2000s

This article is about the decade starting at the beginning of 2000 and ending at the end of 2009. For the century or millennium starting in 2000 (or technically 2001), see the links below.

The decade as a whole

The 2000s decade refers to the years from 2000 to 2009, inclusive. Informally, it can also include a few years at the end of the preceding decade or the beginning of the following decade. Many people think that the 2000's decade started in either 1998 or 1999 but it officially began on January 1, 2000.

So far, the 2000s has been marked generally with an escalation of the social issues and continuation of the pop culture of the late 1990s which included the rise of terrorism, the rapid expansion of communications and telecommunications with cell phones and the Internet, international pop culture, the rapid, exponential expansion of globalization on an unprecedented scale, and the extraordinary rapid rate of increase in stress for the general public. Politically, the 2000s has been almost entirely dominated by the War on Terrorism, with major terrorist attacks including the World Trade Center attack, the Moscow Theatre Siege, the Madrid train bombings, the Beslan school hostage crisis, the 2005 London bombings, and the October 2005 New Delhi bombings. In the news almost daily, especially in North America and Europe, the war on terrorism dominates headlines. The controversy of the War on Terror, its consequences, and justifications, or lack thereof, have led to a politically and socially divided world.

The 2000s have also witnessed the incredible economic growth of the world's two most populous nations, India and China, and the ramifications their growth has had on the western world. Most significant of these may be rapidly increasing demand for fossil fuels, which, along with fewer new petroleum finds and greater extraction costs (see peak oil), saw the price of oil soar ~500% between 2000 and 2005.

Names of the decade

In contrast to the decades from 1920 to 1999, which are called "The Twenties", "The Nineties", and the like; the '00s have had no generally-accepted name. The term "The Two Thousands" is fairly common, but many still find its use awkward and incorrect for a number of reasons, notably the fact that formally, the "Two Thousands" will last for a thousand years and not just the ten years of the "00" decade.

It is occasionally termed, in historical contexts, the "turn of the millennium" or "turn of the century" (or "turn of the new century," since most people appear to associate the term "turn of the century" with the year 1900). This terminology would probably seem silly, however, if used in an informal context.

Written in numeral form, the decade can be written either as the "2000s" or as the "'00s". But looking for a name that has the same "feel" as 'The Nineties' or 'The Fifties' has been far more problematic. Several proposals have come forth, but ultimately, none have caught on and achieved anything approaching universal acceptance.

One of the more talked-about names has been "The Naughties".[1] Often misunderstood to be a referenced to the supposed "naughtiness" of the decade, the name is actually just a play on the word "naught", an old term for the number zero. Along the same line is the suggestion to call the decade "The Naughts", something that might be more easily understood in Britain than in the United States. "The Naughts," much like "The Naughties" would prove a problematic name in the U.S. where the word "naught" is inappropriately associated with naughty. A similar alternative, and one that may have been used in the first decade of the 20th century, is the "Oughts". Time Magazine published a suggestion called "The Ozies", presumably pronounced with a long "o" (/o/) sound. A more easily understood, yet stylistically different, suggestion, was the "Double-O's". The rapper Q-Tip of the rap group A Tribe Called Quest coined the term "The 2000 Decade" on their 1991 song "Verses from the Abstract." Yet other nicknames include the "Zeros" and "Two-Thousands". The "Turbulent Two-Thousands" is also a nickname for the decade; it appears to keep in line with the "Roaring Nineties" and "Greedy Eighties", and is favored by those who wish the 00s to be seen as a decade of economic, political, and social uncertainty around the world.

The United Nations General Assembly declared the decade of 2000-2009 as the "International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World."

Criticisms of the decade

The 2000s are so far not a highly regarded decade by most people in the world as many find the 1990s to have been a much more prosperous time and look fondly upon earlier decades such as the 1960s and 1980s.

While not a criticism per se as many people still like the culture of the 1990s, some others look down on the decade for upholding so many tired 1990s fads, fashions, and music genres. Many people who are fond of the 1990s dislike the 2000s because they perceive them as similar to the 1980s for various reasons, mostly relating to politics but also to the 1980s nostalgia wave that struck in the decade, especially around 2003-2005. (see 1980s Retro Movement). In 2006, the

Common criticisms of the decade include a bad economy, escalation of the use of technology starting in the '90s, loss of civil liberties, pop music, television, and movies lacking creativity, The Paris Hilton fad, and of course the War on Terror and criticisms of President George W. Bush.

Many people can factor in all of these issues to express disappointment in a decade, and more importantly a century, which much of the world had high hopes for particularly in the 1990s.

Events and trends

Technology

File:IPod 4G.jpg

A fourth-generation iPod with earphones.

