@Carolina Boyles-McCurdy

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

The tracks you can’t get enough of lately, all in one place. Updated as you listen.

The songs you love. The more you use Apple Music, the better the mix. Refreshed every Tuesday.

Whether it’s a weekday morning or Saturday night, get going with this personalized mix of upbeat music. Refreshed every Monday.

Songs to help you relax and unwind. Updated every Sunday.

The 2000s began with New York’s lyrical titans—JAY-Z, Nas, Cam’ron, Jadakiss, newcomer 50 Cent—battling for supremacy, commercial and otherwise. However, New York’s grip on the hip-hop narrative would loosen. Atlanta rappers like Outkast, Ludacris, T.I., Lil Jon, and Young Jeezy would spin hip-hop into crunk and trap; a young, ambitious Chicago producer named Kanye West would open up new vistas of personal and emotional hitmaking; and New Orleans spitter Lil Wayne’s constant flood of mixtapes would change the economics of rapping forever. The internet would help spread regional sounds like the UK’s minimalist grime, Houston’s slow-moving chopped-and-screwed music, the Bay Area’s hyperactive hyphy, and Atlanta’s short-lived snap. By decade’s end, the gurgle of Auto-Tune and the freewheeling phrasing of Drake had begun to scramble the circuits, setting up hip-hop for its most melodic decade yet.

Iconic tracks and overlooked gems by unforgettable vocalists and MCs. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

As the 2000s began, hard rock had a nu-metal hangover: Limp Bizkit’s rugged riffage still had teeth, while P.O.D.’s thundering anthems and Papa Roach’s slash-and-burn approach rose to prominence. The genre was given an electrifying creative jolt by Linkin Park, a California group whose hip-hop-tinted take on nu-metal—and frustration-filled lyrics that zeroed in on the pain of personal shortcomings—felt fresh and energetic, not to mention all too relatable to a generation paralysed by post-September 11 uncertainty and turmoil. In fact, although ’90s superstars such as Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers continued to churn out comfort-food hits, a new breed of ambitious hard rockers captured the decade’s winds of change. Muse and My Chemical Romance unleashed heroic glam epics, Evanescence embraced an operatic vocal delivery and radio-ready acts like Shinedown merged unstoppable hooks with roiling emotional angst.