Streaming World: Back To 2000

Not all elements can face the test of time the same way. Some will get erased within’ seconds, others will last forever. This same logic perfectly applies to our favorite music tunes. As a music industry watcher, one of the most appreciated functionality of streaming is that we can check results of pretty much every single track from all artists, enabling in-depth analysis of various categories. This includes analyzing which hits from certain periods remained the most relevant nowadays and which ones got forgotten.

Is there anybody out there?

Today we will be reviewing that way the year 2000. That year was marked by a few massive albums by Eminem, Britney Spears, Linkin Park, U2, Bon Jovi or Madonna. Robbie Williams and The Corrs were at their best, Sade and Enya registering huge comebacks, Coldplay and P!nk were debuting big. Those are just some of the few massive acts that issued a new album at the turn of the millennium. With such a busy schedule, one may wonder what’s the absolute biggest hit out of all.

This is how we do

As every listing must be checked with its compilation rules in mind, I’ll be explaining the method right now. First, the key element is that I’m using the release year of the parent album to define the year of a song. For example, if the third or fourth single of a 2000 album has been issued on CD format in 2001, I’m still considering it a 2000 hit. Second, all streaming totals refer to Spotify plays of all versions of the same song-artist combined. Cover versions by external acts are not considered. Third, I’m voluntarily excluding local hits. I have identified 111 hits with 10 million streams or more from 2000, but some local acts la La Oreja De Van Gogh in Latin America or Håkan Hellström in Scandinavia do own a few 10+ million songs as well thanks to their markets being big on Spotify. I’ll not be listing them since they are not of interest in terms of biggest global hits, and, let’s be honest, as they are pretty hard to identify. This brings a more general concern which is the absence of Spotify made such listing. Thus, I went through best selling albums, singles, acts of 2000/2001 in the US/UK, best rated albums lists from that year, biggest airplay hits of the year and more, but there is still for sure a few missing songs in upcoming lists which is why your comments and help is more welcome than ever!