This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2000. This year was the peak of CD sales in the United States, with sales declining year on year since then.[1]
In New York City, United States, at precisely midnight, Prince celebrates the start of the final year before the new millennium by playing his anthemic "1999", in what he vows is the song's finale.
British composer John Tavener is knighted in the New Year's Honours List.
Gary Glitter is released after serving just two months of his four-month sentence for downloading 4,000 child pornography images.
Sharon Osbourne quits as manager of Smashing Pumpkins after only three months. In a brash press release she announces she had to resign "for medical reasons: Billy Corgan was making me sick."[2]
Singer Whitney Houston is caught with 15.2 grams of marijuana in her bag at a Hawaii airport. She boards her flight to San Francisco before police can arrive to arrest her.[3]
January 18 – Spencer Goodman is executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, for the 1991 kidnap and murder of the wife of ZZ Top manager Bill Ham. Ham is present at the execution.
May 7 – Westlife releases their 2000 debut album with the release of their Billboard #1 hit single "Swear It Again", as the group's first and only single to have charted in the US.
May 16 – Prince announces that he has changed his name back to Prince now that his publishing contract with Warner/Chappell has expired. He had been known as an unpronounceable symbol since 1993.[7]
May 23 – Eminem releases his third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP selling over 1.76 million copies in its first week, and becomes the fastest selling hip-hop album ever in first week sales.
May 24 – 50 Cent is shot nine times in Queens. After spending time in hospital he returns to recording and performing.
June 17 – Aaliyah's "Try Again" reaches number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It becomes the first airplay song in history to reach number one following new chart rules placed in 1998 that allowed airplay singles to chart for the first time.
↑Evans, Rob (January 11, 2000). "Billy Corgan Slammed As Smashing Pumpkins Manager Quits". Soundspike. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
↑Baram, Marcus; Baker, K.C. (January 18, 2000). "Whitney Takes Flight Over Hawaii Pot Rap". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2025-04-17.
↑Preston, Julia (2000-01-14). "Mexican Star in Sex Case Is Arrested in Rio". The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
↑Rosen, Craig (July 20, 2000). "Ted Nugent Still In Hot Water Over Houston Pro-English Statements". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved October 15, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
↑"Music Review; Bergonzi Sings Just 2 Acts of Otello", The New York Times, May 5, 2000. Accessed 31 July 2014
↑Hubert, Jordan (November 1, 2011). "Bringing It All Back Home: The Ultimate Decision of Re-Branding". Sterling PR. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
↑"Edward Van Halen Fighting Cancer". Van Halen News Desk. May 26, 2000. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
↑"Sinead O'Connor Comes Out in an Interview with Curve, the U.S. Lesbian Magazine". NY Rock. June 8, 2000. Archived from the original on February 15, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
↑"Court grants stay of Napster injunction". CNET. July 28, 2000. Retrieved October 15, 2012.