"Stan" is the third single from The Marshall Mathers LP, by rapperEminem featuring Dido. It peaked at number one in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also included on Curtain Call: The Hits, performed with Eminem and Dido as well track 17 on Curtain Call: The Hits as a live Performance from the 2001 Grammy awards featuring Elton John. The song was produced by The 45 King and Eminem, and uses a slightly modified break from Dido's "Thank You" as its base sample. The track also samples the opening lines of "Thank You" as its chorus. Coincidentally, both songs were released as singles in late 2000. Stan has been called one of Eminem's best songs and is considered one of his signature songs.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #290 in their list in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Stan was also listed #15 on VH1's list of the greatest hip hop songs of all-time. In April 2011, Complex magazine put together a list of the 100 Greatest Eminem songs, ranking "Stan" at #2.[1]
The song tells the story of a fictional man named Stan who claims to be Eminem's biggest fan. Throughout the song, he becomes progressively more and more obsessed with Eminem, culminating in murder-suicide by Stan. The first three verses are delivered by Eminem as Stan while the fourth verse is Eminem attempting to write to Stan, only to realize that he had already heard about Stan's death on the news. The song has sold over 750,000 copies in the UK.[2]
