A Musical Writing Challenge

My Favorite Album From Each Year of My Life #4: A 21st Century Musical Odyssey!

A look at my favorite albums released between 2000 and 2009

Writer and all-around groovy guy Paul Combs created a great writing challenge on here a while back for music lovers called My Favorite Album From Every Year I’ve Been Alive. His multi-part series in which he shared those albums was very entertaining to read and it inspired several other writers, myself included, to take part in his challenge.

This is Part IV of my series. As I did in my previous three entries, I’ve not only included my favorite album from each year but I’ve also included Honorable Mention Albums from each year.

This part of the challenge covers the years 2000–2010. I think part of the reason I was slow getting to this part is because I was afraid I’d struggle to find albums from that decade to write about. At the start of the 21st century, I was in my early 30s. While I was still a music junkie, I wasn’t as into it as I’d been in my teens and 20s. I still bought albums regularly but nowhere near as much as I previously had.

As I did while writing the first three parts of this series, I used Wikipedia as my main resource. I went there and typed in “2000 in music” and that led me to a month-by-month breakdown of every album that was released in that year. I saw several albums I loved there — including many I hadn’t listened to in many years and had almost forgotten about. I very quickly discovered that my earlier fears were very unwarranted.

I made my way through the decade and created lists of my favorites from each year. I also did something different this time. While looking at the yearly lists of albums on Wikipedia, I created lists (long ones) for each year of albums I’ve never heard before but would like to listen to and explore in the future.

Below are my results. For each year, I listed my favorite album released during that year. With it, I spotlighted two songs from it with Spotify clips and also listed three other songs I love from the album.

After that I shared Honorable Mention Albums and Albums I Still Want To Explore from each year.

NOTE: The music I’m writing about here is not meant to be any sort of definitive list of the ‘best’ albums released between 2000–2009. They’re simply my personal favorites from those years. Also, they’re my favorites now from those years. In some cases (like the Bruce Springsteen album and The Bee Gees album I included), I was unfamiliar with the albums when they were first released and only recently heard them for my first time.

At the end of this article is a Spotify playlist I created with many of my favorite songs from the albums I listed, including the Honorable Mention albums.

So, let’s get to it all, shall we?

Please join me on my 21st Century Musical Odyssey!

2000: Stiff Upper Lip — AC/DC

Some Other Songs I Love From This Album: “House Of Jazz,” “Safe In New York City,” and “Come And Get It.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Two Against Nature — Steely Dan Mad Season — Matchbox Twenty Lovers Rock — Sade Arch Allies: Live At Riverport — Styx and REO Speedwagon In The Flesh — Live — Roger Waters

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

Crack A Smile…And More! — Poison Can’t Take Me Home — Pink Silver & Gold — Neil Young Light Years — Kylie Minogue Hot Shot — Shaggy

2001: A Tie!

Drops Of Jupiter — Train

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “She’s On Fire,” “Respect,” and “Let It Roll.”

&

Room For Squares — John Mayer

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “My Stupid Mouth,” “Your Body Is A Wonderland,” and “St. Patrick’s Day.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Arrival — Journey Going Somewhere — Colin Hay Missundaztood — Pink This Is Where I Came In — The Bee Gees Zoom — Electric Light Orchestra

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

Love And Theft — Bob Dylan The Rainbow Children — Prince Three Chord Opera — Neil Diamond Audiodog — Bruce Kulick Rainbow Connection — Willie Nelson

2002 — Another Tie!

Gutterflower — The Goo Goo Dolls

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “What A Scene,” “It’s Over,” and “Sympathy.”

