The Decade as a Whole

• Legal music downloads take off as Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store sells more than 1 billion songs in 3 years, as of 2006.
• Grunge rock dies out, but Post-grunge rock remains in the mainstream.
• Teen pop of the late 90s variety peaks and falls within first three years of decade, with a few exceptions still going strong in 2006 with artists such as Aly & AJ, Hilary Duff, Veronicas, Jesse McCartney, and Cheyenne Kimball
• Nu metal hits peak around 2000-2001, declines by end of 2004 but still exists in the present as of 2006.
• Punk makes a revival in a pop punk form, in 2002 with Simple Plan, Sum 41, and Good Charlotte, older acts such as blink-182 and Green Day continue the act in 2004 and beyond.
• The popularity of Hip hop in America rises to astronomical heights, beginning to surpass rock and roll; crunk becomes a household word by 2003
• Reality TV Shows such as Pop Idol creates a new generation of pop stars.
• Pop punk, New Wave Revival bands, and emo groups rise in popularity throughout decade. Pop Punk peaks around 2002-2003, with acts such as Sum 41, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, Blue October, Eve 6 and Simple Plan. Emo music peaks around the year 2005 with artists such as Panic! At The Disco, Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional, Hawthorne Heights, and many others.
• Underground hip hop artists such as Atmosphere and Mos Def widely popular in certain circles.
• New Wave and Synth-pop return with Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Bloc Party, and other bands. This style of music is sometimes referred to as NuPop.
• Indie Rock becomes more mainstream in the U.S. and Britain with the emergence of bands like Bloc Party, Death Cab for Cutie, The Bravery, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, The Strokes, Gnarls Barkley, The Postal Service and The White Stripes
• Classic Rock enters the mainstream by music downloads and greatest hits/best of CD releases, as well as numerous radio airplays.
• In non-English speaking countries British and American artists begin to take over the market, with fewer native language singles released by the year.
• Individuality in music increases as the decade rolls along, especially in 2002, 2004, and 2006 as singer-songwriters and solo artists enter the music industry.

2000 in music

• International trends
  • Pop albums dominate the charts and set records for sales - Backstreet Boys (Black & Blue), Madonna (Music), *NSYNC (No Strings Attached), Britney Spears (Oops!... I Did It Again), Nelly (Country Grammar), Christina Aguilera (Christina Aguilera), Creed (Human Clay), Destiny's Child (The Writing's on the Wall), Faith Hill (Breathe), Bon Jovi (Crush), 98 Degrees (Revelation) and No Doubt (Return of Saturn) release top-selling albums.
• Music of Finland
  • Bomfunk MC's ("Freestyler"), HIM and TikTak succeed in bringing Finnish rock to the fringes of the mainstream in Europe.
• Music of the United States
  • O Brother Where Art Thou (soundtrack) is a surprise success, bringing bluegrass to the fringes of the mainstream.
  • Numetal becomes a standard.
  • Grunge rock dies, but the more commercial post-grunge remains strong as of 2005.
  • No Strings Attached by NSYNC sells over 2.41 million copies and goes double platinum in its first week of release, the highest debut week total in US History. As of 2005, no album has even sold over 2 million in a week, much less 2.5 million.
  • Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP was the fastest selling hip-hop album in the United States.
  • Political rock band Rage Against the Machine breaks up after three albums and talk of a fourth live album.

2001 in music

• International trends
  • Napster's popularity peaks.
  • Apple Computer introduces the first generation iPod.
• Music of Canada
  • With the opening of the first urban-format radio station in Canada (CFXJ Flow 93.5 in Toronto), Canadian hip hop finally enters the mainstream en masse.
• Music of the United States
  • Important releases from System of a Down (Toxicity) and Tool (Lateralus) define the burgeoning hard rock scene; Linkin' Park's Hybird Theory is the top-selling album of the year in the United States.
  • Numetal hits it peak of viability with the success of Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Korn, and Limp Bizkit.
  • The Strokes release their debut album, Is This It, kickstarting what some people believe to be the new rock revolution.

2002 in music

• International trends
  • Several hyped garage rock and alternative country artists break into the mainstream, at least partially -- The Vines (Highly Evolved), The Strokes (Is This It), The White Stripes (White Blood Cells), The Hives (Veni Vidi Vicious), Wilco (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) and Ryan Adams (Gold, Demolition) achieve sales unheard of for such bands in recent years.

