00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're revealing our picks for the very best albums of each
00:10year from 2000 to 2009.
00:122000, Stankonia, Outkast.
00:22By the turn of the millennium, Outkast were already critical darlings, but Stankonia
00:34catapulted them into the mainstream with unapologetic force.
00:38Fueled by hits like Miss Jackson and B.O.B., Andre 3000 and Big Boy tore up the hip-hop playbook.
00:44Milding funk, psychedelia, gospel, and even drum and bass, they defined a sound that was
00:50as futuristic as it was unmistakably Southern.
01:00At a time when mainstream rap largely clung to rigid formulas, Stankonia embraced maximalism,
01:06eccentricity, and political edge, proving there was space in the spotlight for something weirder,
01:12bolder, and more genre-defying.
01:22In doing so, it didn't just cement Outkast as visionaries, it paved the way for later boundary
01:27pushers, including, yes, Kanye West, to thrive.
01:362001, Songs in A Minor, Alicia Keys.
01:46In a pop landscape dominated by teen idols and glossy production, Alicia Keys' Songs in A Minor
01:52arrived like a revelation. Blending classical piano flourishes with R&B, soul, and jazz influences,
01:59Keys delivered an album that felt both timeless and unmistakably her own.
02:10Her songwriting was intimate yet universal, weaving personal storytelling into radio-ready
02:15hooks without pandering to the trends of the day. Fallen was an example of Keys' ability to showcase a
02:21command of musicianship seldom found in early 2000s pop.
02:33The industry took notice. Songs in A Minor earned Keys five Grammys, including Best New Artist and
02:40Best R&B Album, cementing her as a once-in-a-generation talent from the very start.
02:512002, Come Away With Me, Nora Jones.
03:03Come Away With Me proved that restraint could be as powerful as maximalist spectacle.
03:08Nora Jones' smash hit debut blended jazz, folk, country, and soul into a warm,
03:14intimate sound that stood apart from anything on the charts, and audiences embraced it in droves.
03:26Certified platinum in its year of release, Come Away With Me remains the highest-selling
03:30debut studio album by a solo artist in the 21st century.
03:39Jones' smoky vocals and unhurried delivery made tracks like Don't Know Why instant modern standards,
03:46while the album's subtle production rewarded repeated listens. The Grammys crowned it Album of the Year,
03:52sealing her as a genre-blending force, who could conquer the charts without raising her voice.
03:572003, Elephant, The White Stripes
04:15Arriving at the height of the garage rock revival, Elephant distilled the movement's raw energy into
04:21its purest form. Former spouses Jack and Meg White built an arena-filling sound from little more than
04:27guitar, drums, and sheer conviction, stripping rock back to its chest-beating core.
04:39The result was an album that felt both retro and ageless, cementing itself as the era's defining
04:45statement of back-to-basics rock. And then there's Seven Nation Army, with a riff so instantly recognizable,
04:59it's been chanted in stadiums, protests, and victory parades ever since. Elephant was a triumph for the
05:05White Stripes, yes, but it was also proof that minimalism could shake the world.
05:172004, American Idiot, Green Day
05:21Just when it seemed Green Day's moment had passed, they roared back with a concept album that turned
05:34pop-punk into political theater.
05:45American Idiot was a scathing, hook-packed rock opera that captured the disillusionment and rage of post-9-11
05:53America, offering both a critique of the era's politics and anthems for a generation who felt lost
05:58in the noise. Its ambition was matched by its accessibility. Boulevard of Broken Dreams and
06:10Holiday dominated the charts, while the title track became a rallying cry for disaffected young people
06:16living through the tumultuous presidential administration of George W. Bush. Bold, bombastic,
06:21and unapologetically of its time, American Idiot secured their place in rock and pop culture history.
06:282005, The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah Carey
06:37By the mid-2000s, many had written Mariah Carey off, but The Emancipation of Mimi was a reminder that
06:51she was still pop royalty. Heralded as her comeback record, it was her first album since 1997's
06:58Butterfly to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, fueled by a renewed creative spark and a
07:04confident embrace of contemporary R&B and hip-hop influences.
07:08We Belong Together and Shake It Off hit it big, showing off both her vocal mastery and her knack
07:21for crafting irresistible hooks. Polished yet personal, Mimi didn't only restore Carey's
07:27commercial dominance, it reasserted her as one of the defining voices of modern pop.
07:392006, Future Sex Love Sounds, Justin Timberlake
07:43With this forward-thinking album, Justin Timberlake shed the last remnants of his boy band past and
07:56fully embraced his role as pop's resident avant-garde showman. Re-teaming with Timbaland,
08:01he delivered a sleek, genre-blurring mix of electro, funk, R&B, and futuristic pop that felt years ahead of its time.
08:09The album's adventurous production set it apart from the safe, radio-friendly pop dominating the charts,
08:19while singles including Sexy Back, My Love, and What Goes Around Comes Around became instant classics.
08:32Ambitious yet endlessly listenable, Future Sex Love Sounds cemented Timberlake as a solo powerhouse,
08:38redefining what mainstream pop could sound like.
08:492007, Blackout, Britney Spears
08:58Released amid personal turmoil and relentless tabloid scrutiny, Blackout was initially defined by
09:04everything but the music. At the time, its icy, club-ready production and Spears' detached,
09:10almost robotic vocal delivery felt like a sharp departure from her bubblegum pop roots,
09:15and not everyone knew what to make of it.
09:25But in the years since, it's been re-evaluated as possibly her most dynamic record,
09:30with Gimme More and Peace of Me influencing a generation of pop artists. Sleek, dark, and
09:36unapologetically hedonistic, Blackout now stands as not just a career high point for Spears,
09:42but a blueprint for modern electropop.
09:522008, The Carter 3, Lil Wayne
10:02By the time The Carter 3 dropped, Dwayne Lil Wayne Carter had already declared himself the best rapper
10:08singer-alive, and this album made that claim hard to dispute. A career-defining culmination of his
10:13prolific mixtape run, it blended dizzying wordplay, inventive flows, and unshakable hooks that could
10:20dominate any chart. Tracks like A Million Lollipop showed both his lyrical dexterity and pop instincts,
10:36while deep cuts proved he could still surprise even the most devoted fans. Sweeping the hip-hop
10:41Grammys and selling over a million copies in its first week, The Carter 3 crowned Wayne at the peak of his
10:47powers, making him the king of hip-hop in 2008.
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11:11If the 2000s saw indie music break into the mainstream, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was
11:30one of its crown jewels. The French quartet distilled the decade's indie boom into a sleek,
11:35infectious package, balancing shimmering synths, razor-sharp guitars, and hooks so airtight,
11:41they felt inevitable.
11:47Litstomania in 1901 became ubiquitous, soundtracking commercials, TV shows, and countless playlists,
11:54while the album's polish and precision proved indie could compete with pop on its own terms.
11:59And no one wouldn't lift your fingers so bolder, bolder, bolder, bolder, bolder.
12:06Winning the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was the sound of
12:11indie stepping confidently into the cultural spotlight.
12:22Which album in our video is your favorite? Are there any you feel deserved to mention?
12:26Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
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