2000s in Music - The U.S. and North America - Pop

Pop

Teen Pop continued to be an extremely popular genre in the early 2000s with success of teenage pop-singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Britney's "Oops!...I Did It Again" and Christina's "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" become huge hits in the year 2000. By 2001, however, the teen-pop trend dissolved dramatically due to modern R&B and hip-hop influenced music that later dominated throughout the middle of the decade. Britney Spears's 2001 album Britney and Christina Aguilera's 2002 album Stripped are examples of teen pop artists transitioning from teen pop to more grown-up, modern R&B influenced records.

Boy bands continued their popularity during the beginning of the decade but their popularity also faded after 9/11, with the exception of Backstreet Boys, as they continued their popularity post-2005, (after a short hiatus between 2002–2004). As that "boy band" sound was no longer mainstream, they began to transition to more of an adult contemporary, soft-rock and ballad styles of music for the remainder of the decade. By 2002, records by boy bands were very sparse on the Billboard Hot 100and some members of boy bands went on to have successful solo careers, such as Jesse McCartney from Dream Street and most successfully Justin Timberlake from 'N Sync who went into a Blue-eyed soul and R&B/Pop musical route . A new strain of boy bands, such as V Factory, Varsity Fanclub, Click Five, NLT, and the Jonas Brothers, took place at the end of the decade, but the boy band trend did not become as glamorized as it was at the beginning of the decade, with the exception of the Jonas Brothers (who were somewhat reminiscent of Hanson). Girl groups kept their popularity through the 2000s, with groups such as Destiny's Child(who called it quits in 2005)which then set the fuel for the most successful girl group of the decade, the Pussycat Dolls. Other girl groups included, Danity Kane (2006–2009).

After 9/11, a new "teen pop-rock" movement began. While girl pop-rock singers such as Alanis Morissette and Jewel were popular in the 1990s, they had declined in popularity after 1998 when the pop princesses such as Britney Spears debuted. Avril Lavigne was arguably the first and lead artist to take this new direction in pop music, with hits such as "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm with You" at the beginning of the decade and "Girlfriend" at the end, Lavigne leads this genre throughout all the decade worldwide, with her contemporaries, such stars as Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton, not far behind with their own success. Other prominent girl pop-rock artists of the 2000s included Hilary Duff, and Ashlee Simpson. Later artists reflecting the genre include Selena Gomez & the Scene, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift.

Pink began her career in 2000, and had big hits such as "Get the Party Started", "Stupid Girls", "So What" and "Sober". Sold over 25 million albums and became one of the top 10 singers of the decade by Billboard. Their music has more electric guitar, also known as the "troublemaker" is not the conventional kind of pop singers.

In 2001, triple-threat entertainer Jennifer Lopez debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with her J.Lo album and in addition her film, The Wedding Planner, opened at number one at the box office at the same time making her the first actress and singer in history to have both a film and an album at number one in the same week.

Artists such as Janet Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Nelly Furtado experienced revived success. Justin Timberlake shot to stardom with his Justified album. In 2005, Cher ended her 3-year long "Farewell Tour" which became the highest grossing female and solo tour at that time.

American Idol winners became a big part of the American pop sound, but only one winner became a staple. Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson experienced huge success and tons of hit radio singles with her pop-rock sound including worldwide hits "Breakaway", "Since U Been Gone", "Behind These Hazel Eyes", and "Because of You" at the middle of the decade.

Lady Gaga took the later part of the decade by storm and revived the electronic influence of pop music that was not prominent since 2000. Her debut album, The Fame, was released on August 19, 2008. It reached number-one in Canada, Austria, Germany, United Kingdom and Ireland and topped the Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart. Its first two singles, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face", became international number-one hits, topping the Hot 100 in the United States as well as other countries. The album later earned a total of six Grammy Award nominations and won awards for Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Dance Recording. By the fourth quarter of 2009 she had released her second studio album The Fame Monster, with the global chart-topping lead single "Bad Romance".

Internet personalities (people who were primarily famous as a result of the Internet) such as Justin Bieber and Soulja Boy Tell Em enjoyed success in the pop charts. During the 2000s many different internet personalities were discovered by fans on the internet, and as a result were signed and gained much success in the charts. This continues into the 2010s.

In 2001 Michael Jackson, one of popular music's most successful artists of all-times, released his final studio album Invincible before his death, though it did not receive a lot of exposure. Michael Jackson died in June 2009, creating the largest public mourning since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.

Children's music rises significantly in sales, especially with Disney (The Cheetah Girls, High School Musical, Hannah Montana: The Movie, and The Jonas Brothers among others). All The Cheetah Girls, High School Musical and Hannah Montana albums were among the best-sellers of 2006 and 2007 and reached the number 1 position, left many artists produced by Disney in the 2000s, The Cheetah Girls, Hilary Duff, Selena Gomez & the Scene, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Raven-Symoné, the best-selling artists of the decade.

The musical style of the 1980s influenced pop music to some extent in the later stages of the decade, especially around late 2009, as seen in Rihanna's hit "S.O.S." (a sampling of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love"), "She's Like The Wind" by "Lumidee" and Flo Rida's "Right Round", a reworking of the Dead or Alive hit "You Spin Me Right Round". Other hits include Aaron Carter's cover of Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy", and Britney Spears' covers of "My Prerogative" and "I Love Rock 'n' Roll". Pop rock groups such as Metro Station and Owl City also displayed 1980s influences. Beyoncé's hit "Sweet Dreams" was not a direct sampling of an 1980s pop hit but Anne Hagerty of Billboard magazine was quoted saying, "this track will fit right on a Michael Jackson or Madonna instrumental." Alien Ant Farm successfully covered Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal", and Fall Out Boy came out with their own cover of "Beat It", later on. Bowling for Soup also had a hit with "1985", a nostalgic ode to 1980s.

The 1980s popstar, Cyndi Lauper, released several albums with different styles, like adult contemporary, pop, pop rock, electronic music and blues, that were critically acclaimed and received several nominations for Grammy Award and had sales significant throughout the decade.