By the time the 2000s reached 2004, the decade was hitting its stride, with an identity totally its own. Newly crossed over sub-genres like crunk, emo and reggaetón had found their way to the center of the mainstream, while dancehall and indie rock were reaching the charts and MTV in ways they rarely had previously. Neither the sunshine pop of TRL‘s peak or the post-grunge rock still dominant in the late ’90s were nearly as ubiquitous as a half-decade earlier, but they’d found a sort of midpoint in the guitar-based pop-rock blanketing top 40 and Hot AC radio. And rap was everywhere: particularly at the top of the Hot 100, where even the R&B chart-toppers had more of a hip-hop edge than ever before.
The way 2004 redefined popular music for the ’00s can be best seen in perhaps the two biggest albums of the year, both by artists whose stardom was previously established in the ’90s. Usher’s Confessions raised the stakes on the pop and R&B that had made him a teen heartthrob at the turn of the century, with newly heavy and distinctly adult subject matter, and turbo-charged beats courtesy of producers of the moment like Lil Jon and Just Blaze. And Green Day’s American Idiot redefined the one-time couch-dwelling pop-punkers as stadium-rocking, machine-raging theater kids, using their Who-worthy full-length rock opera to protest both suburban teenage alienation and the Iraq War.
Those were just two of the many huge albums and singles that helped the ’00s reach their midway peak in 2004: It was also a year for brand-new artists like Gretchen Wilson, Los Lonely Boys and Ashlee Simpson, as well as a comeback year for long-established legends like U2, the Beastie Boys and even Loretta Lynn. And of course, at the middle of it all was the man then known as Kanye West, an artist and personality the likes of which neither pop nor hip-hop had never seen before, whose inextricable place in the middle of music and culture — for better and occasionally for worse — was sealed for the next 20 years with the release of his game-changing debut album The College Dropout.
Relive all of this and so much more as we 1, 2 step back in time to revisit our 100 favorite singles from the massive year that was 2004 — including songs that reached or topped the Hot 100 for the first time in 2004, but not ones that waited until future years to make or top the chart. We think you’re ready now.
