Top 10 Events of 2000

The bubble that began growing in earnest in 1995 popped with a mighty bang in the year 2000, as we called it at the time. The .com market reached its record high on March 10th and effectively crashed the following day, with companies’ market values losing a total of $5 trillion during the next 2 and a half years. Just a month prior to the crash, the world saw AOL and TimeWarner merge, with AOL shelling out $164B. Within a year, AOL-TimeWarner was labeled the worst merger in history and by 2003; AOL was dropped from the company name.

Debuting at the Tokyo Game Show in 1999, the PS2 hit the ground running with DVD playability and launch titles such as “Street Fighter EX3,” “Madden 2001,” and “NHL 2001.” Going on to become the best selling console in history at 150 million units sold, 3874 titles and over 1.5 billion games sold, Sony sold $250 million worth of product on day one. Although Sega’s Dreamcast hit the 6th gen market first, its early death in 2001 saw the PS2 go unrivaled for six months, which along with its $299 retail price - the same as a standard DVD player - made the PS2 a runaway hit.

Although not technically completed, the science world, as well as U.S. President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, announced the first working draft of the human genome in June of 2000. By September, 25% of the finished version was deemed complete and on November 9th, the project was explained to the public. Free of patent rights or copyright, genome information was put on the web on July 7th. The Human Genome project first began with planning in the ‘80s, then got underway in the ‘90s and was completed in the 2000s; in short, it was a global effort with the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Japan, and China taking part, and an ambitious scientific endeavor that allowed us to determine what made up human DNA and map our genes.

Who wouldn’t want a friendly email filled with love? Apparently not the Ford Motor Company, the Pentagon, or the CIA, who each shut down their email service just to avoid one. In 2000, 45 million internet users were hit by the ILOVEYOU virus in one day. An email worm, the Love Letter also known as ILOVEYOU, was the biggest malware event of the time and spread largely though MS Outlook. Created by disgruntled programmers, the virus caused a reported $8 billion in global damages and an additional $15 billion to remove it - although it didn’t actually do much. ILOVEYOU could steal passwords, but mostly it just overwrote files.

It began with a lone horseman. From there, Olympians saw the first EPO testing and blood tests, the addition of triathlon and taekwondo, Vietnam net its first medal, Colombia earn its first gold, and the first female weightlifting competitions. The 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia also marked 100 years of female participation, commemorated by Susanthika Jayasinghe becoming the first Sri Lankan woman to win a medal and by Afghanistan being banned from the games due to the Taliban’s oppression of women. Of the 300 events, the U.S., Russia, and China led the medal count.

Despite not being politically trained, lacking in personality, and not appearing in televised debates, Vladimir Putin - Russia’s then PM and acting President - was elected President of Russia in 2000. Running as an independent, Putin earned 53% percent of the vote, while his nearest competition - Gennady Zyuganov of the communist party - took 29%. 33 candidates were originally nominated with 12 registering and 11 eventually taking part. Putin’s support was lowest in Chechnya but highest in Ingushetia.

It was the dawn of a new millennium, a new age where free music rang forth from every dorm - and then Metallica crashed the party. When the band’s “I Disappear” demo started getting airplay despite not being released, Metallica went looking for a leak - and found a geyser. Lars Ulrich and co. hit Napster, and named several universities accountable, with a massive lawsuit that led to a Metallica-filter and ultimately the end of Napster. Dr Dre, among other artists, and a few record companies, filed similar suits, while Kazaa, Limewire, and eDonkey coasted along - but the writing was on the wall for P2P as we knew it.

While Flight 4590 was preparing for takeoff on a day in late July of the year 2000, a tire was punctured as a result of debris from a jet airliner that had taken off 5 minutes before. When the plane ran over this tire debris, it resulted in pressure that caused the rupture of a fuel tank that soon caught fire. However, at this point the Concorde did not have enough runway to stop safely and was forced to takeoff. In the air, the plane lacked the speed needed to climb and, with a melting wing, it crashed into a hotel. Pilots had hoped to land at another airport nearby, but a safe landing there, considering the circumstances, wasn’t likely. In total, 113 people were killed in the accident and all Concordes were grounded thereafter.

The year 2000 was first identified as a problem for computers a way back in 1958. To save both time and money, years were stored as only two digits, which was fine... so long as it was always the 1900s. Despite the issue being known, no one really cared until 1996. By late 1999, there were fears that computers would be too confused by the year 2000 to operate, meaning banks would crash, power plants would explode, missiles would missile themselves, washing machines would dry, dryers would wash, and fridges would marry toasters! Ass loads of coding later, the world survived.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
- Accurate GPS Technology Available to the Public
2000
- USS Cole Bombing
October 12, 2000
- Vicente Fox Elected President of Mexico, Ending 71 Years of One-Party Rule
July 2, 2000
- Hillary Clinton Becomes the 1st First Lady to Win Public Office
November 7, 2000
- Vermont Legalizes Same-Sex Civil Unions
July 2000

Although Russia, Finland, Croatia, Turkey, Venezuela, Canada, and Mexico managed to hold federal elections without a hitch in 2000, the same wasn’t true in America. Democratic candidate and then-vice-president Al Gore narrowly defeated Republican George W. Bush by a little over half a million votes BUT! Bush had “strategery” on his side and won more States. Ralph Nader also ran. Anyway, with Gore and Bush too close to call, Florida - governed by Bush’s brother, Jeb - became key. There it took more than a month, a manual recount, and the Supreme Court to declare victory to George W. Bush, by a mere 537 votes.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the most important event from2000? For more whale tailin’ Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.