2001 in music
See also: 2000 in music, other events of 2001, 2002 in music, 2000s in music and the list of 'years in music'
Events
- January 1 - Hum disbands.
- January/February - Rush records Vapor Trails, which was released on May 14, 2002.
- February - CFXJ (Flow 93.5), Canada's first urban music station, goes to air for the first time as a testing signal (its official debut is on March 1.) This is a breakthrough for Canadian hip hop and R&B musicians, who had previously faced significant barriers to getting exposure for their music.
- February 13 - Peter Frampton receives the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award
- February 17 - Manic Street Preachers become the first western rock band to play in Cuba. (Fidel Castro was in attendance.)
- March 1 - Collin Raye is awarded the Artist Humanitarian Award from Country Radio Broadcasters Inc. The award was given in recognition of Raye's work on behalf of a number of different charitable organizations including Child help USA, USA Weekend's Make a Difference Day and the Native American organization Hecel Oyakapi.
- March 14 - The Court of Appeals in Rome finds Michael Jackson "not guilty" of plagiarism, reversing a decision made in 1999 by a lower court. Italian songwriter Albano Carrisi had claimed that Jackson's "Will You Be There" was a copy of his song "I Cigni Di Balaka."
- April 4 - Original Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent, reunite for a two part performance at London's Jazz Cafe. This was the first time the two band members performed together in over 30 years.
- April 24 and October 30 - Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson release albums in the same year, respectively. Janet releases "All For You" and Michael releases "Invincible". Both albums would hit #1 on the album charts.
- May - The 4th EJCF in Basel was held. Next time was in 2004.
- June 16 - The Los Angeles, California radio station KROQ airs the 9th Annual of the Weenie Roast show with Blink-182, Coldplay, Crazy Town, The Cult, The Disturbed, Jane's Addiction, Linkin Park, The Living End, New Found Glory, Pennywise, Papa Roach, Stabbing Westward, Staind, Stone Temple Pilots, Sum 41 and 311.
- October 20 - VH1, with performances by Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Billy Joel and others.
- Mariah Carey makes a number of unusual public appearances, including an unscheduled visit to MTV's Total Request Live. Rumors fly that the star had a mental breakdown.
- Area One music festival brings together a variety of acts including Moby, Incubus, Outkast, New Order, Nelly Furtado, The Roots, Rinocerose, Paul Oakenfold, and Carl Cox.
- Napster's popularity peaks
- Elastica disband
- Toadies disband
- Apollo Sunshine forms
- Audioslave forms
- Die Trying forms
- Franz Ferdinand forms
- Revolution forms
- Zebra forms again
- Zwan forms
Classical music
Albums released
Top hits on record
See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 2001
Top 10 selling albums of the year
- Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
- Shaggy - Hotshot
- NSYNC - No Strings Attached
- Enya - A Day Without Rain
- Staind - Break The Cycle
- Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor
- Destiny's Child - Survivor
- Creed - Weathered
- Soundtrack - O Brother, Where Art Thou?
- Various Artists - Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 6
Births
Deaths
- February 4 - Iannis Xenakis, a Greek composer.
- February 13 - George Simon, Music critic and original Glenn Miller Band drummer, pneumonia
- February 19 - Charles Trenet, French singer, songwriter
- February 21 - Ronnie Hilton
- February 21 - Malcolm Yelvington
- February 22 - John Fahey, guitarist, indie label owner
- March 18 - John Phillips, cofounder of Popular Music group The Mamas and the Papas
- March 28 - Moe Koffman (73), Canadian Jazz singer
- April 15 - Joey Ramone, lead singer for The Ramones
- April 20 - Giuseppe Sinopoli, composer and conductor
- June 21 - John Lee Hooker, 83, Blues musician
- June 30 - Chet Atkins, 77, country musician
- July 27 - Leon Wilkeson, 49, Bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd
- August 25 - Aaliyah, 22, American singer and actress
- September 22 - Isaac Stern, 81, violinist
- November 29 - George Harrison, 58, musician and former member of The Beatles
- December 13 - Chuck Schuldiner, 34, vocalist and guitarist with Death
- December 16 - Stuart Adamson, Big Country
Awards