&

October Road — James Taylor

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “On The Fourth Of July,” “Whenever You’re Ready,” and “Mean Old Man.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Hard Candy — Counting Crows Be Not Nobody — Vanessa Carlton Under Rug Swept — Alanis Morrissette Brainwashed — George Harrison Bounce — Bon Jovi

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

C’mon, C’mon — Sheryl Crow Long Way Home — Dokken Crucible — Halford The Last DJ — Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Hometime — Alison Moyet

2003: Say You Will — Fleetwood Mac

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “What’s The World Coming To,” “Peacekeeper,” and “Say Goodbye.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Do It For Love — Daryl Hall and John Oates Michael Bublé — Michael Bublé My Private Nation — Train Everything To Everyone — Barenaked Ladies Motown — Michael McDonald

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

Wildcard! — The Joker’s Edition — Terence Trent D’Arby/Sananda Maitreya Bananas — Deep Purple The Diary of Alicia Keys — Alicia Keys Special One — Cheap Trick Reality — David Bowie

2004: Brian Wilson Presents Smile — Brian Wilson

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “Wonderful,” “Song For Children,” and “Child Is Father Of The Man.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Hot Fuss — The Killers Underneath — Hanson Gettin’ In Over My Head — Brian Wilson Everybody Loves A Happy Ending — Tears For Fears Motown Two — Michael McDonald

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

The Way It Really Is — Lisa Loeb Harmonium — Vanessa Carlton Unbreakable — Scorpions Baptism — Lenny Kravitz ***hole — Gene Simmons

2005: Mr. A-Z — Jason Mraz

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “Life Is Wonderful,” “Geek In The Pink,” and “Please Don’t Tell Her.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Angel Of Retribution — Judas Priest It’s Time — Michael Bublé Make Believe — Weezer All The Right Reasons — Nickelback How To Save A Life — The Fray

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

Counting Down The Days — Natalie Imbruglia Guilty Pleasures — Barbra Streisand Mighty ReArranger — Robert Plant Rebel, Sweetheart — The Wallflowers 12 Songs — Neil Diamond

2006: Sam’s Town — The Killers

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “Bling (Confessions Of A King), “Bones,” and “This River Is Wild.”

NOTE: Seriously, I could recommend every song from Sam’s Town. It’s fantastic. If you’ve never heard it, put your headphones on and listen to the entire album as soon as possible. Then listen to it again. It’s fantastic.

Honorable Mention Albums:

Let Love In — The Goo Goo Dolls For Me, It’s You — Train Modern Times — Bob Dylan On An Island — David Gilmour Under The Covers, Volume 1 — Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

Live To Win — Paul Stanley Begin To Hope — Regina Spektor Loose — Nelly Furtado Born Again — Warrant Continuum — John Mayer

2007: Memory Almost Full — Paul McCartney

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “Dance Tonight,” “See Your Sunshine,” and “That Was Me.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Life In Cartoon Motion — Mika Black Rain — Ozzy Osbourne Magic — Bruce Springsteen

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

Release The Stars — Rufus Wainwright The Best Damn Thing — Avril Lavigne Here & Now — America Revival — John Fogerty Spirit — Leona Lewis

2008: Black Ice — AC/DC

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “Anything Goes,” “Spoilin’ For A Fight,” and “Stormy May Day.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Phoenix — Asia That Lucky Old Sun — Brian Wilson Revelation — Journey Flavors Of Entanglement — Alanis Morissette Nostradamus — Judas Priest

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

Bring Ya To The Brink — Cyndi Lauper Satisfied — Taylor Dayne Saudades de Rock — Extreme Rockferry — Duffy Funhouse — Pink

2009 — Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix — Phoenix

A Few Other Songs I Love From This Album: “Fences,” “Lasso,” and “Rome.”

Honorable Mention Albums:

Tinted Windows — Tinted Windows Anomaly — Ace Frehley Sonic Boom — KISS Foot Of The Mountain — A-ha

Albums I Still Want To Explore:

Together Through Life — Bob Dylan Come To Life — Natalie Imbruglia The E.N.D. — Black Eyed Peas All I Ever Wanted — Kelly Clarkson Working On A Dream — Bruce Springsteen

And here’s that Spotify playlist I mentioned up above. There are currently over 125 songs on it and it is over 8 hours long. If you listen to it (I suggest shuffling it, if possible), I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. — It’s never too late to participate in this challenge. If you want to write about your favorite albums from each of the years you’ve been alive, please do it.

Personally, I’ve had a lot of fun with it all!

On a related note, if you’d like to see what my favorite albums were before the year 2000, here are the first three parts I wrote for this series:

Thank you for reading! If you’d like to connect with me outside of Medium, you can also find me on X, Substack, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Goodreads. I’m also the host of the GOTTA POP podcast. Links to all of those things can be found here.