• A huge jump in broadband internet usage, from 6% of U.S. internet users in June, 2000 to what one study predicts will be 62% by 2010.
• Boom in music downloading and the use of data compression to quickly transfer music over the Internet, with a corresponding rise of portable digital audio players typified by Apple Computer's iPod.
• Digital cameras become very popular due to rapid decreases in size and cost while photo resolution steadily increases. Sales of film reel cameras diminish greatly as a result.
• Google search engine increases trafficability of the internet and "to Google" becomes a verb.
• Due to an increase in ability to store data, USB flash drives rapidly replace zip disks and 3.5-inch diskettes.
• Graphic cards become powerful enough to render nearly photo-realistic scenes in real time.
• Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 become the ubiquitous industry standard in personal computer software. Open source and free software continues to be a notable but minority interest, with versions of Linux gaining in popularity, as well as the Mozilla Firefox web browser.
• Liquid crystal displays begin displacing cathode ray tubes.
• Major advances in Hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, Escape, and the Honda Insight.
• Greater interest in future energy development due to global warming and the potential exhaustion of crude oil.
• Blogs, portals, and wikis become common electronic dissemination methods for professionals, amateurs, and businesses to conduct knowledge management.
• Wikipedia began and grew rapidly, becoming the largest encyclopedia and most well known wiki in the world.
• DVDs replace VCR technology as the common standard at video stores.
• Due to the major success of broadband Internet connections, Voice over IP begins to gain popularity as a replacement for traditional telephone lines. Major telecommunications carriers begin converting their networks from TDM to VoIP.
• Wireless networks become commonplace in homes, education institutes and urban public spaces.
• LASIK eye surgery becomes popular as costs and potential risk decreases and results further improve.
• OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) technology revolutionizes display technology, making it possible to "print" screens on everyday objects.
• Home automation and home robotics become popular in North America; iRobot's "Roomba" is the most successful domestic robot and has sold 1.2 million units.
• GPS (Global Positioning System) becomes very popular especially in the tracking of items or people, and the use in cars.
• RFID (Radio Frequency ID) becomes widely used in retail giants such as Wal-Mart, as a way to track items and automate stocking and keeping track of items.
• DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), typified by TiVo, allow consumers to modify content they watch on TV, and to record TV programs and watch them later, leading to problems as consumers can fast-forward through commercials, making them useless.
• Self-serve kiosks become very widely available, used for all kinds of shopping, airplane boarding passes, hotel check-ins, fast food, and car rental.
• Internet usage surpasses TV viewing in 2004.
• Emerging use of robotics, especially telerobotics in medicine, particularly for surgery.
• Many more computers and other technologies incorporated into vehicles such as Xenon HID headlights, GPS, DVD players, self-diagnosing systems, advanced pre-collision safety systems, memory systems for car settings, back-up sensors and cameras, in-car media systems, MP3 player compatibility, USB drive compatibility, keyless start and entry, satellite radio, voice-activation, cellphone connectivity, adaptive headlights, HUD (Head-Up-Display), infrared cameras, and Onstar (on GM models).
• Peer-to-peer technology use: internet telephony (Skype), file-sharing.
• Xbox 360 and other next-generation systems revolutionize the videogame industry in 2005-2006 with photo-realistic graphics, a virtual online gaming world, and interoperability with other digital devices such as the iPod.
• The entire videogame industry's profits surpassed the movie industry's in 2004.
• After the bubble burst in 2001, another tech boom came around in the year 2005.
• Videophones are cheap and abundant, yet even by mid-decade, they had not recieved much attention.
• Most cellphone carriers offer video viewing services, internet services, and some offer full music downloads, such as Sprint in 2005.
• Digital music sales rise; they accounted for 6% of all music sales in 2005.
• Google releases a paid video download service, Google Video.
• Apple releases the iPod Video, paired with iTunes 6, with TV shows, and music videos.

Science

• The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission successfully reached the surface of Mars, and sent detailed data and images of the landscape there back to Earth.
• The Human Genome Project was completed. (2000)
• SpaceshipOne made the first privately-funded human spaceflight. (June 21, 2004)
• National Geographic and IBM fund a research project which traces every living human down to a "Scientific Adam". Human Genealogy Project. (See The Genographic Project)

War, peace and politics

File:WTC1 on fire.jpg

The World Trade Center ablaze after two airplanes crash into the towers in a terrorist attack

Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture

• Major controversy over U. S. presidential election (November 7-December 13, 2000)
• September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center and Virginia's Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. A resultant change in stance towards international terrorism (See New Era and War on Terror) has ripple effects on the USA's foreign policy and military strategy.
• Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 against Hugo Chávez
• U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to depose the Taliban regime in response to the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks (September 18, 2001 – July 18, 2003).
• The Convention on the Future of Europe proposing first European constitution (i.e., of the EU). The Constitution is rejected by French and Dutch electorate in 2005 leading to political crisis in EU.
• East Timor gains official independence from Indonesia. (May 20, 2002)
• International Criminal Court established, used for judging war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide (July 1, 2002)
• American and British forces respond to a disputed Iraqi threat with the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• Darfur conflict in Sudan
• "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine leads to election of Viktor Yushchenko as President after initial election victory of incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is annulled due to vote-rigging
• Revolution in Kyrgyzstan overthrows government of President Askar Akayev
• Beslan school hostage crisis, in which multinational terrorists take a school in Beslan, Russia hostage. 344 people including children die in the ensuing crisis. (September 1, 2004)
• United States expands international influence, in particular in the Middle East The US also hold a number of war games pertaining to the Strait of Taiwan in preparation for a possible war with the People's Republic of China over a Taiwanese secession. China and Russia display a strategic relationships during a simulated "humanitarian" crisis in the same region during Peace Mission 2005.
• Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and his conservative Liberal Democratic Party are re-elected in a landslide election in September 2005, mainly due to a booming Japanese economy and Junichiro's plans to privatise the Japanese postal service.
• In 2005, Early elections in Germany produce the first Grand Coalition for the country in almost forty years. After weeks of talks, the center-left Social Democrats and center-right Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union agree to let conservative Angela Merkel become chancellor. She is first chancellor to be from eastern Germany, as well as the country's first female chancellor.
• In America, as the Baby Boomers get set for retirement, Generation X begins to step up into political power, signified by the election of Illinois senator Barack Obama. Generation X grew in pop culture with the 1980s and 1990s.
• The world's view of the United States changes in the 2000s, particularly due to the interventionist policies of the Bush administration. Other issues such as Hurricane Katrina, NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, and the Iraq War cause a polarisation in many American's views of George Bush's presidency. In late 2005 and early 2006, some Democrat politicians begin to consider calling for an impeachment inquiry into Bush's actions.

