It's a curious story but the #4 song on the Billboard Hot 100 this week (issue date October 20) is actually a remix of a song from a band whose debut album has not yet been released. The remixed "Apologize," heard on Timbaland Presents Shock Value, features the rock band OneRepublic, whose debut album -- Dreaming Out Loud -- which includes the song's original version, will be issued November 20th on Timbaland's Mosley Music Group imprint via Interscope Records.


Meanwhile, "Apologize" already been on the Hot 100 chart for 10 weeks. "The toughest thing to do is write a hit song," says OneRepublic singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder. "But we have a hit song before we have an album."


The five-member OneRepublic was formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2003. Tedder, who produced a couple of songs on the album, largely produced by Greg Wells (Deftones, Mika, Pink), boasts writing, producing and/or singing credits for Paul Oakenfold's Grammy nominated A Lively Mind, Jennifer Lopez, Leona Lewis, Ashley Tisdale, Natasha Bedingfield, Baby Bash, 2Pac, Chris Cornell, Blake Lewis.


He has no apologies for the success of "Apologize." "What has happened," says Tedder, "has been really strange and really great."