1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was the BIGGEST movie of the year. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Monsters, Inc. were among the top five movies of the year.
2. The world was introduced to Shrek and Donkey for the first time.
3. Nobody watched Mariah Carey's theatrical debut in Glitter.
4. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman called it quits after 11 years of marriage, while Jennifer Lopez and P. Diddy broke up after three years together.
J.Lo would marry Cris Judd that September.
5. President Bill Clinton served his final days in office, while Hillary Clinton was sworn into the Senate.
She also became the first female senator to represent New York.
6. Björk wore the infamous swan dress to the 73rd Academy Awards.
7. While Britney and Justin donned their ICONIC coordinating denim outfits for the American Music Awards.
8. It was also the same year Britney literally STOLE the VMAs (while wearing an albino Burmese python) with her performance of "I'm a Slave 4 U."
9. Mýa, Pink, Lil' Kim, and Christina Aguilera were the Ladies Marmalade.
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♫ Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir) ♬
10. TRL ruled the airwaves on MTV...
11. ...and was so BIG that it even launched its own short-lived tour, featuring Destiny’s Child, Nelly and the St. Lunatics, Eve, 3LW, Dream, and Jessica Simpson.
12. Aaliyah died tragically at age 22 in a plane crash.
She was flying back from the Bahamas after filming her music video for "Rock the Boat."
13. Life of Pi, Dead Until Dark (aka the True Blood novels), and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants were all first published.
And no one would ever look at tigers, vampires, and (magical) jeans the same again.
14. Apple introduced its first-ever iPod.
15. Microsoft released Xbox.
16. Bratz Dolls were one of the biggest must-have toys.
17. Vince McMahon tried to make the XFL a thing.
18. Christopher Walken danced around an empty hotel in Fatboy Slim's video for "Weapon of Choice."
Fun fact: Walken is actually a trained musical-theater dancer.
19. Cartoon Network launched Adult Swim.
20. The Strokes brought back garage rock.
View this video on YouTube
And thrift-store blazers worn over vintage tees.
21. The Beatles' 1 was the biggest-selling album of the year, followed by Shaggy's Hot Shot and the Backstreet Boys' Black & Blue.
Although you probably just downloaded these from LimeWire.
22. Lifehouse's "Hanging by a Moment" was the biggest song of the year.
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And I am sure you didn't even realize that.
23. Aaron Carter for some reason thought he could beat Shaq.
24. The Bernie Mac Show, Six Feet Under, and Lizzie McGuire all aired their first episodes.
25. While Survivor: The Australian Outback and Friends were two of the biggest shows on TV.
26. Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon were the hosts of "Weekend Update" on SNL.
27. During the summer the nation got caught up in the details of the affair between California Rep. Gary Condit and his intern Chandra Levy – who had mysteriously disappeared earlier in the year.
After the attacks on Sept. 11, the story faded away. Levy's body was found in May 2002. She had been murdered during a run in the park by a 20-year-old Salvadoran man named Ingmar Guandique. Condit lost his seat the same year.
28. Bono gathered an all-star cast of recording artists to cover "What's Going On," which benefited AIDS programs in Africa and the American Red Cross' Sept. 11th fund.
View this video on YouTube
29. And finally, Bin Laden became the most wanted man in the world. While Time magazine named Rudy Giuliani its "Person of the Year."
FYI: If you're feeling old, just know we're now closer to 2030 than we are to 2001.