Economics

• Globalization: Transnational companies become more pervasive, and anti-globalization protests occur frequently during meetings of IMF and WTO, especially in the early 2000s.
• The euro becomes legal tender in twelve European Union countries in 2002. It's the largest monetary union in history. The euro eases trade in the Eurozone.
• The NASDAQ, the American Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange closed for six days after the September 11th, 2001 attacks the longest close since the Great Depression in 1929.
• Major downturn in the value of dot-com shares, with occasional exceptions (Google's IPO on August 13, 2004)
• The US dominance over the world economy continues, but economically rising nations like China, show signs of becoming contending world powers.
• Significant oil price rises. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline opens on 25 May 2005, potentially removing the dependence of the United States and other Western nations on Middle Eastern oil.
• Enron and other major accounting and corporate governance scandals prompt reviews of corporate government legislation worldwide (eg Sarbanes-Oxley Act)
• The 1990s stock market boom ends in Mid-March to Early September of 2000-2001, due to 9/11 and the tech-bubble burst.
• Post-9/11 Recession from 2001-early 2003.
• Energy crisis in California and energy prices contributes to the economic downturn.
• Economy recovers in late 2003-2005 to steady growth as the unemployment rate drops to 5%, .4% above the rate seen in the booming heydays of the late '90s.
• Interest in technology companies remains steady, with IT spending fore-casted at 6% for 2006.
• Box-office returns fall drastically, as consumers turn instead to low-cost home theater systems and low-cost big screen HDTV's.
• Real estate market is seen as being the smaller version of the tech boom of the nineties, resulting in the highest ever housing market peak ever recorded in the US in July '05 .

Culture and religion

• The vast proliferation of information technology and digital media leads to many cultural paradigm shifts as people grapple with information overload. Generation Y (Millennials) are said to be adept at these technological developments.
• Reality television becomes a well-established sector of the television programming industry. Nightly news broadcasts continue to lose viewership to 24-hour internet news coverage. Changing television habits that involve increased use of the internet and the preponderance of TiVo make marketers rethink the paradigm of the 30-second TV ad. Viral marketing, and product placement within reality television shows and movies are some increasingly used alternatives. Spam is used as an alternative, irritating many.
• European society continues to become more secular; in contrast, religious groups increase their political influence in the United States and the Middle East.
• The divisive US presidential election of 2000 leads to commentators describing the country as split between Red States and Blue States.
• April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II dies at age 84; succeeded by Pope Benedict XVI on April 24.
• Same-sex marriage becomes a major cultural issue in developed countries. In 2001, the Netherlands becomes the first country to allow gay couples to wed. This is followed by Belgium in 2003, and by Canada and Spain in 2005. In 2004, Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to permit same-sex marriage.

Other

The coronavirus suggested as a causative agent of SARS.

• 2002–2003: SARS virus outbreak, most notably in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Toronto.
• February 1, 2003: The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts onboard, prompting investigation into NASA communication abilities and safety. Space shuttle flight resumes in late 2005, only to be suspended again.
• Major earthquake rocks the ancient city of Bam, in Iran. Cost over 50,000 lives.
• On December 26, 2004, a major earthquake and ensuing tsunami causes devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean. As of January 2005 the death toll is estimated to be nearly 290,000, prompting the largest humanitarian response for a natural disaster in history.
• Methamphetamine use skyrockets while crime rates in the U.S. reach the lowest rate in 40 years as of 2005 and use of most other drugs drops.
• Extended alcohol sales becomes popular public policy in US and UK.
• Underage consumption of alcohol under supervision of a parent or legal guardian is legalized in many states in the US in early 2005.
• Bird flu spreads through South East Asia; countries begin preparing for a potential bird flu epidemic, fearing that it could mutate into a form that could transfer easily from person to person and kill millions of people. Bird flu spreads rapidly into Europe in October 2005.
• Criticism of Vladimir Putin's governmental policies and reforms mount and a backlash of Soviet-nostalgia occurs in Russia.
• On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina strikes southeastern Louisiana, U.S., killing 1,300 people and devastating the city New Orleans and the Mississippi coast. People and life later return to New Orleans, but many analysts expect that New Orleans will never return to the way it was before.
• A major earthquake in Kashmir kills close to 80,000 people on October 8, 2005, devastating Kashmir and forcing the mass evacuation of mountain towns as winter approaches.
• Arctic sea ice cover reaches record lows; global warming continues to be a major concern.
• National Social Norms Resource Center established in U.S.
• DWI Courts introduced in U.S.
• The 2005 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season becomes the most active on record. First use of the Greek naming system after traditional names exhausted.

