By Billboard Staff
3/3/2020
If you entered 2000 thinking that the year would bring a totally different sound befitting the turn of a new millennium… well, you were mostly right.
Not that the artists that defined popular music at the end of the ’90s were suddenly spirited away and replaced with an entirely new vanguard: Most of the biggest artists of 1999 — the boy bands and girl groups, the breakout rappers and rock best-sellers — were the biggest artists of 2000, too. But they seemed energized by the changeover of millennia, and motivated to push things appropriately forward.
Having some of the era’s greatest super-producers on the front lines certainly helped. Timbaland and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins amped up the dramatic tension of R&B until it sounded like something that would play at a futuristic opera. The Neptunes and Swizz Beatz brought the proverbial (and sometimes literal) bells and whistles to hip-hop, setting it on its path to top 40 domination and definition. And of course, Max Martin raised the stakes on TRL pop, maturing his sound and proving that the genre and its greatest practitioners would not be left in the ’90s with Trapper Keepers and Tamagotchis.
But the year wasn’t just about returning ’90s stars getting 2.0 updates. Hip-hop’s geographical axis was thrown off by a brand new rap icon emerging from the country’s center. R&B was modernized not only at its poppiest but also at its rootsiest, as the growing neo-soul movement experienced its greatest year of commercial and critical success. And a couple ’80s stars returned with dramatically overhauled sounds that demonstrated they would be staying relevant well into their third decades.
With *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached, a standard-setting 2000 pop release both in its cutting-edge production and its record-breaking commercial performance, celebrating its 20th anniversary — and most of us needing no excuse to take a vacation from the world in 2020 — Billboard decided the time was right for a week’s celebration of the year 2000. We’re starting today with a list of our 100 favorite songs from the historically rich year, and will continue all week with a series of essays, interviews, lists and other flashbacks to the beginning of the new millennium.
First, though, a note about eligibility: Songs were counted as eligible if they were released as singles in ’00, if they debuted on the Billboard charts in ’00, or if they hit No. 1 in ’00. But if they didn’t hit the Hot 100 until the next year, or if they debuted in ’00 but didn’t hit No. 1 until the year after, we’re counting ’em for ’01. So apologies to “Ms. Jackson,” “It Wasn’t Me,” “Yellow,” “One Step Closer” and “One More Time” — we’ll probably see them on this list next year.
Read our list below, find a Spotify playlist of all songs at the bottom, and check back to Billboard.com all week for more about the stories behind the most interesting songs and albums of 2000. It’s been a long time since they left you — so begin the journey back with us below, with 100 dope jams to step to.
34. Nine Days, “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” (No. 6, Hot 100)
Remember when power pop songs used to go Top 10? In the year 2000, Nine Days’ story of a girl — the one who famously cried a river and drowned the whole world — peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100 due to that undeniable singalong chorus. While there is some debate as to whether the song is about lead vocalist/guitarist John Hampson’s then-girlfriend (and now wife) Teresa Savino, or a lesser-known ex, one thing’s for sure: the song about her winning smile still bangs. Plus, its legacy stays alive through TikTok, and in our Y2K pop-rock-loving hearts. — G.G.
Billboard Greatest 100 Songs of 2000 on Spotify (in reverse order)
