How would you rank the 2000s for music?

December 2019 update:

1. 2001
2. 2007
3. 2004
4. 2008
5. 2005
6. 2002
7. 2003
8. 2006
9. 2000
10. 2009

It was hard to choose between the top two spots. 2001 I think had the strongest highlights of the decade, but 2007 was the better year for music overall. I decided to go with 2001 in the end. I've never been much of a fan of a lot of the teen-pop and r&b songs that were popular at the time, but it was generally a great year for rock. Not only did System of a Down's Toxicity come out in September, however you also had the likes of singles such as "In Too Deep", "Hanging by a Moment", "My Sacrifice", "The Middle" and Lenny Kravitz's "Again". Quite truthfully, I probably like more singles from 2007 than what I do from 2001, however the quality of the '01 releases themselves gives them the slight advantage.

2004 is definitely an underrated year for music. I've been listening to quite a few songs from 2004 recently and it has surprised me how many songs from that year I actually like. Another year which I think people tend to overlook is 2008, which I've ranked in fourth place. It was actually a fairly decent year for music here in Australia. I can understand some of the reasons as to why people dislike it ("Pictures of You" and "Stop and Stare" are boring, generic rock fodder whichever way you look at it), but as is the case with 2004, the low points seem to overshadow everything else. I genuinely like songs such as "Untouched", "Closer", "Where The City Meets The Sea" and "Dream Catch Me", to name a few. 

In fifth place is 2005, which is fitting, given that it was the middle of the decade. Two of my all-time favourite albums (System of a Down's Mezmerize and Hypnotize) were released that year and there's quite a few singles which I like as well, but on the other hand, there's also a lot of songs from 2005 which I don't care for, such as "Drop It Like It's Hot", "My Humps" and "You're Beautiful". I would have ranked 2003 above 2002 in the past, however I actually feel as though 2002 was the better year for music.