Trends and Fashion

United States and Canada

• Fashion slowly becomes less grungy and more excessive as the wearing of flannel by people under 30 declines and acid-washed jeans and shaggy hair become again commonplace for boys and men. For girls and women hoop earrings, originally popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, return to style circa 2002. Upturned collars on tennis shirts become popular among the youth as well.
• Urban/Gangsta/Thug and Punk/Goth/Emo are the major fashion and music trends in this decade, but are gradually starting to decline.
• Wearing baseball caps backwards peacefully falls out of style until about 2005 in favor of wearing them sideways or forwards. Sunglasses begin to become less widespread as a fashion statement, until 2005-2006 when large sunglasses were made popular by such celebrities as Nicole Richie.
• Tattoos continue to become more common
• Fad diets such as Atkins are popular; "less is more" a common statement in 1990s and 2000s
• Slang words used often in 2000s America include "Sweet", "Retarded", "Gay", "Crunk", "Wanksta", "Awesome", "That's Hot", "Totally" "Tight", "Ditty", and "Git -Er-Dun"
• Cell phones become a necessity to teenagers and often a fashion statement as opposed to a preppie toy. As the phones can also be potentially used as a "tracking device", many teenagers and young adults try to avoid having worrisome or over-protective parents (and even employers) know they have one.
• MP3 players (such as the iPod) become very common as they become more powerful and easier to use.
• Generation Y supplants Gen X as current youth generation.
• Interracial dating and relationships become more common in the US, however the double standard of black male-white female pairings and white male-asian female pairings largely continues to persist. Interracial couples on television and movies in all manner of gender and racial scenarios become fairly common.
• Strong cultural similarities with the 1990s as the pop culture of that decade continues to be trendy and cherished by the 2000s youth as exampled by the success of Mariah Carey and Green Day in the mid-2000s and by the fact that the Nineties receive only minimal backlash among current youth.
• A very strong nostalgia for the 1980s emerges, and as a result many things from the 80s are "brought back" and certain aspects of the decade become cool again such as New Wave music. Nontheless, the 2000s' kinship with the 1990s prevents a complete acceptance of the '80s, as the culture of the '90s is generally much more positively accepted by Generation Y.
• Many current youth show absolutely no interest in the mainstream music of the era (except for the more preppy bunch); listening to other genres such as indie and oldies.
• Poker becomes a craze, as many Americans are enticed by online poker rooms and games with their friends and neighbors. The World Series of Poker aired on ESPN becomes a huge success.
• Emo goes from being a small subculture in the 1980s and 1990s to becoming mainstream and fusing with pop-punk and crunk, beginning in 1998 but especially later in the decade.

Europe

• In Eastern Germany and other ex-Communist countries, there is a growth in nostalgia the former Communist times (Ostalgie).
• Growing anti-Americanism, especially “Old Europe” (France, Belgium, Germany and Spain)

Music

United States and Canada

• Rap music, especially Crunk, bubblegum pop rap and post-gangsta largely overtakes rock and roll as the main music of the youth. Popular and definitive artists include Eminem, Jay Z, Nelly, 50 Cent, Ja Rule, DMX, OutKast, Method Man, Ludacris, Chingy, Snoop Dogg, Will Smith, and Kanye West.
• Nu metal, a genre of modern rock with metal and hip hop influences popular, especially during first half of decade. Definitive and popular bands include Linkin Park, Korn, Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach.
• Pop-punk and emo become popular genres, especially during the middle and latter part of the decade. In the mid-to-late 2000s, bands such as Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco fuse the two genres together, while around 2002 Good Charlotte and Simple Plan combined emo and pop-punk with pop.
• Pop R&B continues to be popular, fueled further by combination with Rap.
• Crunk becomes a household word in 2003 when Lil' Jon popularizes the genre.
• Pop country slips in popularity in the mid-2000s, until about 2005 as singers like Faith Hill and Shania Twain no longer top the charts, but it maintains a niche in Middle America and begins to regain popularity with American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, who becomes the show's first winner to enter country music instead of pop or R&B.
• Teen pop of the late 90s variety rises and falls in popularity between 1999 and 2002, although maintains a strong media presence afterward and morphes into more adult-oriented music such as Kelly Clarkson. "Disney" artists such as Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Aly & AJ and Jesse McCartney are also popular, but the classic teen pop might come back by the late '2000s.
• Rock bands begin to ditch the Grunge image in favor of more avant-garde and traditional forms of rock music while keeping so-called "Alternative Rock" ethos, beginning around 2002. (see Emo)
• Fall of dance music from pop charts in United States, despite ruling the clubs.
• Underground hip hop thrives on Internet with the likes of Atmosphere and Aesop Rock.
• Christian music, popular with the mainstream between the mid-1980s and the late 1990s, heavily declines in popularity with secular audiences as former pop chart-toppers of the genre as Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith have their popularity confined to Christian music. Many artists within the genre, however, continue to top the Christian charts and set sales records. Christian Rock artists gain mainstream popularity in the mid-2000s with popular albums from Switchfoot, Relient K, and Thousand Foot Krutch.
• A revival in popularity of the Great American Songbook is witnessed, preëmpted by Robbie Williams, and the subsequent 'Rat Pack' fascination.
• The rise in popularity of more extreme variations of metal in the underground, most notably black metal,death metal, and [Viking Metal]].
• Classic rock comes back into style, causing many older artists to become mainstream.
• Ethnic music is mainstream for most of the early to mid-2000's, especially in the rise of Reggaeton in late 2005-early 2006.

