by Madonna: This song was originally written for Phyllis Hyman, then to Mary Wilson of the Supremes fame. Supposed to be an R&B song originally, it was remastered to fit Madonna's debut album, giving the future music legend her first mainstream hit.

11. "Black Widow" by Iggy Azalea: Originally a song intended to be released on Katy Perry's Prism album, the song was axed because she felt it didn't fit in with the other songs. Perry presented the recorded version of the song she wrote to her friend, Iggy. From here, Iggy recorded her own version of the song with the help of Rita Ora. The song became Iggy's first number one hit single.

12. "Miss Independent" by Kelly Clarkson: Fresh off of winning American Idol, Clarkson had a previous hit that was given to her by the producers of the show. "Miss Independent" was her first single from her first album release which boosted her credibility as a pop star. The song was written for Destiny's Child, but the turned it down. Then the song was reworked by Christina Aguilera and originally intended to be released on her album, Stripped. The song was never completed in time and found its way to Kelly Clarkson.

13. "We Found Love" by Rihanna: The hit song written by Calvin Harris was recorded by Rihanna with the help of Harris and hit number one on the pop charts. Although it was never confirmed by Harris, Nicole Scherzinger of Pussycat Dolls fame, claimed that she was offered the song first for her solo career.

14. "Happy" by Pharrell Williams: Ever the overachiever, Pharrell wrote another song for another music artist that eventually became a massive hit. He wrote the song for CeeLo Green, but CeeLo's record label nixed it even though Pharrell thought Ceelo's version of the song was better than even his. Pharrell then released his own version of his song which became the main soundtrack song for Despicable Me 2. The song charted for 47 straight weeks and to this date is Pharrell's best performing song.

15. "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry: This was Perry's first mainstream hit. Before this song, Perry was a semi-known Contemporary Christian singer. No one foresaw that she would break out to be one of the biggest A-list pop stars of the past decade and that her image would go from conservative to the latex dress wearing woman who would go on to top every magazine's sexiest list.