2001

• Alicia Keys - "Fallin'"
• Christina Aguilera, Lil'Kim, Mya and Pink - "Lady Marmalade"
• Crazy Town - "Butterfly"
• Destiny's Child - "Bootylicious"
• Destiny's Child - "Independent Woman"
• Janet Jackson - "All for You"
• Jennifer Lopez - "Love Don't Cost a Thing"
• Joe ft. Mystikal - "Stutter"
• Lifehouse - "Hanging by a Moment"
• Nickelback - "How You Remind Me"
• OutKast - "Ms Jackson" 
• Pink - "Get the Party Started"
• Shaggy - "Angel"
• Shakira - "Whenever, Wherever"
• Train - "Drops of Jupiter"
• Usher - "U Got It Bad"
• Usher - "U Remind Me"

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• Monsters, Inc.
• Shrek
• Ocean's Eleven
• Pearl Harbor
• The Mummy Returns
• Jurassic Park III
• Planet of the Apes

• Smallville
• 24
• Fear Factor
• The Amazing Race
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent
• Lizzie McGuire
• Bob the Builder

• Nash Bridges
• Diagnosis: Murder
• Baywatch
• Moesha
• Two Guys and a Girl
• Walker, Texas Ranger
• 3rd Rock from the Sun

Star Trek: Voyager

Xena: Warrior Princess

Mister Roger's Neighborhood

• Season: Africa
• Location: Kenya
• 2 tribes of 8 new players
• Winner: Ethan Zohn
• Runner-up: Kim Johnson

• Season: The Australian Outback
• Winner: Tina Wesson
• Runner-up: Colby Donaldson
• Michael fell into the campfire and suffered third-degree burns, requiring his evacuation

• Rowan Blanchard - actress, in movie "Spy Kids"
• Caleb McLaughlin - TV actor, in "Stranger Things"
• Diego Velazques - TV actor, "Extraordinary Measures", "Grimm", "The Thundermans"
• Ty Simpkins - actor, "Iron Man 3", "Insidious", "Jurassic World"
• Louis Hynes - actor, "A Series of Unfortunate Events"
• Isabela Moner - actress, lead role in Nickelodeon series "100 Things to Do Before High School", also in "Transformers: The Last Knight"
• David Mazouz - TV actor, "Touch", "Gotham"
• Sasha Obama - daughter of President Obama
• AJ Mitchell - Instagram star, singer, song writer
• Chloe Lukasiak - dancer, on reality show "Dance Moms"

• Aaliyah - American R&B singer, died in a small plane crash at age 22
• George Harrison - lead guitarist for the Beatles
• Jack Lemmon - American actor/comedian, in "The Odd Couple"
• Dale Earnhardt - American race car driver, died in a race

• first Canadian space walk
• world's longest train (over 7 km long) in Australia
• Leaning Tower of Pisa re-opens to public (after being closed for over 10 years for repairs)

• iTunes released by Apple
• Wikipedia goes online
• Napster closed down
• Apple releases the iPod
• Microsoft releases Windows XP

• ack
• auto-suggest
• bromance
• cankle
• captcha
• twerking

On September 11, 19 terrorists hijacked 4 planes and carried out attacks on US targets, killing almost 3,000 people. They easily smuggled box-cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports and boarded four early-morning flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the terrorists commandeered the four planes and took the controls, transforming ordinary passenger jets into guided missiles. 

At 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767 — United Airlines Flight 175 — appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor.

The horror in New York took a catastrophic turn when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust and smoke. The structural steel of the skyscraper, built to withstand winds in excess of 200 miles per hour and a large conventional fire, could not withstand the tremendous heat generated by the burning jet fuel. At 10:30 a.m., the north building of the twin towers collapsed. Only six people in the World Trade Center towers at the time of their collapse survived. 

American Airlines Flight 77 circled over downtown Washington, D.C., before crashing into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters at 9:45 a.m. Jet fuel from the Boeing 757 caused a devastating inferno that led to the structural collapse of a portion of the giant concrete building, which is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. All told, 125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon, along with all 64 people aboard the airliner.

United Flight 93 was hijacked about 40 minutes after leaving Newark Airport. Because the plane had been delayed in taking off, passengers on board learned of events in New York via cell phone. Knowing that the aircraft was not returning to an airport as the hijackers claimed, a group of passengers and flight attendants fought the four hijackers. The plane crashed in a rural field in Pennsylvania killing all 44 passengers.

Apr 22: Chris Hadfield made history when he became the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk. Hadfield and fellow American astronaut  Parazynski worked for hours to unpack and install Canadarm2 using robotized equipment and other specialized tools

August 25 – American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record company are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from the Bahamas, after filming the music video for her single "Rock the Boat". She is listed by Billboard as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years and 27th most successful R&B artist in history.

The legendary racing driver Dale Earnhardt who had won a record seven Nascar championships dies in a last-lap crash during the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway

The Summer of the Shark refers to the coverage of shark attacks by American news media in the summer of 2001. The sensationalist coverage of shark attacks began in early July following the Fourth of July weekend shark attack on 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast, and continued almost unabated—despite no evidence for an actual increase in attacks—until the September 11 terrorist attacks shifted the media's attention away from beaches. The Summer of the Shark has since been remembered as an example of tabloid television perpetuating a story with no real merit beyond its ability to draw ratings.

May 24: during the wedding of a couple in Jerusalem, a large portion of the third floor of a four-story building collapsed. As a result, 23 people fell to their deaths through two stories. Another 380 people were injured, including the bride. The disaster shocked the Israeli public not only because it was one of the worst building disasters in the country's history, but because the event was documented on a camcorder and broadcast on local and international television.

June 21 – The world's longest train is set up by BHP Iron Ore and is recorded going between Newman and Port Hedland in Western Australia (a distance of 275 km) and the train consists of 682 loaded iron ore wagons and 8 GE AC6000CW locomotives, giving a gross weight of almost 100,000 tonnes and moves 82,262 tonnes of ore; the train is 7.353 km  long.

On Dec. 12, 2001, Ryder was arrested after shoplifting $5,560 worth of goods from the Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. (Cameras caught the "Heathers" actress stuffing socks and accessories into a hat.) She was ultimately convicted on counts of felony grand theft and vandalism, sentenced to 480 hours of community service, and required to pay a fine and restitution.