• Music of the United States
  • Eminem's album The Eminem Show dominates the charts.
  • Traditional-styled R&B groups such as Dru Hill and Jagged Edge experience decreasing sales and popularity.
  • Boy bands begin to die out. Girl groups such as No Secrets and Destiny's Child peak.
  • Tolkien novelty hip hop act Lords of The Rhymes release the video "Lords of the Rhymes" on Atomfilms.com the month The Two Towers comes out; downloads of songs on their site exceed 300,000 by 2005.
  • Avril Lavigne starts the "sk8er girl" trend and brings back the alternative rock sound, especially in the teen pop genre.
  • Punk pop starts to soar up the charts as Avril Lavigne releases Let Go simultaneously with Good Charlotte's The Young and the Hopeless and Simple Plan's No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls.
  • Rap/Sung collaborations reach an all time high in popularity, through singles such as Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule's "Ain't It Funny", Ashanti and Ja Rule's "Always On Time", and most definitely with Nelly and Kelly Rowland's "Dilemma". Another rise of this trend takes place again in 2006.

2003 in music

• Music of the United States
  • Lil Jon's "crunk" style of Southern hip hop becomes nationally popular.
  • Garage rock from The White Stripes, The Vines, and The Hives rises to popularity.
  • Fountains of Wayne's song "Stacy's Mom" a massive hit.
  • Beyonce rules the airwaves in 2003 with her singles "Crazy In Love" and "Baby Boy", which top the Hot 100 for 8 weeks and 9 weeks, respectively. Her album goes over 4x platinum and earns her 5 Grammy Awards.
  • Apple Computer introduces the iTunes Music Store, the first ever internet music store that received popular acclaim. As of 2006, it has sold more than 1 billion songs.
  • New teen pop artists, especially ones from movies produced by Disney and Warner Brothers such as Hilary Duff and the Cheetah Girls flourish. Another burst of teen pop artists takes place circa 2006.
• Music of the United Kingdom
  • The word grime is coined all over the music press. An offshoot of UK Garage, grime took the broken rhythm template from the genre and took it to new sonic heights, at the same time taking cues from the Garage Rap style of So Solid Crew or More Fire Crew. Although The Streets' Original Pirate Material album had already been very successful on a mainstream and critical level a year earlier while already sharing much of the same trademarks, it was the sudden rise of East London MC Dizzee Rascal that truly put the term in vogue. His debut album Boy in Da Corner won the prestigious Mercury Prize, beating strong competition such as Radiohead's Hail To The Thief, Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To The Head or The Darkness' Permission To Land, selling around 150 000 copies in the UK alone and spawning the hit singles "I Luv U", "Fix Up, Look Sharp" and "Jus' A Rascal". In his wake, artists like Wiley (a member of the Roll Deep crew, of which Dizzee was once a member), Kano or Lady Sovereign start getting some media coverage, readily prompting claims that grime was becoming to 2003 what Drum & Bass had been to British music roughly a decade earlier. But despite not only strong media coverage as well as fierce underground support, real mainstream recognition was still eluding the scene by the mid-2000's.
• Music of Germany
  • While British dance and electronic music starts entering a crisis from which has not really recovered by the middle of the decade, Germany (especially the city of Berlin) becomes the new hotbed of the genre. Among the most important artists, people like Ellen Allien, Michael Mayer, Superpitcher, Dominik Eulberg, M.A.N.D.Y. or Tiefschwarz bring the sound of techno, minimal and a hybrid called electro house to the forefront. Tiefschwarz in particular become quite trendy due to a quite large number of remixes which get played by a majority of the big and most important DJs in the business.

2004 in music

• Music of the United States
  • Gwen Stefani of the ska-pop group No Doubt goes solo, her album Love. Angel. Music. Baby goes double platinum.
  • Green Day resolidify their viability after years of declining popularity with the blockbuster American Idiot.
  • Usher has the #1 song of the year, "Yeah!" with Lil' Jon and Ludacris. It spends twelve weeks at #1. He also has three more #1 hits this year with "Confessions Pt. 2", "Burn", and "My Boo", a duet with Alicia Keys. His singles "Lovers And Friends" and "Caught Up" also become top 10 hits, peaking at #3 and #7, respectively. His album goes on to sell nine million copies by 2005. This proves this is quite the year for Mr. Entertainment.
  • Ashlee Simpson, younger sister of pop star Jessica Simpson, releases her successful debut album, Autobiography. Ashlee's reputation takes a nosedive after it is discovered that she used a back-up track during her performance on Saturday Night Live.
  • The popular band Phish, heirs to the throne of The Grateful Dead and one of the most popular live acts in America, annouce their split.
  • Apple Computer introduces the iPod Mini, the most popular variation of its best-selling iPod. It becomes the world's best selling DAP and still is, as of 2006.
  • A massive 1980s comeback in music take place, especially in artists such as The Killers and Clay Aiken.
  • The American Idol phase peaks in music.
  • Alternative rock enters mainstream after a five year break.

