With Popstars: The Rivals, the stakes were upped as two new bands went head-to-head for the Christmas number one, and for Girls Aloud, it was "Buy Girls, Bye Boys" with a redefining 00s chart banger that got them there...
Blue had already cemented themselves as the UK's biggest boyband of the moment, but teaming up with the legendary Sir Elton John underlined the crossover they had successfully achieved...
Making his movie debut as a struggling rapper in the Oscar nominated 8 Mile also provided Eminem with one of his biggest hits and a fourth UK chart topper to boot...
Daniel Bedingfield had made his name embracing the tail end of UK garage - which is what made the success of his biggest single, a soaring ballad, all the more surprising...
In the face of intense press coverage and speculation about her personal life, Jennifer Lopez answered back to her critics through her music, proving that deep down, she was still the girl from the Bronx...
On her second album Stripped, Christina Aguilera sought to shed the teen pop image that she made her name with for something a little more raw, debauched and raunchy...
After breaking through with the huge "Get Ur Freak On" and Miss-E ... So Addictive album the year previously, Missy Elliott continued to ride the crest of a wave with her Under Construction album...
After playing the long game and paying his dues on the club scene in his native Spain, it took a soaring cover of a Bryan Adams classic to send DJ Sammy into the global stratosphere...
With *NSYNC entering their hiatus after five years of success, Justin Timberlake began his solo career in style with a funk R&B workout more than a little indebted to his musical heroes...
St. Louis hailing rapper Nelly had already ascended into the big leagues with his second album Nellyville, but it was his duet with Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child that went soaring to the top of the chart on both sides of the Atlantic...
The Niche Reference 