Europe

• Electronica of 1990s style, such as Trance and drum 'n' bass, quintessential
• Return of indie rock, such as Franz Ferdinand
• Teen pop such as Backstreet Boys continues to be popular

Latin America/Caribbean

• Rise of reggaeton hip hop, and Bachata music

Film

• The two Spider-Man movies, and other comic book movies such as 2005's Batman Begins make a huge impact on popular culture. The scene in the movie Spider-Man where Mary Jane kisses Spider-Man upside down becomes a commonly spoofed scene on many shows. Being two of the biggest movies of the decade, much anticipation was built around the time of the release of these movies.
• Movie remakes and sequels hit an all-time high, causing many to complain that originality in Hollywood is at an all-time low. Also, many movies based on old TV shows become more popular in Hollywood, adding to the unoriginallity.
• Decline in ticket sales from 2005 due to general lack of quality films and decline of the general moviegoing experience, as movie theaters keep ticket prices high and increase the duration of advertisements before movies, in some cases going as long as 20 minutes. Other trends emerge, such as the decreasing cost and increasing size of quality home theater displays along with the availability mail-based movie rental services, most notably Netflix, which offered an unlimited number of DVD rentals for a fixed price per month. Movie executives attempted to place some of the blame on online piracy due to the advent of BitTorrent, however its effect has been disputed, as some claim that those who download these movies would not have paid to see them in the first place.
• Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, comic book movies, and the new Star Wars movies dominate the box office. The high profitability of these franchises arguably has much to do with the lack of investment and quality in newer and more original films in the 2000s as opposed to decades like the 1980s and 1990s.
• The Matrix very influential on special effect styles (ie: 'bullet-time', dramatic effects in slow motion).
• Disney abandons traditional 2D animation in 2005, with Home on the Range being the last 2D Disney movie. Chicken Little becomes the first movie of Disney's 3D era.
• "R" rated films are released at their lowest prevalence since the 1960s, reflecting a post-Columbine American society which increasingly lacks tolerance of violent films. While certain exceptions such as Kill Bill are made in protest of this development and in tribute to the overly violent kung-fu and action films of the 1970s, most action films of the 2000s are largely bloodless.
• East Hollywood High School becomes the first public film-oriented charter high school in the world. The school offers many choices of cirriculum and prepares students for a career in the film industry. [2]

Internet

• The Internet becomes a major source of all types of media, from music to movies, thanks to file sharing P2P programs such as KaZaA and Grokster. The ethics of file sharing debate continues.
• Legal file sharing programs such as iTunes and the re-designed Napster open up a new market of digital downloading.
• Popular video shorts of the 2000s include Star Wars Gangsta Rap, D.R.A.F.T., Bob Saget and His Feline Posse, The Picard Song Video, and the SNL skit Lazy Sunday.
• Television and Internet begin to merge as networks start streaming shows online.
• Myspace.com created in 2003, becomes popular among Generation Y, and is also one of the most dangerous websites for teens and young adults on the Internet.
• Cell phones gain the ability to access the Internet.
• With voice-over IP(VoIP) telephones and the Internet slowly begin to merge, example Vonage.
• Webcomics by amateur cartoonists surpass the popularity of traditional print comic books and newspaper strips. Flash movies also become popular.
• Napster becomes more popular as the price and song capacity of Ipods dramatically increase. As of January 1, 2006, Napster for the first time in at least 3 years had out beat the Ipod in popularity.

Video Games

• Next Generation Consoles: The first batch of "next-generation" home consoles are released at the turn of the new century featuring larger production values, more realistic graphics, and consoles with built-in multimedia such as DVD and a hard drive. Sony Playstation 2 (2000), Nintendo Gamecube (2001), and the Microsoft Xbox (2001) are the three main contenders in the ever raging console wars.
• Sega in 2001 drops out the home console market after the Dreamcast (1999) fails to regain lost marketshare from the 1990s.
• Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in 2001, a 32-bit handheld system. A redesign of the GBA dubbed Game Boy Advance SP (GBASP) was released in 2003 introducing flip-top design and a frontlit screen. Another even smaller version of the GBA was released as the Game Boy micro in 2005. The GBA line is still the best selling handheld system today.
• Gamers who were kids in the 1980s and 1990s are now adults. The average age for video game players rises into the mid to late 20s as videogames become mainstream global entertainment.
• Grand Theft Auto series sparks a fad of Mature rated videogames based on including gang warfare, drug use, senseless violence and pornography into the gameplay or more commonly just the storyline. The controversy is followed by mothers, lawmakers and activists (such as Jack Thompson) pushing an agenda to ban the sale of Mature rated games to minors.
• Console gaming hits the Internet with Xbox Live. Introducing widespread use of voice-chat via headset and requiring broadband Internet connection for "no-lag" gameplay.
• Sequels become the more prominent as popular franchises begin releasing new versions every year along with spin-offs. This flooding of the market is similar to what was happening before the video game crash of 1983.
• Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS in late 2004 featuring duel screens, a touch screen, built-in mic and Wi-fi, and flip top design. The system's innovation allowed for new gameplay strengthening many genres such as simulation, platform, and puzzle games.
• Sony releases the PSP (PlayStation Portable) in early 2005, a handheld gaming console with many multimedia features and sharp graphics to compete with the Nintendo DS and the still popular GameBoy Advance.
• New Wave of Consoles: Nintendo chooses to focus on innovation with new controller design for their 5th home console, code-named Nintendo Revolution (expected 2006), while the Microsoft Xbox 360 (2005) and the Sony Playstation 3 (expected 2006) have sharper HDTV ready graphics, multi-media and more integrated online features.
• Video Games like Halo and Half-Life 2 with its Source engine are said to revolutionize gameplay. They pave the way for other hit first-person shooters such as FEAR and Sin City.
• The Sims, released in the late 1990s and its sequel becomes the most popular video game of all time.

