2003 Pop Culture History

Quick Facts from 2003

• World-Changing Event: MySpace launched in August 2003, becoming the first social network to achieve mass adoption and introducing the concept of online personal profiles, friend lists, and music pages to a mainstream audience. It briefly made Tom Anderson the most well-known person on the internet, simply by being everyone’s default first friend.
• Top Song: Hey Ya! by OutKast, which spent nine weeks at #1 and was named the best song of the 2000s by multiple publications a decade later
• Must-See Movies: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Elf, Bruce Almighty, and Lost in Translation
• People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive: Johnny Depp
• Notable Books: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Boar’s Head deluxe ham: $5.99/lb; movie ticket: $6.00; Land O’Lakes butter (1 lb.): $1.49
• Super Bowl ad (30 seconds): $2.1 million
• The Funny Guy: Dane Cook; The Funnier Guy: Dave Chappelle
• Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Goat, associated with creativity, gentleness, and a good sense of aesthetics
• The Conversation: Have you heard 50 Cent? And what do you think about this Iraq business?

Top Ten Baby Names of 2003

Girls: Emily, Emma, Madison, Hannah, Olivia Boys: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Andrew

Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols

Gisele Bundchen, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman, Julia Stiles, Lucy Liu, Brittany Murphy, Jennifer Lopez, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Pamela Anderson, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry, Britney Spears, Kate Hudson, Beyonce, Julia Roberts, Selma Blair, Cameron Diaz, Hilary Swank, Renee Zellweger, Keira Knightley, Jessica Simpson, Denise Richards

The Heartthrobs

Brad Pitt, Jude Law, Heath Ledger, Hugh Grant, David Beckham, Ben Affleck, Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, Julian McMahon, Justin Timberlake, Adam Brody

The Quotes

“Where do buffalo wings come from? Chickens or buffaloes?” — Jessica Simpson, on her reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica

“He’s just not that into you.” — Jack Berger, Sex and the City

“Now he owes me bacon.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger, responding during a campaign speech after being hit with an egg at a rally

Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year

The American Soldier

Miss America and Miss USA

Miss America: Erika Harold, Urbana, IL Miss USA: Susie Castillo, Massachusetts

We Lost in 2003

Johnny Cash — the Man in Black, the voice of Ring of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues, and Hurt, died September 12, 2003, at age 71, four months after the death of his wife June Carter Cash. His final recording of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt, made in his last year, was watched by hundreds of millions of people and is regularly cited as one of the greatest music videos ever made. He had been performing and recording for 50 years. June Carter Cash died May 15, 2003, at age 73. He outlived her by four months.

Fred Rogers — Mister Rogers, the host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, who had spent 33 years telling children they were special and worthy of being loved exactly as they were, died February 27, 2003, at age 74, of stomach cancer. His death produced widespread grief from adults who had grown up with him and felt, accurately, that the world was a slightly worse place without him in it.

Bob Hope — the comedian, actor, and entertainer who had been performing for American troops in war zones since World War II and was the most decorated entertainer in American military history, died July 27, 2003, at age 100.

John Ritter — the actor best known for Three’s Company and, at the time of his death, for the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, died September 11, 2003, at age 54, on the set of his show, from an undetected aortic dissection.

Concorde made its final commercial flights on October 24, 2003, ending 27 years of supersonic passenger service. The aircraft had crossed the Atlantic in approximately 3.5 hours — half the time of conventional jets. It was retired following the 2000 crash that killed 113 people and the economic consequences of the post-9/11 decline in luxury travel. Commercial supersonic flight did not resume until 2024.

America in 2003 — The Context

George W. Bush was in the third year of his first term. On March 20, 2003, the United States and a coalition of allies launched the invasion of Iraq, citing the belief that Saddam Hussein’s government possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found. The rapid military victory that overthrew the Iraqi government in weeks was followed by an insurgency and occupation that lasted years and cost trillions of dollars and thousands of lives.

