The Story of Pop: 2000 (Chapter 10)

The Story of Pop: 2000. Our weekly look back at all the big hits from the turn of the millennium now enters its third month – and first chapter in double figures, as this week we revisit an absolute boyband classic…

It is safe to say that at the turn of the millennium, the world went boyband mad. We’ll be meeting a fair few of them over the course of this series, but where America was concerned, they didn’t get bigger or better than JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone – and a certain Justin Timberlake – otherwise known as *NSYNC.

Their self titled debut album in 1998 had sold millions in their home territory, even if its two top 10 hits and modest sales here in Blighty left little to be desired. But following a messy and – now well documented – legal split with their old manager, in 2000 they were raring to go with their second album, the aptly named ‘No Strings Attached’.

A thundering titan of a pop beast, courtesy of the hand of super Swede pop producer Max Martin and the Cheiron team, ‘Bye Bye Bye’ established them as serious contenders, giving them their highest UK chart position to date when it entered at #3.

But as with so much of their career – at least where the UK mattered – it was small change to what happened Stateside, where they had their first Billboard chart topper with follow-up single ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’ (sorry, ‘May’) as well as registering one of the fastest selling albums in US chart history. But to this week, it’s all about ‘Bye Bye Bye’, a classic of the 21st century boyband canon.

Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 2000. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments or Tweet us, using the hashtag #StoryofPop2000.