2000s Music History Quiz

Music-related events during the 2000s

• Late 20th-century music styles such as rock, pop, metal, hip hop, R&B, EDM, country, and indie remained popular in American culture.

• Contemporary, nu, revival, alternative, and post were added to various genre titles to differentiate them from past styles.

• Teen pop continued to be popular with acts such as *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera.

• Contemporary R&B was one of the most popular genres, with artists like Usher, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, and Rihanna.

• Garage rock revival and a new indie rock style dominated the decade.

• Hip hop achieved major mainstream status with artists outside of New York and Los Angeles achieving success.

• Country music continued to rise in sales with new front-runners like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Miley Cyrus.

• Electronic music was popular with genres such as trance, chillout, house, indietronica, and Eurodance.

• In Asia, music became more Westernized, with influences of pop, hip hop, and contemporary R&B becoming ever-present.

• Latin-based pop music remained highly popular in Latin America, with reggaetón becoming a definitive genre.

• Auto-Tune became popular in the mid-2000s, and "ringtone rap" featuring repetitive hooks became very popular in the later part of the decade.

• Pop rock and power pop saw a resurgence of interest, with bands such as Blink-182, Green Day, and Avril Lavigne achieving commercial success.Music genres and artists of the 2000s

• Pop punk gained popularity thanks to Avril Lavigne's hits "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi"

• Blink-182 released their untitled album in 2003, which demonstrated a darker and more mature tone

• Green Day's seventh studio album American Idiot gained commercial success in 2004, selling 14 million copies worldwide and awarding the band 3 Grammy awards

• Fall Out Boy gained commercial success in 2005 with their album From Under the Cork Tree and their follow-up album went No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2007

• Nu metal was popular in the early 2000s with bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, System of a Down, and Linkin Park

• Metalcore dominated by bands such as Killswitch Engage, Underoath, Bullet for My Valentine, Trivium, and Avenged Sevenfold

• AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Aerosmith, and Bon Jovi released albums during the decade

• Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with hits from Jimmy Eat World and later from Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, and Panic! at the Disco

• Garage rock, post-punk, and new wave revival saw the emergence of bands like The Strokes, The White Stripes, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, and The Bravery

• Indie rock gained recognition in the mid-2000s with bands like Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire, MGMT, Spoon, and Vampire Weekend

• Teen pop singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were popular at the beginning of the decade, but the trend faded due to modern R&B and hip-hop influenced music

• Boy bands transitioned to more adult contemporary, soft-rock, and ballad styles of music; new boy bands emerged at the end of the decade but did not reach the success of those in the 1990s and early 2000s

• Pink, Anastacia, Jennifer Lopez, and Shakira were some of the successful pop singers of the decade.Pop Music in the 2000s

• Pop music in the 2000s saw the rise of several successful artists such as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Michael Jackson.

• Madonna had four successful tours in the 2000s, with the Confessions Tour becoming the highest-grossing tour by a female artist ever.

• Fergie's debut solo album The Dutchess produced five top-five singles in the United States, setting a new record for the most multi-platinum singles from one album in the digital era.

• Children's music rose significantly in sales, with Disney artists such as The Cheetah Girls, High School Musical, and Hannah Montana becoming the best-selling artists of the decade.

• The musical style of the 1980s influenced pop music in the later stages of the decade, as seen in Rihanna's hit "SOS" and Flo Rida's "Right Round".

• Adult contemporary music increased in popularity, with artists such as Coldplay, Daughtry, and Kelly Clarkson finding success on the Adult Contemporary charts.

• Alicia Keys is considered the most successful R&B singer of the decade, with 30 million records sold worldwide.

• Norah Jones is considered the greatest jazz singer of the decade, selling 37 million records worldwide and winning 12 Grammys.

• Contemporary R&B continued to be popular, with established artists such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and Usher finding success.

• Mariah Carey experienced a commercial lull in the early 2000s but made a comeback in 2005 with the release of The Emancipation of Mimi, which included the No. 1 single "We Belong Together".Music in the 2000s: A Summary

• R&B artist Robin Thicke became the first white artist to top the R&B Charts since George Michael in the 2000s. Country music sales continued to rise, and country pop became increasingly popular.

• Carrie Underwood became one of the most successful new country artists of the decade, amassing eight No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

• Taylor Swift became the first country act to enjoy widespread mainstream popularity since the 1980s, and her rise to fame led labels to become more interested in signing young country singers and artists who write their own music.

• Despite the success of artists like Underwood and Swift, there was continued debate over what constituted "real" country music.

• Traditional country music retained a large following during the decade, thanks to the ongoing successes of veteran artists like Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny Chesney.

• Legendary group Alabama retired from touring in 2004 after nearly a quarter century of mainstream success.

• Jazz continued to appeal to a core group of listeners, with well-established jazz musicians like Dave Brubeck and Wynton Marsalis continuing to perform and record.

• Reggae saw the success of charting acts like Baha Men, Elephant Man, Akon, and Sean Paul, who achieved mainstream success in the U.S.

• Christian music continued to gain popularity with acts like Relient K and Skillet achieving gold and platinum-selling status.

• British indie rock and indie pop returned to popularity in the mid-late 2000s with artists like Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, and Amy Winehouse achieving substantial chart success.

• U2 continued their popularity into the 2000s, releasing three critically acclaimed albums and influencing many prominent acts of the decade.

• American indie/rock band The Killers became very popular in Britain with their singles "Mr. Brightside", "When You Were Young", and "Smile Like You Mean It".

Think you know your music history from the 2000s? Test your knowledge with our quiz on the top genres, artists, and events of the decade. From pop punk to R&B, garage rock to country pop, this quiz covers it all. Challenge yourself and see how much you remember about the music that defined the first decade of the 21st century.