Albums turning 20 years old in 2021

Destiny's Child - Survivor

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 1.11 million

Not just surviving, but thriving. The first album with Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams as the third and final line-up of Destiny's Child has an air of undeniable of confidence and charisma about it. With the one-two punch of the title track (which hit Number 1 in the UK) and Bootylicious, we understand why.
Dido - No Angel

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 3.1 million (10x Platinum)

Originally released in 1999, Dido’s first album found a mass audience upon its worldwide release in February 2001. This, of course, helped by the fact the verse of Thank You was sampled in Eminem’s Number 1 smash Stan the previous year. As of 2020, it’s amassed chart sales of 3.1 million and has been certified 10x Platinum.
Blue - All Rise

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 1.3 million

Lee Ryan, Simon Webbe, Duncan James and Anthony Costa made an assured debut. The courtroom drama of the title track peaked at Number 4, but it was their cover of US R&B group Next's song Too Close that would take them to the top of the Official Singles Chart, where they would return a further two times.
Jennifer Lopez - JLo

Official Chart peak: 2
Chart sales: 606,500

J to the Lo. With her second album, Jenny from the Block leaned into sonic excess and reaped the rewards. Bursting to the seams with luxurious R&B with a heavy pop filter, it’s all killer and no filler with a mammoth five consecutive UK Top 10 singles - including her first UK Number 1 single Love Don’t Cost A Thing.
Daft Punk - Discovery

Official Chart peak: 2
Chart sales: 657,500

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger is not just a hit from Discovery (although it did admittedly miss the UK Top 20 at the time), but also the modus operandi for the French dance droids' second album. A step up from 1997's Homework, Discovery is a deftly crafted ode to the dancefloor in the future or the past. Hits like One More Time made Daft Punk into legends, and also set the tone and tempo for pop music for decades to come.
Britney Spears - Britney

Official Chart peak: 4
Chart sales: 477,000

Britney Spears' self-titled third album is a record of emancipation and liberation. She hooks up with Pharrell Williams and The Neptunes on the slick I'm A Slave 4 U, and bemoans the restraints of fame on Overprotected, before the yearning I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman breaks your heart all over again.
Gorillaz - Gorillaz

Official Chart peak: 3
Chart sales: 972,500

If Damon Albarn's virtual band seem like a dream gone wrong, that's kind of the point. Subverting the Britpop spirit of Blur and submerging themselves in heady hip-hop and electronica, the group's self-titled debut laid the grounds for even bigger dominance to come. Four years later they would claim the Number 1 on both the Singles and Albums Chart.
Hear'Say - Popstars

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 808,500

Hear'Say were the first pop group of the reality TV era, put together on the first series of Popstars on ITV. Their debut single, Pure and Simple, sold over half a million copies in its first week and their second single hit the top spot too, but one year and another album later, the group had splintered and laid the way for others of their ilk, like Girls Aloud and Little Mix.
Ash - Free All Angels

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 299,000

Free All Angels proved to be a revelation for Irish rockers Ash. Following the mixed reception of their second album, they returned with bigger bombast and clearer pop influences. Peaking at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart, its a risk that paid off.
Basement Jaxx - Rooty

Official Chart peak: 5
Chart sales: 286,000

No, Rooty isn't the name of the gorilla (that's Snowflake - the world's only albino gorilla) featured on the cover - it was the name of a regular club night held by dance duo Basement Jaxx in Brixton. Bringing a taste of the club to the charts, the LP was widely acclaimed and its lead single, Romeo, peaked at Number 6.
Emma Bunton - A Girl Like Me

Official Chart peak: 4
Chart sales: 127,000

Emma Bunton became the fourth Spice Girl to gain a solo Number 1 single when What Took You So Long? debuted at the top spot in 2001. It's parent album, A Girl Like Me, established Baby Spice as a solo entity, but greater sonic innovation was to come on second album Free Me in 2004.
Blink 182 - Take Off Your Pants And Jacket

Official Chart peak: 4
Chart sales: 453,000

A follow-up to the generation-defining Enema Of The State, Take Off Your Pants And Jacket became the first pop-punk album to debut at the top of the US Billboard Album Charts, but on these shores, it had to settle for Number 4.
Atomic Kitten - Right Now

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 593,000

Originally released when founding member Kerry Katona was still part of the line-up, last chance single Whole Again proved to be a huge hit, spending a whole month at Number 1, where it and the album as a whole was also re-recorded to feature new member Jenny Frost.
Feeder - Echo Park

Official Chart peak: 5
Chart sales: 332,000

The third album by Welsh indie rock outfit Feeder was the last to feature drummer Jon Lee before his sad death the next year. Peaking at Number 5 on the Official Albums Chart, it was their highest-charting album at the time.
Green Day - International Superhits!

