Yahoo Is 20: The 20 Biggest Moments in Music in the Last 20 Years

Twenty years ago, music on the Internet involved a white page, blue type, and listening to the radio while fiddling with your computer. Today, not so.

Yahoo was documenting it then via news stories, continued with Internet radio, music videos, and photo galleries; today, there’s live streaming concerts, in-depth video interviews, and more pictures of Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Katy Perry than any sane human could possibly imagine. Broadband: No longer a pipe dream!

What hath 20 years wrought? Though not in order of importance, this:

1) Britney Spears releases “Baby One More Time” (Oct. 23, 1998): Massive career that sets the pop celebrity mode for the next two decades launches via one open-eyed, ex-Disney teen dancer and apparent singer.

2) Napster arrives (June 1, 1999) and officially kicks off the music industry’s Great Decline.

3) Metallica files lawsuit against Napster (April 12, 2000): When music is free, artists don’t get paid. Band drummer Lars Ulrich sets up the classic “Us vs. Them,” Fan vs. The Man argument that has yet to fade.

4) Apple introduces the iTunes player Jan. 9, 2001; album sales methodically decrease.

5) Controversial rapper Eminem performs with/hugs Elton John at 2001 Grammy ceremony’s performance of “Stan” (Feb. 21, 2001), later termed “the hug heard ‘round the world.”

6) Kelly Clarkson is crowned the first winner of American Idol (Sept. 4, 2002), establishing a successful pop career and unfortunate TV show tradition that has yet to fully fade.

7) Destiny’s Child member Beyoncé releases her No. 1 debut albumDangerously in Love, that wins five Grammys, kills her band, and propels her to unprecedented superstardom. (June 20, 2003)

8) YouTube launches (Feb. 14, 2005) and offers up everything ever at no charge to anyone. The music industry, stunned, eventually dies.

9) Radiohead sell their seventh album In Rainbows for no price (Oct 10, 2007), suggesting consumers pay whatever they see fit for the download. It is an odd concept.

10) Michael Jackson dies (June 25, 2009), and it is not a small cultural matter.

11) At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West rushes the stage, grabs the microphone from winner Taylor Swift's hands, and memorably announces, “I'm sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.” (Sept. 13, 2009)

12) Green Day's album American Idiot goes fully showbiz, eventually hitting Broadway (on April 20, 2010) and putting the final nail in the coffin of punk rock.

13) Lady Gaga wears a meat dress to the MTV Video Music Awards (Sept. 12, 2010), causing the expected controversy, offending vegetarians worldwide and smelling less than her best. A massive success!

14) Spotify launches in America (July 14, 2011), changes the way music is heard, sold, referred to, and thought about. Everybody wants in on the action. And artists want some money.

15) Miley Cyrus twerks and Robin Thicke wins friends worldwide at the 2013 VMA awards (August 25, 2013). Sort of.

16) Jack White's Lazaretto enters the charts at No. 1 and sells many copies, including 40,000 LPs — the biggest week for vinyl since SoundScan started in 1991 (June 18, 2014). New trend, quirky aberration, or simply boring?

17) U2 gives their album away for free via iTunes (Sept. 9, 2014) and angers the entire world.

18) Taylor Swift releases 1989 on Oct. 27, 2014, it debuts at No. 1, with 1.287 million copies sold in its first week, and she’s quite popular. Still.

19) Katy Perry, Missy Elliott, and Lenny Kravitz are deemed less exciting than the game but better than the commercials at 2015’s Super Bowl halftime show. (Feb. 1, 2015)

20) The music industry continues eating its own tail as Lady Gaga records with Tony Bennett (2014), Paul McCartney records with Kanye West & Rihanna (2015), and Bob Dylan releases an album of Frank Sinatra songs (Feb. 3, 2015). The future fearlessly awaits.