As the 2000s turn into the 2010s, we look back at the biggest films, records, books and TV shows of the decade. By Mark Savage Entertainment reporter, BBC News |
  Clockwise from top left: Beyonce, Simon Cowell, Thom Yorke, Amy Winehouse |
The millennium bug didn't strike as predicted on 1 January, 2000, but the record industry probably wishes it had. Napster, the first file-sharing service to achieve mainstream success, launched in June 1999 and, by the time it was shut down in 2001, the genie was out of the bottle. MP3s could now be distributed widely and freely online and, armed with their iPods, a generation grew up thinking they could, and should, get music for free. Consequently, sales of recorded music fell steadily throughout the decade - not helped by the record labels' hesitance over the internet. Instead of embracing downloads, they spent years suing the likes of Kazaa, allofmp3.com and Pirate Bay; and slapping restrictive "digital locks" on music sold online. As the industry prevaricated, sales collapsed - with a knock-on effect on the likes of Smash Hits, Melody Maker, Top Of The Pops, Virgin Megastores, Tower Records and Woolworths - all of whom waved goodbye in the 2000s.
Artistically, however, the noughties were a time of innovation. In 2000, Radiohead threw out the rulebook with the wilfully obtuse, musically accomplished Kid A and became the first UK-signed act to score a US number one for nearly three years.  Jay-Z made history as the first rapper to headline Glastonbury in 2008 |
Eminem reinvigorated rap music (stalker fantasy Stan attracted praise from Irish poet Seamus Heaney) while inadvertently launching Dido's career. And Prince was in the papers - literally and figuratively - when he gave away an entire album of new recordings with the Mail on Sunday in 2007. Others to investigate new avenues of music distribution included Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead, who allowed fans to set their own price for the critically acclaimed In Rainbows album. Pop Idols Shows like American Idol and X Factor were the monolith against which "proper" musicians railed against throughout the noughties - but they also produced the sassy, intelligent hits of Girls Aloud, Will Young's sincere balladry, and Kelly Clarkson's immense pop/rock crossover Since U Been Gone. Interestingly, while top 10 singles of the decade are dominated by reality show winners in the UK, there is not one single American Idol graduate on the US list, which is populated by Mariah Carey, Usher and the Black Eyed Peas.  Michael Jackson died in June, 2009 at the age of 51 |
R&B was undoubtedly the genre that defined the decade, with super-producers Timbaland and The Neptunes experiencing long-running hot streaks. It also produced two bona-fide superstars - Beyonce and Justin Timberlake - with a third, Rihanna, waiting in the wings. On the live circuit, Madonna and U2 continued to set the standards by which other shows would be judged. Meanwhile, The Police, The Specials, The Pixies, Take That and... er, Kajagoogoo all reformed in the name of music. Towering above them all were Led Zeppelin, who got back together for a ear-splitting, one-off charity gig in honour of Atlantic Records' founder Ahmet Ertegun. Meanwhile, Coldplay, Muse and Radiohead all graduated to stadium level, but Oasis faltered, splitting in August 2009 after an alleged backstage altercation in France. Others who stumbled on the rocky road of pop included Pete Doherty, Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse, whose tabloid misadventures overshadowed their songs. And the world of music mourned in June 2009 when, just two weeks before his 50-date comeback at London's O2 arena, the king of pop, Michael Jackson, died unexpectedly. | BEST-SELLING SINGLES OF THE DECADE | | | UK | US | | 1. | Will Young Anything Is Possible / Evergreen | Mariah Carey We Belong Together | | 2. | Gareth Gates Unchained Melody | Usher ft Lil Jon & Ludacris Yeah! | | 3. | Tony Christie ft Peter Kay Is This The Way To Amarillo? | Flo Rida ft T-Pain Low | | 4. | Shaggy ft RikRok It Wasn't Me | Nickelback How You Remind Me | | 5. | Alexandra Burke Hallelujah | Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling | | 6. | Band Aid 20 Do They Know It's Christmas? | Alicia Keys No-One | | 7. | Kylie Minogue Can't Get You Out Of My Head | Black Eyed Peas Boom Boom Pow | | 8. | Shayne Ward That's My Goal | Mario Let Me Love You | | 9. | Hear'Say Pure and Simple | Kanye West ft Jamie Foxx Gold Digger | | 10. | Bob The Builder Can We Fix It? | Timbaland ft OneRepublic Apologize | | Source: Official UK Charts Company (UK), Billboard (US) |
| BEST-SELLING ALBUMS OF THE DECADE | | | UK | US | | 1. | James Blunt Back To Bedlam | 'N Sync No Strings Attached | | 2. | Dido No Angel | Usher Confessions | | 3. | Amy Winehouse Back To Black | Eminem The Eminem Show | | 4. | Leona Lewis Spirit | Norah Jones Come Away With Me | | 5. | David Gray White Ladder | Creed Human Clay | | 6. | The Beatles 1 | Britney Spears Ooops!... I Did It Again | | 7. | Dido Life For Rent | Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP | | 8. | Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head | The Beatles 1 | | 9. | Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters | Santana Supernatural | | 10. | Take That Beautiful World | Nelly Country Grammar | | Source: Official UK Charts Company (UK), Billboard (US) |
| UK BEST-SELLERS BY YEAR | | | YEAR | SINGLE | ALBUM | | 2009 | Lady GaGa Poker Face* | Susan Boyle I Dreamed A Dream* | | 2008 | Alexandra Burke Hallelujah | Duffy Rockferry | | 2007 | Leona Lewis Bleeding Love | Amy Winehouse Back To Black | | 2006 | Gnarls Barkley Crazy | Snow Patrol Eyes Open | | 2005 | Tony Christie ft Peter Kay Is This The Way To Amarillo? | James Blunt Back To Bedlam | | 2004 | Band Aid 20 Do They Know It's Christmas? | Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters | | 2003 | Black Eyed Peas Where Is The Love? | Dido Life For Rent | | 2002 | Will Young Anything Is Possible / Evergreen | Robbie Williams Escapology | | 2001 | Shaggy ft RikRok It Wasn't Me | Dido No Angel | | 2000 | Bob The Builder Can We Fix It? | The Beatles 1 | Source: Official UK Charts Company * Provisional figures |
| BEST ALBUM AWARDS | | | YEAR | BRITS | GRAMMYS | MERCURY | | 2009 | Duffy Rockferry | Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand | Speech Debelle Speech Therapy | | 2008 | Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare | Herbie Hancock River: The Joni Letters | Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid | | 2007 | Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not | Dixie Chicks Taking The Long Way | Klaxons Myths Of The Near Future | | 2006 | Coldplay X&Y | U2 How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb | Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not | | 2005 | Keane Hopes And Fears | Ray Charles Genius Loves Company | Antony And The Johnsons I Am A Bird Now | | 2004 | The Darkness Permission To Land | Outkast Speakerboxxx / The Love Below | Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand | | 2003 | Coldplay A Rush Of Blood To The Head | Norah Jones Come Away With Me | Dizzee Rascal Boy In Da Corner | | 2002 | Dido No Angel | Various Artists O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Ms Dynamite A Little Deeper | | 2001 | Coldplay Parachutes | Steely Dan Two Against Nature | PJ Harvey Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea | | 2000 | Travis The Man Who | Santana Supernatural | Badly Drawn Boy The Hour of Bewilderbeast | |
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