The Musical Aughties: A Study in Contrast

With all of the lists floating around lately, most of which are marked by a prevalence of indie artists, it's interesting to see what actually sells out there in the marketplace. So, here are a few empirical rankings to ponder:

Billboard Top Ten Singles of 2000:

1. Faith Hill – “Breathe”
2. Santana (Featuring Rob Thomas) – “Smooth"
3. Santana (Featuring The Product G&B) – “Maria Maria”
4. Joe – “I Wanna Know”
5. Vertical Horizon – “Everything You Want”
6. Destiny's Child – “Say My Name”
7. Savage Garden – “I Knew I Loved You”
8. Lonestar – “Amazed”
9. Matchbox Twenty – “Bent”
10. Toni Braxton – "He Wasn’t Man Enough”

Bestselling Albums of the Decade:

1. The Beatles - 1
2. NSYNC - No Strings Attached
3. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
4. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
5. Eminem - The Eminem Show
6. Usher - Confessions
7. Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
8. Creed - Human Clay
9. Britney Spears - Oops! ... I Did It Again
10. Nelly - Country Grammar

Bestselling Digital Singles of the Decade:

1. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - "Low"
2. Lady Gaga feat. Colby O'Donis - "Just Dance"
3. Jason Mraz - "I'm Yours"
4. Timbaland feat. OneRepublic - "Apologize"
5. The Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow"
6. Soulja Boy Tell'em - "Crank That"
7. Lady Gaga - "Poker Face"
8. Coldplay - "Viva la Vida"
9. Taylor Swift - "Love Story"
10. Katy Perry - "Hot N Cold"

Bestselling Singles (Digital and Physical) of the Decade:

1. Shakira (featuring Wyclef Jean) - "Hips Don't Lie"
2. Beyonce (featuring Jay-Z) - "Crazy In Love"
3. Black Eyed Peas - "My Humps"
4. Britney Spears - "Toxic"
5. Britney Spears - "Womanizer"
6. Britney Spears - "Oops!... I Did It Again"
7. Eminem - "Stan"
8. Flo Rida - "Low"
9. Green Day - "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams"
10. Katy Perry - "I Kissed A Girl"

iTunes Top Downloads of 2009:

1. Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow"
2. Flo Rida - "Right Round"
3. Lady Gaga - "Poker Face"
4. Black Eyed Peas - "I Gotta Feeling"
5. All-American Rejects - "Gives You Hell"
6. Lady Gaga featuring Colby O'Donis - "Just Dance"
7. Miley Cyrus - "Party in the USA"
8. Miley Cyrus - "The Climb"
9. T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake - "Dead and Gone"
10. Kings of Leon - "Use Somebody"