Top artists and songs of the 2000s (By sales and awards)

Radio Plays

Billboard releases information on what songs have been played most on the radio each week. In the 2000s, this was shared through the "Hot 100 Airplay" list. The following shows which songs topped the charts in the 2000s.

Note: Some of these songs might have had longer runs that extended past their peak year.

Other interesting facts about 2000s radio airplay:

• Usher had both the most number one singles (6) and the most cumulative weeks at the top (43)

• If you add Destiny's Child's numbers to Beyoncé's, she had the most number one singles (9) and cumulative weeks at number one (58).

Digital Sales

As the Internet became more accessible, music lovers began to ditch physical media, instead collecting their music online. iTunes debuted on January 9, 2001, though it would take a few years to become the music purchasing, sharing, and sorting tool so many users loved. This ultimately led Billboard to publish the Hot Digital Songs list in 2005. However, these stats may be skewed by how many people either used YouTube (which debuted in 2005) or pirating websites to find their music.

The following details the top song for each year, according to the Billboard Hot Digital Songs List:

• 2005: "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani

• 2006: "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter

• 2007: "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie*

• 2008: "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain

• 2009: "Boom Boom Pow" by The Black Eyed Peas

*This song never had the top sales weekly, but did have the highest number of sales for the year.

The next slide discusses how different award shows recognized music in the 2000s.