⇦ 1990s 2010s ⇨

The Defining Artists of the 2000s

The following artists released some of the best music of the 2000s. Hall of Famers are highlighted in orange.

Lily Allen   Gwen Stefani   Wu-Tang Clan   Muse   Pink   M.I.A.   The Chemical Brothers   The Black Keys   Interpol   Sufjan Stevens   Miranda Lambert   Beyoncé   LCD Soundsystem   Oasis   Avril Lavigne   PJ Harvey   Carrie Underwood   Aaliyah   Norah Jones   Lil Wayne   The Flaming Lips   U2   Rihanna   Kelly Clarkson   Arcade Fire   Mary J. Blige   Amy Winehouse   Warren Zevon   Feist   Jennifer Lopez   Sheryl Crow   Matchbox Twenty   Red Hot Chili Peppers   Eminem   Bob Dylan   Missy Elliott   Linkin Park   Robyn   Bright Eyes   Green Day   Drive-By Truckers   Sleater-Kinney   My Chemical Romance   T.I.   Nine Inch Nails   Nelly   Destiny's Child   Brandi Carlile   Justin Timberlake   Christina Aguilera   Johnny Cash   The White Stripes   Daft Punk   My Morning Jacket   Nelly Furtado   Foo Fighters   Phoenix   NSYNC   Kanye West   Queens of the Stone Age   Yeah Yeah Yeahs   Maroon 5   D'Angelo   Florence and The Machine   John Mayer   Animal Collective   The Libertines   Counting Crows   Tool   Britney Spears   Ludacris   Spoon   Modest Mouse   Alison Krauss   Dave Matthews Band   Outkast   50 Cent   Arctic Monkeys   Fall Out Boy   The Shins   Mariah Carey   Adele   Garbage   Beck   Madonna   The Roots   System of a Down   Gorillaz   Kings of Leon   No Doubt   The Strokes   The xx   Katy Perry   Usher   Mastodon   Moby   Radiohead   Nas   Coldplay   The Chicks   TV on the Radio   Alicia Keys   Black Eyed Peas   MGMT   Ryan Adams   Taylor Swift   Basement Jaxx   Wilco   Lenny Kravitz   Björk   Audioslave   The Killers   Shakira   Panic At The Disco   Alice In Chains   Death Cab for Cutie   Pearl Jam   Kylie Minogue   Blink-182   Weezer   Lady Gaga   Franz Ferdinand   Jay-Z  

Of the 123 artists listed above, 15% have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

⇦ 1990s 2010s ⇨

The Defining Albums of the 2000s

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (2000)

Madonna - Music (2000)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele (2000)

The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic (2000)

Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (2000)

Deftones - White Pony (2000)

The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2000)

Common - Like Water For Chocolate (2000)

Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000)

PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (2000)

D'Angelo - Voodoo (2000)

Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)

OutKast - Stankonia (2000)

Patsy Cline - The Ultimate Collection (2000)

Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

NSYNC - No Strings Attached (2000)

U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)

At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command (2000)

Manu Chao - Próxima Estación: Esperanza (2001)

Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor (2001)

Missy Elliott - Miss E... So Addictive (2001)

Aaliyah - Aaliyah (2001)

Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)

System of a Down - Toxicity (2001)

The Strokes - Is This It (2001)

The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)

Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American (2001)

Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)

Muddy Waters - The Anthology: 1947-1972 (2001)

Shakira - Laundry Service (2001)

Basement Jaxx - Rooty (2001)

Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) (2001)

Destiny's Child - Survivor (2001)

The Shins - Oh, Inverted World (2001)

Pink - Missundaztood (2001)

Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001)

Bob Dylan - Love And Theft (2001)

ABBA - The Definitive Collection (2001)

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001)

Björk - Vespertine (2001)

Drive-By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera (2001)

The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee (2002)

Spoon - Kill the Moonlight (2002)

Beck - Sea Change (2002)

Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights (2002)

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People (2002)

Bruce Springsteen - The Rising (2002)

Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002)

Missy Elliott - Under Construction (2002)

Avril Lavigne - Let Go (2002)

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002)

The Libertines - Up The Bracket (2002)

Neko Case - Blacklisted (2002)

Sam Cooke - Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964 (2003)

Jay-Z - The Black Album (2003)

Alicia Keys - The Diary Of Alicia Keys (2003)

OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)

The Postal Service - Give Up (2003)

The White Stripes - Elephant (2003)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell (2003)

Four Tet - Rounds (2003)

50 Cent - Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2003)

Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (2004)

Daddy Yankee - Barrio fino (2004)

Green Day - American Idiot (2004)

Feist - Let It Die (2004)

The Killers - Hot Fuss (2004)

Usher - Confessions (2004)

Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse (2004)

My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004)

Madvillain - Madvillainy (2004)

Kanye West - The College Dropout (2004)

Mastodon - Leviathan (2004)

Brian Wilson - SMiLE (2004)

Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi (2005)

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)

Lil Wayne - Tha Carter II (2005)

My Morning Jacket - Z (2005)

Gorillaz - Demon Days (2005)

The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday (2005)

Kanye West - Late Registration (2005)

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine (2005)

M.I.A. - Arular (2005)

Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (2005)

Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree (2005)

Ghostface Killah - Fishscale (2006)

Beyoncé - B'Day (2006)

TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium (2006)

Mastodon - Blood Mountain (2006)

Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006)

Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury (2006)

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (2006)

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2006)

J Dilla - Donuts (2006)

John Mayer - Continuum (2006)

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)

Bob Dylan - Modern Times (2006)

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (2007)

Paramore - Riot! (2007)

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)

Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

M.I.A. - Kala (2007)

Burial - Untrue (2007)

Kanye West - Graduation (2007)

Britney Spears - Blackout (2007)

Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3 (2007)

Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2007)

The National - Boxer (2007)

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (2007)

Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark (2008)

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008)

The Roots - Rising Down (2008)

Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (2008)

TV on the Radio - Dear Science (2008)

Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak (2008)

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)

Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night (2009)

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)

Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster (2009)

Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009)

The xx - xx (2009)

⇦ 1990s 2010s ⇨

The Defining Songs of the 2000s

OutKast - Ms. Jackson (2000)

Coldplay - Yellow (2000)

MGMT - Kids (2000)

Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)

Eminem - Stan (2000)

Missy Elliott - Work It (2000)

Christina Aguilera - Beautiful (2000)

D'Angelo - Untitled (How Does it Feel) (2000)

Britney Spears - Stronger (2000)

Bon Jovi - It's My Life (2000)

Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott - Hero (2001)

Wilco - Heavy Metal Drummer (2001)

The Strokes - Last Nite (2001)

Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott - Get Ur Freak On (2001)

Eminem - Lose Yourself (2002)

3 Doors Down - When I'm Gone (2002)

50 Cent - In Da Club (2002)

Rihanna - Don't Stop the Music (2002)

OutKast - Hey Ya! (2003)

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (2003)

Beyoncé - Crazy in Love (2003)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (2003)

Britney Spears - Toxic (2003)

The Killers - Mr. Brightside (2003)

Jay-Z - 99 Problems (2003)

Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone (2004)

Coldplay - Fix You (2005)

Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (2006)

My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade (2006)

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2006)

M.I.A. - Paper Planes (2007)

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (2007)

Rihanna - Umbrella (2007)

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (2009)

⇦ 1990s 2010s ⇨