4 Hit Rock Albums From the Early 2000s That Still Hold Up Today

The 2000s were a great time for rock and metal music. Many of the remaining grunge musicians were making new music, the punk bands that made waves in the late 1990s were embodying the frustration of a nation, and there was more metal than you could shake a drop-tuned guitar at. While not all of the hit rock albums held up over the years, the 2000s produced some seemingly immortal gems.

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All of the albums below were No. 1 hits for major rock bands in the 2000s. All of them are just as good today as they were when they hit record store shelves and Napster more than two decades ago.

[RELATED: 6 Addictive 2000s Rock Albums That Were Ahead of Their Time]

Lateralus–Tool (2001)

Tool leaned into a more progressive rock sound for their first hit album of the 2000s. Their third full-length outing, Lateralus, was their first No.1 album. It debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 and sold hundreds of thousands of copies in its first week.

Chart positions and sales are only half of the story, though. This album is killer from start to finish. Just pressing play on the album and letting the odd time signatures and poetic lyrics bombard your brain is still a top-tier listening experience. However, there’s more to it than that. The band buried the Fibonacci sequence into the music. Additionally, fans have suggested that re-ordering the tracks into what they call the Holy Gift makes the listening experience that much better. For those who are curious, the Holy Gift track order is 6,7,5,8,4,9,13,1,12,2,11,3,10.

Toxicity–System of a Down (2001)

System of a Down released their self-titled debut album in 1998 and saw little chart success from the release. However, the release helped them build a passionate following. Then, in 2001, they unleashed Toxicity on the world. The album produced a handful of singles that were mainstays on MTV and rock radio throughout the early 2000s. At the same time, “Aerials,” “Toxicity,” and “Chop Suey” helped drive sales for the album.

System of a Down stood out from other rock and metal bands of the time. Serj Tankian’s voice is instantly recognizable and he aggressively delivered lyrics that sounded, to some, like nonsense on the surface. However, a closer listen revealed sharp sociopolitical commentary. Like other albums of the time, that commentary unfortunately remains relevant 24 years later.

American Idiot–Green Day (2004)

Green Day made a name for themselves in the 1990s and carried their momentum into the 2000s with albums that were hits on both the Billboard 200 and rock charts. American Idiot was the band’s first No. 1 on the all-genre album chart, and it remains one of their best-loved albums.

American Idiot is so much more than a pop punk album. It’s a time capsule of the early 2000s influenced by the September 11 attacks, the war in Iraq, and the consequences of those things. More than that, it’s a rock opera and the band’s most ambitious release to date.

Contraband–Velvet Revolver (2004)

Velvet Revolver was one of a few rock supergroups that had hit albums during the 2000s. The band consisted of Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum. Former Suicidal Tendencies and Wasted Youth guitarist Dave Kushner and Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland rounded out the group. They released their debut album Contraband in 2004, and it debuted at the top of the Billboard 200.

Some fans and critics boiled Velvet Revolver down to a combination of Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots. However, the band’s debut proved that they were more than the sum of their parts. The driving instrumentation gave a new edge to Weiland’s vocals and songwriting. Like most of STP’s catalog and GNR’s Appetite for Destruction, Contraband has stood the test of time.

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