The Internet allowed music to be heard by vast numbers of people on social networking sites such as YouTube and Myspace; it also increased piracy.
This and the introduction of the UK Singles Downloads Chart in 2004[3] led to a decrease in record sales and a reduction in the number of copies sold of a No.
[4] Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" became the first song to reach the top of the charts based on downloads alone in 2006, remaining at No.
[6] Lily Allen made herself known on the Internet through her Myspace page, and following this exposure, her debut single "Smile" peaked at No.
Three years later, her single "The Fear" topped the chart for four consecutive weeks, being the longest running No.
Hear'Say won the original series of Popstars in 2000 and topped the charts with their debut single "Pure and Simple".
These were; "Don't Stop Movin'" by S Club 7 (2001), "Gotta Get thru This" by Daniel Bedingfield (2001–2002), "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz (2004), "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean (2006) and "Boom Boom Pow" (2009) and "I Gotta Feeling" (2009) by the Black Eyed Peas.
In addition, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" was number one in December 2009 and climbed back to the top in January 2010.
Madonna, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake's song "4 Minutes", for example, is counted for all three artists because they were credited on the cover, while "Where Is the Love?"
In April 1973, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) began classifying singles and albums by the number of units shipped.
American rock band
Evanescence
debuted at number one with their single "
Bring Me To Life
" and their album "
Fallen
" in 2003 and started their massive international success.
Gnarls Barkley
's "
Crazy
" became the first song to reach number one on downloads alone in 2006 and the first song since 1994 to spend longer than two months at number one.
Leona Lewis
saw her debut single, "
A Moment Like This
", reach number one in 2006. Two more chart-toppers followed, including "
Bleeding Love
" which had a 7-week reign at number one in 2007 and "
Run
" in 2008.
Madonna
holds the record for the most number-one singles by a female artist during the decade. She topped the chart for a fifth time in 2008 with "
4 Minutes
" featuring
Justin Timberlake
.
Christina Aguilera
gained three number-one singles in the 2000s and one in 1999.
Kings of Leon
's "
Sex on Fire
" sold over 840,000 copies in 2008, making it one of the biggest songs of 2008 and the biggest hit by any American act during the 2000s. It spent a total of 68 weeks in the UK chart.
Rapper
Eminem
scored 7 number-one hits in 2000s, putting him second behind Westlife for the most number-ones during the decade.
Mancunian rockers
Oasis
scored 4 number-ones this decade.
Lily Allen
scored two number one singles this decade: "
Smile
" in 2006 and "
The Fear
" in 2009, which stayed for four consecutive weeks at the top, being the longest running number one in 2009.