By Katie Walstrom
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The three most hard-working, prominent and popular artists who defined the style of the 2000s may be Coldplay, Linkin Park and Eminem.

Coldplay

Coldplay formed in London during 1998 with a unique, alternative rock sound. The group has been compared to other well-known artists in this decade, such as U2 and Radiohead. Its debut album, Parachutes, was released in 2000 and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The most popular song on that album is “Yellow.”

A Rush of Blood to the Head, released in 2002, was the album that put Coldplay into the mainstream. The album had numerous hits, such as “Clocks,” “Politik” and “The Scientist” and won multiple awards, including Album of the Year by New Musical Express. Coldplay’s album, X&Y, was released in 2005 and the band continued their success with “Fix You,” “Talk,” “Speed of Sound” and “Low.” The band’s newest album, Viva La Vida, released in 2008, seems to be its most popular album yet. This album has received several Grammy nominations and wins. Coldplay also has sold over 50 million records worldwide.

Linkin Park

Linkin Park originated in California with a rap and rock sound. The group’s 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory, gave the band instant mainstream success. Linkin Park’s second album, Meteora, arrived in 2003, and that same year, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth greatest band of the music video era and the third best artist of the new millennium.

While those two albums gave Linkin Park a claim to the title of most influential, its third album, Minutes to Midnight, solidified that title. Released in 2007, Minutes to Midnight has the hit songs “Leave Out All the Rest,” “Bleed It Out” and “What I’ve Done.” The album had the most successful debut week of any album that year. Linkin Park has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and has also won two Grammy Awards.

Eminem

Eminem isn’t only a rapper; he is also an actor and record producer who owns his own record label, Shady Records. Eminem, born as Marshall Mathers and also known as Slim Shady, is the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive albums. Those albums were The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show.

In 2002, Eminem starred in the movie “8 Mile,” which was based on events in his life. The song “Lose Yourself” from the movie’s soundtrack won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and went on to become the longest-running hip-hop single. His next two albums were Encore in 2004 and Relapse in 2009. Eminem has been ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Artists by Rolling Stone magazine, Best Rapper Ever by Vibe magazine and was named Artist of the Decade by Billboard Magazine. He has also achieved eight number-one albums on the Billboard Top 200, 12 number-one singles worldwide and has sold over 80 million albums worldwide.