2000s pop is not a genre but rather a distinctive era of music. The popularity of teen pop carried over from the ’90s, with acts such as the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears dominating the charts early in the decade. Hip-hop and R&B artists like Nelly and Destiny’s Child also scored top 10 hits in the early 2000s.
By the mid-2000s, teen pop had faded, and hip-hop and R&B gained greater mainstream success. With the help of Timbaland and The Neptunes, *NSYNC‘s Justin Timberlake reinvented himself as a solo artist and dominated the decade. In 2005, Rihanna and Chris Brown debuted became superstars within a few years.
Latin music also achieved mainstream exposure in the US, with Shakira and Pitbull scoring top 10 hits. This laid the foundation for Latin’s breakout success in the late 2010s.
In the late 2000s, dance music saw an increased influence in pop, with anthems like Black Eyed Peas‘ “I Gotta Feeling” and Rihanna‘s “Don’t Stop the Music” paving the way for the pop-EDM crossover in the 2010s.
Discover the decade’s biggest hits below. (View the entire playlist here.)
Discover more subgenres in our Subgenre Spotlight series.