Official Chart peak: 15
Chart sales: 891,000

International Superhits! is the first greatest hits collection by Green Day, although you could argue the 'superhits' were yet to come - they didn't release the influential American Idiot until 3 years later in 2004.
S Club 7 - Sunshine

Official Chart peak: 3
Chart sales: 884,000

S Club 7’s third LP was preceded by perhaps their biggest hit, the effervescent Don’t Stop Movin’, which topped the UK Singles Chart on two separate occasions in 2001. Second single Have You Ever would also hit Number 1, giving the pop outfit their fourth and last chart-topper. However, the sun shines, but it also sets. This album was to be the last with Paul Cattermole, who departed the group in 2002, by 2004, the S Club party was at an end.
Aaliyah - Aaliyah

Official Chart peak: 5
Chart sales: 303,000

The last album released by Aaliyah Haughton before her death is one of the most influential R&B albums of modern times. Its soundscape imaged a past in the future - to great effect on the Timbaland produced More Than A Woman. Ever since, its provided inspiration for an entire generation of hip-hop superstars like Beyonce, Frank Ocean and Janelle Monae.
Jamiroquai - A Funk Odyssey

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 871,000

An instance of future nostalgia before Dua Lipa was even in secondary school - Jamioquai's fifth album welded together disco with Latin and electronica influences. Interestingly, it's also the first of the band's album covers to not feature their famous 'Buffalo Man' logo.
Wheatus - Wheatus

Official Chart peak: 7
Chart sales: 313,500

Buoyed by the success of breakout single Teenage Dirtbag (Number 2 for two weeks), the debut record by American rockers Wheatus also contained a cover of Erasure’s A Little Respect, which became the band’s second UK Top 10 hit.
So Solid Crew - They Don't Know

Official Chart peak: 6
Chart sales: 395,000

21 Seconds may have given each member of So Solid Crew a set amount of time to spit a rhyme, but the entire collective - featuring, among others, Romeo, Lisa Maffia and MC Harvey - had time to shine on their debut album, which remains their only UK Top 10 LP.
Steps - Gold

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 1.14 million

The final collection released by Steps during their initial time-span is a greatest hits to be proud of. Full of all the classics - Tragedy, Stomp, It's The Way You Make Me Feel - as well as new material - a cover of Diana Ross' Chain Reaction that hit Number 2 - it was the joyous precursor to their sad and sudden split in Boxing Day of that year.
Stereophonics - Just Enough Education To Perform

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 1.81 million (6x Platinum)

No matter their education, Kelly Jones and crew proved they could perform and then some. Their third album contained three back-to-back Top 10 hit singles, including their venerated cover of Rod Stewart's Handbags and Gladrags.
Jay-Z - The Blueprint

Official Chart peak: 30
Chart sales: 212,000

Jay didn't lie - he did set the Blueprint. Despite a less-than rapturous reception in the UK upon its release, its influence has proven ever-lasting on contemporaries and peers, from Kanye West to Travis Scott. A blockbuster second sequel in 2009 with the help of Alicia Keys and Rihanna would right that wrong.
Kylie Minogue - Fever

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 1.73 million (5x Platinum)

2001 was truly Kylie's year. Not only did she release her defining song - the futuristic nu-disco earworm Can't Get You Out Of My Head - but one of her most successful LPs followed. Pushing 1.73 chart sales, it birthed a cornucopia of forward-thinking pop singles onto the charts, from Love At First Sight to In Your Eyes.
Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy

Official Chart peak: 2
Chart sales: 221,000

Following on from their highly-acclaimed fifth record This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, the Manics released two lead singles, So Why So Sad and Found That Soul on the same day - they both ended up charting in the Official Singles Chart Top 10, at 8 and 9 respectively.
Janet Jackson - All For You

Official Chart peak: 2
Chart sales: 198,000

Considering her near god-like status in the US for much of the 90s and early 00s, it's a wonder Janet never replicated that success in the UK - but she gave it a good go. All For You was a return to sparkling happiness following the forward-thinking introspection of The Velvet Rope. It became her sixth UK Top 10 album, the energetic title track her 16th UK Top 10 hit.
Mary J Blige - No More Drama

