2000s in British music

This is a summary of music in the United Kingdom during the decade of the 2000s.

Trends and changes in music

The 2000s saw the singles market turn from the pop sound of the 90s to a more R'N'B, Rap & Hip Hop orientated mix. The albums market whilst keeping pop acts in the limelight, turned its attention to rock bands, many of which became mainstream acts out of almost nowhere.

Popular artists, hit singles and albums

The most popular British male solo artist of the decade was Robbie Williams who had 3 of his albums, as well as his Greatest Hits compilation top the albums chart. He also scored 4 singles chart toppers and performed on Band Aid 20. Other males who were successful were Usher and rapper Eminem, who accumulated a total of 6 chart toppers during the decade.
Britney Spears & Christina Aguilera received very notable success during the decade. Britney Spears released her first Greatest Hits collection in 2004, which reached a peak of #2 in the albums chart.
Band Aid 20 was formed for the Christmas of 2004 when a collaboration of stars re-recorded the 20 year old Christmas classic, "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which topped the charts for 4 weeks and sold over a million copies.
1 was a greatest hits release by The Beatles in 2000 with all their UK and US #1 singles; it topped the albums chart for 9 weeks and sold 2.1 million copies in the UK alone. It became the fastest selling album of all time and gave the Beatles their 15th UK album chart topper.

Official charts

See Also:- List of Number 1 singles from the 2000s (UK)

Whilst album sales shot up annually, single sales declined every year; a 34% decrease was seen from 2002 to 2003. Eventually, in the week ending April 17, 2005, PDD's (Paid Digital Downloads) were incorporated into the official UK Singles chart.
Westlife were one of the most successful chart acts of the decade, having their first 7 singles not only make #1, but all enter at the top of the chart and also accumulating a total of 12 chart toppers by late 2003, overtaking Madonna's record of 10. But, Tim McGraw overtook that record.