• Music of the United Kingdom
  • New Wave makes a comeback with Franz Ferdinand and The Killers.
  • After 7 years without a record deal Morrissey releases his 7th solo album You Are the Quarry and reaches #2 in the British music charts.
  • U2 release their highly-successful How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb album. The release of the hit song "Vertigo" also sparked the bginning of a new era for rock music.

2005 in music

• International trends
  • Live 8 concerts held twenty years after Live Aid.
• Music of the United States
  • "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani becomes the most-downloaded online single ever released, becoming the first single to go platinum in online sales. The next single, "Cool", is only a moderate success. "Cool" did nonetheless go to #1 in Canada.
  • Popular post-grunge acts of the 1990s continue to sell, led by the success of Foo Fighters.
  • Emo dominates the punk rock scene, led by bands such as My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy.
  • Green Day and Weezer also become leaders of modern rock with their versions of punk pop and power pop. But Weezer continues to lose their old (Blue-Pinkerton era) fanbase, while gaining new fans.
  • Mariah Carey becomes popular again with "We Belong Together", so far the biggest song of the 2000s, spending 14 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100, the song breaks several major airplay records. On December 31st, "Don't Forget About Us" reaches #1, becoming Mariah's 17th #1, tying Mariah with Elvis Presley as the solo act with the most #1's. Only The Beatles, with 20, have more.
  • Midwestern Emo outfit Fall Out Boy release the very popular "Sugar, We're Goin' Down", their album From Under The Cork Tree goes platinum by October, continuing to strenthen the emo trend.
  • Green Day's American Idiot continues to be a blockbuster a year after release.
  • Cream reunites for a series of four shows at the Royal Albert Hall on May 2, 3, 5, and 6. It is the first time Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker have played together since their 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cream also plays three shows at Madison Square Garden on October 24, 25, and 26.
  • Kelly Clarkson, winner of the first season of American Idol enjoys her biggest success in 2005, with four top-ten singles. She is named "Artist of the Year" at the American Music Awards. Her album remains a huge-seller, remaining in the Top 20 for over a year.
  • Madonna begins a massive worldwide comeback, Confessions On A Dancefloor debuts at #1 with sales of 350K. "Hung Up" becomes a massive download hit. The song skyrockets to #1 on iTunes, and gives Madonna her 36th US Hot 100 Top 10 single, tying her with Elvis Presley as the act with the most US Top 10 singles, and soars to #1 in more than 30 countries around the world, including the UK, Canada, France, Germany, and Australia.
  • Kate Bush returned to music after a 12-year absence with the hugely acclaimed Aerial album, which became a commercial success and one of the year's most critically-revered albums.
  • Rock bands such as U2 and The Rolling Stones start touring again, to much critical acclaim.
  • Backstreet Boys make big comeback with a new manager, Jay Orpin and a "Hilary Duff"-esque sound.
  • Matisyahu brings Jewish-based reggae to the popular arena with his album Live at Stubb's.

2006 in music

• Pure Pop and Teen pop music re-enters the mainstream after a three year break, but is still the sound is still dominated by other genres. New teen pop artists such as Aly & AJ enter mainstream.

• Pop-punk peaks and gradually dies out and teen pop and singer songwriter, along with urban music gradually becomes the new face of Top 40 music. The Disney movie High School Musical abruptly brought the genre back.
• Many underground artists and singer-songwriters such as Gavin DeGraw and John Legend increase in popularity in both Europe and the United States. Individuality in music increases in popularity, along with an older chord structure.
• Electronic Music continues its rise into mainstream music, especially in Europe. Röyksopps "Curves" is massive hit.
• Reggaeton gains popularity in the United States and many other Latin American countries.
• A slight 1940s nostalgia is shown in many pop and R&B artists, such as Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera, and the Black Eyed Peas.
• A huge resemblance to the late '70s along with late '90s in music is spotted in most modern 2006 music.
• The love song enters the mainstream, after a three to five year break.
• Tool releases their greatly anticipated 10,000 Days album to commercial success, showing that Progressive metal can still survive in the mainstream.
• Punk is still not dead yet, and emo is still alive, but the genre is declining, while hardcore/metal bands, such as UnderOath, begin to become more exploited.
• Hardcore artists begin to hit the alternative charts (Underoath's Define The Great Line selling 100,000 copies in its first week), proving that this trend is taking over the "underground".
• The revival grunge begins with eponymous album from Pearl Jam and the 1st album from Nine Black Alps.
• Many British and European artists enter the mainstream in America such as James Blunt.
• Metal Music artist have massive come back.
• There is a resemblance to 1998 music for most of the music of 2006.
• R&B Singers such as Ginuwine and Donell Jones experience declining popularity.