Official Chart peak: 4
Chart sales: 578,500

"Doesn't matter if you're white or black
Let's get crunk 'cause Mary's back," goes Family Affair - the biggest hit from Mary J Blige's comeback opus Family Affair. Reuniting her with Dr Dre, it proved to be prophetic of an album that's now pushed over half a million chart sales in the UK alone.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Read My Lips

Official Chart peak: 2
Chart sales: 842,000

Following hot on the heels on her Number 1 hit Groovejet with Spiller, everything was primed for Sophie Ellis-Bextor's massive breakthrough with her first album. And read our lips - she succeeded. Hitting Number 2 on the Official Singles Chart twice in the same year, first with Cher cover Take Me Home, then her stone-cold bop Murder On The Dancefloor.
Victoria Beckham - Victoria Beckham

Official Chart peak: 10
Chart sales: 54,000

As opulent and expensive as Posh Spice herself, Victoria Beckham's first and only solo album is a curiosity. Lacking a Number 1 hit of her own, VB's energy is a curious melding of dance-pop with hip-hop beats that could be considered a very early cousin to Britney's Blackout, if you wanted to be bold.
Mis-Teeq - Lickin' On Both Sides

Official Chart peak: 3
Chart sales: 481,000

The first outing for Alesha Dixon, Sabrina Washington and Su-Elise Nash had already seen the group shed two members (Zena McNally and losing Tina Barrett to S Club 7), but their combination of the emerging garage genre with the standard dynamics of a pop girl group proved to be powerful stuff.
Missy Elliott - Miss E So Addictive

Official Chart peak: 10
Chart sales: 317,000

Nothing was left to chance on Missy's third studio album. The hip-hop innovator has never been better than on the track's lead single Get Ur Freak On, which saw a peak of Number 4 on the UK Charts, with the album becoming her first Top 10 LP.
Slipknot - Iowa

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 338,000

Coming straight out of your nightmares, heavy metal disruptors Slipknot gained their first UK Number 1 with Iowa, named after their home state in the US.
P!nk Missundaztood

Official Chart peak: 2
Chart sales: 1.86 million

After middling success with her R&B-pop debut, P!nk swerved into badass pop-rock for her second record. The results were huge, scoring four successful singles in Get The Party Started, Don't Let Me Get Me, Family Portrait and the chart-topping Just Like A Pill. View Pink's Official UK Chart history here.
Muse - Origin of Symmetry

Official Chart peak: 3
Chart sales: 768,000

The first Top 10 album for Muse, Origin of Symmetry would prove to be the Devonshire band's breakout album, although they would capitalise on this success with a future 6 UK Number 1 albums to their name.
NSync - Celebrity

Official Chart peak: 12
Chart sales: 110,000

NSync's final album is actually their highest charting on the UK charts, though its title would prove to be oddly prescient as Justin Timberlake prepared to go stratospheric. It's final single, Girlfriend, would hit Number 2 on the Official Singles Chart - only the second single by the boys to crack the Top 3.
Radiohead - Amnesiac

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 331,000

Radiohead's fifth album was, unlike fourth effort Kid A, supported by singles. Lead choice Pyramid Song hit Number 5 on the Official Singles Chart. Amnesiac did not return Radiohead to the earlier rock sound they had perfect, instead taking things down a lo-fi, electronic-influenced lane.
Robbie Williams - Swing When You're Winning

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 2.43 million (8x Platinum)

A change in lane for the ever-reliable showman, Robbie Williams' fourth album is a surprising LP of covers of, you guessed it, swing classics. It's clearly a space he feels comfortable in tooo - returning to the genre for a sequel with 2013's Swings Both Ways, which also hit Number 1. Included is Robbie's Number 1 hit with Nicole Kidman Somethin' Stupid, which was crowned Christmas Number 1, as well as the last chart-topper of the year too.
Usher - 8701

Official Chart peak: 1
Chart sales: 753,000

An original release and title (All About U) would be scrapped for Usher's third album after a leak on the internet. Now named after both its release date (August 7 2001) and the fact Usher first sang in church in 1987, the chart-topping LP spawned hit singles Pop Ya Collar and U Remind Me.

Item 1 of 38