Television and Radio

• Reality TV shows, such as The Apprentice, Survivor, and The Amazing Race have become extremely popular, beginning in the year 2000. Big Brother began the craze in Europe a year earlier in the fall of 1999. The rise of Reality to the main networks was one of the first trends that differentiated 2000s television from that of the 1990s. As early as the second season (2001-2002) of Reality TV some fans of the genre began to tire of the trend.
• Popular and definitive TV shows include Lost (2004-), Chappelle's Show (2003-), Survivor (2000-), South Park (1997-), Family Guy (1999-2002, 2005-), 24 (2001-), Spongebob Squarepants (1999-), CSI (1999-), and Desperate Housewives (2004-). 1990s TV shows The Simpsons (1989-), Friends (1994-2004), Law & Order (1990-) and The Real World (1992-) remain varyingly definitive into the 2000s.
• The popular series LOST spawns many copycats in the mid-2000s, including Ghost Whisperer and Invasion.
• Continued trend of animated sitcoms as traditional sitcoms such as Family Matters and Third Rock From The Sun decline in number.
• Medical TV shows, which rose to popularity in the mid-1990s with ER, are in vogue, along with crime shows.
• Rise of media violence, sex, and language decreases with the 2004 Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl. The FCC made their censorship rules more conservative at this point.
• The show South Park incredibly popular among a large minority, especially around the opening of the decade. The show is also despised by many for it's blatant disregard for political correctness.
• The Nineties sitcom Friends ends in 2004 in a similar fashion to the end of Cheers in 1993.
• Nickelodeon nearly abandons the live action shows it had in the 1980s and 1990s in favor of Nicktoons. This ends towards the middle of the decade, as the network adds live action fare such as Drake and Josh (2004-), Unfabulous (2004-), and Zoey 101 (2005-). In addition, the network begins to skew to a younger audience than in previous years, cancelling programs popular among teenagers, such as Invader Zim and As Told By Ginger, in favor of programs for younger adolescents, such as All Grown Up, Unfabulous, and Zoey 101.
• Disney Channel shifts from classic Disney programming to live action shows in late 1990s and early 2000s (see Zoog Disney), while turning towards original cartoons beginning in 2001 with The Proud Family (2001-2005) and later Kim Possible (2002-2005).
• Japanimation becomes focus of Cartoon Network and a staple of children's programming, along with more adult-oriented material (see Animatrix and Adult Swim).
• The Simpsons remains incredibly popular throughout the 2000s along with several other animated sitcoms and Family Guy returns with new episodes in May of 2005 after a 3-year cancellation as many people bought the DVDs of the original 1999-2002 run.
• Talk radio shows such as Al Franken, Coast to Coast AM and Rush Limbaugh keep people on the AM dial.
• Prank-based comedy shows such as Punk'd (2002-), Da Ali G Show (2003-2004), Jackass (2001-2003), Trigger Happy TV (2002-2003), and Crank Yankers (2003-) popular.
• A proliferation (and to some extent, revival) of "million-dollar" primetime quizzes toward the earliest parts of the decade, particularly Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Although they generally died out by 2002, Deal or No Deal has proven to be successful three years later (although technically not a quiz).
• In 2005, Star Trek Enterprise becomes the first Star Trek series since the TOS to be cancelled due to low ratings and the first to suffer generally low popularity even among fans. It also ends the continuous TV franchise which started in 1987 with Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• In the United Kingdom
  • Proliferation of “celebrity”-based television such as Celebrity Big Brother, Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!, and Strictly Come Dancing.
  • Death of the family sitcom, replacing with more adult and specialist comedy such as Little Britain, Tittybangbang, the Mighty Boosh, The IT Crowd and Nathan Barley. More real-life sitcoms without laugher tracks like, The Office and The Smoking Room.
  • Big-budget dramas (mostly American) are is gaining popularity like Doctor Who, Desperate Housewives, Lost, 24 and CSI
  • Introduction of Freeview, and subsequently, the growth of free-to-air TV stations like BBC Three, BBC Four, Sky Three, More4, abc1, ITV3, ITV4 and TMF. Plus some channels are going free-to-air like E4 and FilmFour.

Sports

• Basketball dips somewhat in popularity with the loss of Michael Jordan and the Kobe Bryant controversy; football continues to become more popular, while professional soccer makes inroads into the United States and Canada.
• Baseball in the United States undergoes controversy due to steroids; stars such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, ranked #1 and #2 in single-season home runs, are suspected to have used steroids, while others such as Jason Giambi and Rafael Palmeiro are confirmed to have been using the drugs.
• Beach volleyball becomes an increasingly popular sport worldwide, establishing its first generation of superstars and branching out into large inland cities.
• Football, particularly British, begins to gain popularity amongst North Americans.
• Many British football clubs are being bought by billionaires/millionaires such as Chelsea with Roman Abramovich, Hearts with Vladimir Romanov and Portsmouth F.C. with Milan Mandarić and Alexandre Gaydamak.

