Alicia Keys hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 18, 2001. The song was “Fallin,’” the signature tune from her debut album, “Songs in A Minor.”
Keys, who wrote and produced the track, was only 20 years old when the song hit the top of the charts, but she was a professionally trained musician who had been playing piano since the time she was seven. She had also been something of an actress, appearing in an episode of "The Cosby Show" in 1985 as one of Rudy's friends at a slumber party.
"Fallin'," the singer's debut single, would be the first in a string of hits. She would crack the top ten with songs like "A Woman's Worth" and "If I Ain't Got You," and she would return to the top of the singles chart in 2007 with "No One."
"Fallin'" took over number one from "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child. It held on for three weeks before being replaced by "I'm Real" by Jennifer Lopez, featuring Ja Rule. "Fallin'" would return to the top of the charts in late September for another three-week run.