At home, the Department of Homeland Security formally began operations on January 24, 2003, consolidating 22 federal agencies created or expanded after September 11, 2001. Americans were adjusting to a reality in which removing shoes at airports and carrying identification for routine activities had become normalized.

The cultural mood was split: an expensive war of contested justification abroad, and at home a pop culture so relentlessly energetic — 50 Cent, Beyoncé, OutKast, Finding Nemo, iTunes, MySpace — that the two tracks seemed to belong to different countries.

The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster

The Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry on February 1, 2003, at approximately 9:00 a.m., over Texas and Louisiana. All seven crew members were killed: Commander Rick D. Husband, pilot William C. McCool, payload commander Michael P. Anderson, mission specialists David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, and Laurel Clark, and Israeli payload specialist Ilan Ramon.

The cause was a piece of insulating foam that had separated from the external tank during launch 16 days earlier and damaged the leading edge of the left wing. When Columbia entered the atmosphere, hot gases penetrated the damaged area, destroying the wing. The search and recovery team combed 2,000 square miles of east Texas and Louisiana, ultimately recovering nearly 84,000 pieces of the shuttle — and, in the process, discovering several murder victims and a few clandestine meth labs that had been operating in the remote search areas.

The Iraq War

The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003. The stated justification was Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction and alleged connections to terrorism. Major combat operations were declared over on May 1, 2003, when President Bush appeared on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a banner reading “Mission Accomplished.” The insurgency that followed lasted years. The weapons of mass destruction were never found.

The initial operation had been named “Operation Iraqi Liberation” — until someone noticed the acronym spelled “OIL.” It was quickly renamed “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

The Natalie Maines incident — the Dixie Chicks lead singer telling a London audience on March 10, 2003, “we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas” — produced one of the most rapid and severe career punishments in American country music history. Radio stations across the country banned the Dixie Chicks’ music. Fans destroyed their CDs publicly. The backlash was a precise illustration of the political climate in which criticism of the war was received in early 2003.

Pop Culture Facts and History

iTunes launched on April 28, 2003, offering songs for purchase at 99 cents each — a price point that felt reasonable for a legal digital download at a moment when Napster had already established that people would accept free music delivered electronically. Apple sold one million songs in the first six days. The iTunes Store restructured the entire recorded music industry. Within two years, it was the dominant music retailer in the United States.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won 11 Academy Awards — every category it was nominated for — at the 76th Academy Awards on February 29, 2004. It was the first fantasy film to win Best Picture, and its sweep tied the records of Ben-Hur and Titanic. The trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson, was filmed entirely in New Zealand over roughly 438 days of shooting, spanning 1999 to 2003.

Finding Nemo, released on May 30, 2003, grossed over $940 million worldwide and became the best-selling DVD of all time at the time. It also caused a significant increase in demand for clownfish as pets — most of whom, unlike Nemo’s father, were unable to find their children once they went down the drain.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released on July 9, 2003. Johnny Depp’s performance as Captain Jack Sparrow — based partly on Keith Richards, partly on Pepe Le Pew, and entirely on Depp’s own instincts — was considered a risk by Disney executives during production. It made him one of the most imitated characters in movie history.

The Human Genome Project was completed in April 2003, mapping the complete sequence of the approximately 3 billion base pairs in human DNA. The project had taken 13 years, involved 20 institutions across 18 countries, and cost $2.7 billion. The resulting map fundamentally changed medicine, biology, and the science of genetic disease.

50 Cent released his major label debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’ on February 6, 2003, and sold over 12 million copies worldwide. His single In Da Club spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the longest #1 run by a debut single by a male artist to that point — and defined the sound of the year as surely as Hey Ya! defined its end.

Beyoncé released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, in June 2003, while still technically a member of Destiny’s Child. The album went to #1, won five Grammy Awards, and established her as a solo force. Her single Crazy in Love with Jay-Z spent eight consecutive weeks at #1 in the summer of 2003 and was the defining song of the summer.