People

World leaders

• President Hamid Karzai (Afghanistan)
• President Néstor Kirchner (Argentina)
• Prime Minister John Howard (Australia)
• Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (Austria)
• Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium)
• President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil)
• President Hugo Banzer Suarez (Bolivia)
• President Jorge Quiroga Ramirez (Bolivia)
• President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada Bolivia)
• President Carlos Mesa Gisbert (Bolivia)
• President Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé (Bolivia)
• President Evo Morales (Bolivia)
• Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (Canada)
• Prime Minister Paul Martin (Canada)
• Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Canada)
• President Ricardo Lagos (Chile)
• President Jiang Zemin (China)
• President Hu Jintao (China)
• Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (Convention on the Future of Europe)
• President Alvaro Uribe (Colombia)
• President Stjepan Mesić (Croatia)
• Prime Minister Ivica Račan (Croatia)
• Prime Minister Ivo Sanader (Croatia)
• Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (Denmark)
• Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Denmark)
• President Hosni Mubarak (Egypt)
• President Tarja Halonen (Finland)
• Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (Finland)
• Prime Minister Anneli Jäätteenmäki (Finland)
• Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Finland)
• President Jacques Chirac (France)
• Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (Germany)
• Chancellor Angela Merkel (Germany)
• Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (India)
• Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh (India)
• President Megawati Sukarnoputri (Indonesia)
• President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Indonesia)
• President Mohammad Khatami (Iran)
• President Saddam Hussein (Iraq)
• President Ghazi al-Yawer (Iraq)
• President Jalal Talabani (Iraq)
• President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (Latvia)
• Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (Ireland)
• President Mary McAleese (Ireland)
• Prime Minister Ehud Barak (Israel)
• Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (Israel)
• Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (Italy)
• President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (Italy)
• Emperor Akihito (Japan)
• Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro (Japan)
• President Vicente Fox Quesada (Mexico)
• Queen Beatrix (The Netherlands)
• Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende (The Netherlands)
• Prime Minister Helen Clark (New Zealand)
• President Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria)
• President Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan)
• President Yasser Arafat (Palestinian Authority)
• Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Palestinian Authority)
• President Joseph Ejercito Estrada (Philippines)
• President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (Philippines)
• President Jorge Sampaio (Portugal)
• Prime Minister António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (Portugal)
• Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso (Portugal)
• Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes (Portugal)
• Prime Minister José Sócrates (Portugal)
• President Ion Iliescu (Romania)
• President Traian Băsescu (Romania)
• President Vladimir Putin (Russia)
• King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz (Saudi Arabia)
• Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić (Serbia)
• Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (Singapore)
• Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore)
• Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek (Slovenia)
• Prime Minister Anton Rop (Slovenia)
• Prime Minister Janez Janša (Slovenia)
• President Thabo Mbeki (South Africa)
• President José María Aznar (Spain)
• President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain)
• Prime Minister Göran Persson (Sweden)
• President Joseph Deiss (Switzerland)
• President Ahmet Necdet Sezer (Turkey)
• Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit (Turkey)
• Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey)
• President Chen Shui-bian (Republic of China on Taiwan)
• Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom, et. al.)
• Prime Minister Tony Blair (United Kingdom)
• President Bill Clinton (United States)
• President George W. Bush (United States)
• Pope John Paul II (Vatican City) (d. 2005)
• Pope Benedict XVI (Vatican City)
• President Hugo Chávez (Venezuela)

State leaders by year: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006...

