The Top Pop Artists of the Decade - 2000s

It's hard enough in this business trying to sell units, much less stay on top of your game for a decade. These are the top artists of the decade according to sales, merchandising, endorsements, and popular appeal. Count them down and see if you agree.


According to record sales, awards received

10. Black Eyed Peas
Fergie joined forces with the already established Hip-Hop group in 2003, and ever since, they've been churning out the quirk-funk goodness almost nonstop. With will.i.am twisting the knobbies, they've infested the radio with party cuts like 'Let's Get It Started' and 'Pump It,' and not to mention thoroughly confusing/delighting us with weirdness like 'My Humps.' And of course you have this year's 'Boom Boom Pow':


9. Amy Winehouse
Amy took the world by storm with her signature gigantic beehive and voice right out of the 60's. Her soulful songs like 'Rehab' and 'You Know I'm No Good' are fun and catchy. They brought a new type of sound to the radio, and Amy paved the way for other female artists like Adele and Duffy. Although Amy's been involved in her share of scandals -- Get Well, Girl! -- there's no denying her talent.

8. Pink
Pink is still the same tough chick we met in 2000 with 'Can't Take Me Home.' Almost a decade and 5 total albums later, she is still giving us the in-your-face (but easy to sing) pop lyrics that speak for a generation.

7. Jay-Z
We're huge HUGE fans of Shawn Carter, who has left his imprint on popular music in the production room ('Umbrella,' 'Crazy In Love') and of course at the mic. And much of it happened after he "retired" in 2002. His versatility is renown, having worked with rockers Linkin Park and ...

6. Coldplay
Say what you want, but Coldplay has sold over 50 million records worldwide and pushed out four albums this decade including 'A Rush of Blood to the Head' and 'Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.' Behind lead singer and songwriter Chris Martin, Coldplay gives fans mellow, emotional tracks that dig much deeper than most Top 40 hits.

5. Gwen Stefani
In the past decade, there is no doubt that Gwen proved her diverse music style with her first solo album 'Love. Angel. Music. Baby' -- and subsequently gave birth to the 'Hollaback Girl.' Her on-and-off work with No Doubt is just icing on the cake, and it's amazing how quickly her solo career surpassed her band.



4. Green Day


People will be talking about 'American Idiot' for decades to come. The 2004 album stands as the Berkeley-based punk combo's defining moment and eternal props to them for turning a rock opera about "Jesus of Suburbia" into the biggest-selling rock album of that year. To be sure, it doesn't get much better than 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams.' They followed up 'Idiot' with this year's '21st Century Breakdown,' another rock opera.

3. Justin Timberlake
Whatever Justin did, we're sure the other *NSYNC-ers wish they thought of. We don't know how he made the transition from the clean-cut boy band image to Michael Jackson-esque R&B-Pop without us batting an eye ... but he did. We'll give credit to Timbaland for much of it. Songs like 'Cry Me A River' and 'SexyBack' were new and unusual songs that we couldn't get out of our heads. And that Superbowl performance with Janet Jackson? That erased any trace of a good-boy image he had left.

2. Beyonce
The 00's have been kind to Beyonce, to say the least. While Destiny's Child was awesome, going solo was the best thing that could have happened to her. Seriously, she's so famous she doesn't even need that last name. Beyonce has proven she knows how to do a dance hit (see: Crazy in Love, Deja Vu, Single Ladies) as well as a ballad (see: Listen, If I Were A Boy), and she does them equally well. She also knows how to put on a show -- her costumes and choreography never disappoint.

1. Britney Spears
You can't deny it, Britney has dominated the decade. Her music endures on MTV and radio and her often erratic and always interesting personal life has made for endless tabloid fodder. Her musical output between 2000-2008 was astounding. She dropped a huge 'Oops!' at the dawn of the decade and followed that with 'Britney' a year later. In 2003, she delivered what we think is one of the best pop songs of the decade, 'Toxic' (complete with an insanely sexy music video). Two more albums followed, with the latest dropping last year. True, it's impossible to ignore her personal woes (marriages, divorces, drinking, weird boyfriends, shaved heads, rehab ...), but in the end this was all about a former Mouseketeer developing into the world's biggest star.