Statistics: Music 2000-2009

Source: BBC News

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.

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.

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

1. James Blunt
Back To Bedlam
'N Sync (US)
No Strings Attached
2. Dido
No Angel
Usher (US)
Confessions
3. Amy Winehouse
Back To Black
Eminem (US)
The Eminem Show
4. Leona Lewis
Spirit
Norah Jones (US)
Come Away With Me
5. David Gray
White Ladder
Creed (US)
Human Clay
6. The Beatles
1
Britney Spears (US)
Ooops!... I Did It Again
7. Dido
Life For Rent
Eminem (US)
The Marshall Mathers LP
8. Coldplay
A Rush of Blood to the Head
The Beatles (US)
1
9. Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters
Santana (US)
Supernatural
10. Take That
Beautiful World
Nelly (US)
Country Grammar

Source: Official UK Charts Company (UK), Billboard (US)

UK BEST-SELLERS BY YEAR
YEAR SINGLE and 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

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