Entertainers

• 50 Cent
• Adam Sandler
• Alkaline Trio
• Annie Lennox
• Angelina Jolie
• Avril Lavigne
• Backstreet Boys
• Ben Stiller
• Black Eyed Peas
• Blossom Dearie
• Beyoncé (Dangerously in Love)
• Brad Pitt
• Britney Spears
• Bruce Willis
• Catherine Zeta Jones (Traffic)
• Christina Aguilera
• Christopher Guest
• Coldplay (Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head, X&Y)
• Conan O'Brien
• Daddy Yankee
• Dee Dee Bridgewater
• Destiny's Child (Survivor, 8 Days of Christmas, This Is The Remix, Destiny Fulfilled)
• Diana Krall
• Dream Theater
• Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings), (Lost)
• Donald Trump (The Apprentice)
• Ellen DeGeneres (Finding Nemo, The Ellen DeGeneres Show)
• Emily Browning
• Eminem
• Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives
• Evanescence (Fallen)
• Franz Ferdinand
• Frankie J
• Geri Halliwell
• George Clooney (O Brother, Where Art Thou? Ocean's 11 Ocean's 12)
• Gorillaz (Feel Good Inc) (Clint Eastwood) (19-2000)
• Green Day (Warning) (American Idiot) (Bullet In A Bible)
• Gwen Stefani (Love, Angel, Music, Baby)
• Halle Berry (X-Men, Monster's Ball)
• Incubus (Morning View) (A Crow Left of the Murder)
• Jack Black (High Fidelity, Shark Tale, The School of Rock, Ice Age) (King Kong)
• Janet Jackson
• Jay-Z
• Jennifer Lopez
• Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
• Jon Stewart
• Joss Stone
• Julia Roberts (Ocean's Eleven, Erin Brockovich)
• Keane
• Keanu Reeves (The Matrix series)
• Keira Knightley
• Kelly Clarkson (American Idol, Thankful, Breakaway)
• Kelly Rowland (Simply Deep)
• Kylie Minogue
• Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday)
• Linkin Park (Hybrid Theory, Meteora)
• M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, The Village)
• Madonna (Confessions On A Dance Floor)
• Mariah Carey (The Emancipation of Mimi)
• Marilyn Manson (The Golden Age of Grotesque)
• Matt Damon (Ocean's 11 Ocean's 12 The Bourne Identity The Bourne Supremacy)
• Melanie C (In Europe - Northern Star, Reason, Beautiful Intentions, First Day of My Life)
• Michelle Williams (Heart To Yours, Do You Know)
• My Chemical Romance (Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge)
• Natalie Portman
• Nicole Kidman
• Nine Inch Nails (With Teeth)
• No Doubt (Return of Saturn, Rock Steady)
• Oasis (Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, Heathen Chemistry, Don't Believe the Truth)
• Owen Wilson (Shanghai Noon, Meet the Parents, Zoolander, The Royal Tenenbaums, Behind Enemy Lines, I Spy, Shanghai Knights, The Big Bounce, Starsky and Hutch, Around the World in 80 Days, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Meet the Fockers, Wedding Crashers
• Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) (King Kong)
• Radiohead (Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers (By the Way) (Arcadium Stadium)
• Reel Big Fish (Cheer Up) (We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy)
• Reese Witherspoon
• Ricky Gervais (The Office)
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Sarah McLachlan (Afterglow (album))
• Steven Spielberg (A.I.) (Minority Report) (Catch Me If You Can) (The Terminal) (War of the Worlds, Munich)
• System of a Down (Toxicity, Steal This Album!, Mezmerize)
• The White Stripes (De Stijl, White Blood Cells,Elephant, Get Behind Me Satan)
• The Killers (Hot Fuss)
• Tom Cruise (Minority Report, Collateral, War of the Worlds)
• Tom Hanks (The Terminal, Castaway, Catch Me If You Can, The Ladykillers), The Da Vinci Code)
• Tony Bennett
• U2 (All That You Can't Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb)
• Vince Vaughn (Old School, Dodge Ball. Starsky and Hutch, Zoolander, Anchorman, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Wedding Crashers)
• Eric West
• Weezer (The Green Album, Maladroit, Make Believe)
• Will Ferrell (Saturday Night Live, Old School, Anchorman, Kicking and Screaming, Wedding Crashers)
• Will Smith (I, Robot film adaptation)

Sports figures

American Football

Tom Brady

Tiki Barber

Ronde Barber

Ray Lewis

Terrell Owens

Peyton Manning

Donovan McNabb

Michael Vick

Steve McNair

Randy Moss

Brett Favre

Kurt Warner

Michael Strahan

Athletics

Kenenisa Bekele

Justin Gatlin

Yelena Isinbayeva

Paula Radcliffe

Basketball

Kobe Bryant

Tim Duncan

Tracy McGrady

LeBron James

Shaquille O'Neal

Vince Carter

Emanuel ("Manu") Ginobili

Steve Nash

Allen Iverson

Baseball

Barry Bonds

Derek Jeter

David Ortiz

Mariano Rivera

Paul Konerko

Vladimir Guerrero

Albert Pujols

Alex Rodriguez

Curt Schilling

Cricket

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Rahul Dravid

Andrew Flintoff

Adam Gilchrist

Inzamam-ul-Haq

Jacques Kallis

Brian Lara

Glenn McGrath

Muttiah Muralitharan

Kevin Pietersen

Ricky Ponting

Sachin Tendulkar

Shane Warne

Cycling

Lance Armstrong

Figure Skating

Michelle Kwan

Evgeny Plushenko

Irina Slutskaya

Football (Soccer)

Luis Figo

Steven Gerrard

Thierry Henry

Oliver Kahn

Henrik Larsson

Paolo Maldini

Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo

Patrick Vieira

Zinedine Zidane

Robinho

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Ronaldinho

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

David Beckham

Golf

Tiger Woods

Annika Sorenstam

Phil Mickelson

Michelle Wie

Ice Hockey

Peter Forsberg

Jarome Iginla

Nikolai Khabibulin

Nicklas Lidstrom

Markus Naslund

Chris Pronger

Joe Sakic

Martin St. Louis

Motor Sport

Michael Schumacher

Juan Pablo Montoya

Jeff Gordon

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Danica Patrick

Fernando Alonso

Kimi Räikkönen

Petter Solberg

Sébastien Loeb

Marcus Grönholm

Paralympics

Tanni Grey-Thompson

Rugby

Martin Johnson

Tana Umaga

Richie McCaw

Jonny Wilkinson

Swimming and Diving

Alexandre Despatie

Pieter van den Hoogenband

Ian Thorpe

Michael Phelps

Tennis

Roger Federer

Andy Roddick

Serena Williams

Maria Sharapova

Triathlon

Simon Whitfield

Volleyball

Kerri Walsh

Misty May

See also

• 2000s music groups
• List of rock and roll albums in the 2000s
• 2000s in India
• [www.pophistorynow.com The 2000's Week-By-Week includes all pop culture: Television, films, radio, music, Hollywood tidbits]