The White Stripes released Elephant in 2003, which included “Seven Nation Army,” whose four-note bassline became one of the most recognizable in rock history and one of the most replicated in sports arenas worldwide. The song was recorded on a single day. The bass line was played on a guitar run through an effects pedal. It has been reproduced by crowds in stadiums on every inhabited continent.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was published on June 21, 2003, at 870 pages — the longest book in the series and, at that point, the fastest-selling book in history. Over five million copies were sold in the first 24 hours in the U.S. and UK combined.

Dave Chappelle’s Chappelle’s Show premiered January 22, 2003, on Comedy Central. It was the funniest show on television for roughly two years and produced sketches — the Rick James segment, the blind Black white supremacist, the player hater’s ball — that are still quoted two decades later.

The O.C. premiered on August 5, 2003, on Fox, and was a cultural phenomenon within weeks. Its portrayal of wealthy Newport Beach society colliding with an outsider from Chino introduced the phrase “Welcome to the O.C., bitch” into American vocabulary and made Adam Brody’s character, Seth Cohen, the patron saint of awkward Jewish teenagers everywhere.

America’s Next Top Model debuted on UPN on May 20, 2003, created by and starring Tyra Banks. It launched a wave of modeling competition shows and introduced a generation to the concept of “smizing” — smiling with your eyes,  a skill whose real-world utility has been debated ever since.

Wicked opened on Broadway on October 30, 2003, at the Gershwin Theatre. It ran for 20 years without closing — the longest run in Broadway history — and generated over $1.6 billion in global ticket sales, becoming the most commercially successful stage musical in history.

Avenue Q opened July 31, 2003, at the John Golden Theatre. A musical performed by puppets addressing adult subjects including racism, homosexuality, and internet pornography, it won the Tony Award for Best Musical, beating Wicked in an upset. The comparison between the two Best Musical competitors — one of the most profitable shows in Broadway history and one about Muppet-style puppets discussing internet porn — is one of the more interesting in the Tony Awards’ history.

MySpace launched in August 2003 and immediately became the dominant social network in the United States, reaching 100 million accounts by 2006. Users customized their profile pages with background images, autoplaying music, and a carefully ranked “Top 8” of friends. Being removed from someone’s Top 8 was a recognized social event. The platform was acquired by News Corp in 2005 for $580 million. Facebook overtook it in traffic in 2008.

US Route 666 — nicknamed “The Devil’s Highway” — was redesignated US Route 491 in May 2003 following years of requests from officials in New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado who argued the number was attracting vandalism and highway sign theft. Within days of the redesignation, virtually every existing Route 666 sign had been stolen as a souvenir. The signs now sell for hundreds of dollars on eBay.

Leonardo Notarbartolo stole $100 million in diamonds from the Antwerp Diamond Center vault in February 2003, getting past a lock with 100 million possible combinations, infrared heat detectors, a seismic sensor, Doppler radar, a magnetic field, and security guards. He was caught because investigators found a partially eaten salami sandwich near the crime scene. DNA testing led them to Notarbartolo, who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years. Most of the diamonds were never recovered.

Juan Catalan was cleared of murder charges in 2003 after outtake footage from the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode “The Car Pool Lane” showed him and his daughter at a Los Angeles Dodgers game at the time of the murder, 20 miles from the crime scene. His alibi was confirmed by a Larry David television production. This is arguably the most unusual alibi in American legal history.

Before 2003, switching wireless carriers meant getting a new phone number — carriers were not legally required to port your existing number to a new provider. The FCC’s wireless number portability requirement took effect on November 24, 2003. Americans changed carriers in large numbers almost immediately.

Adrien Brody won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 75th Academy Awards on March 23, 2003, for The Pianist, at age 29 — the youngest Best Actor winner in Oscar history. He marked the occasion by kissing presenter Halle Berry without apparent advance notice. Berry appeared surprised but recovered gracefully.

The original Game Boy was discontinued in 2003 after a 14-year production run, having sold over 118 million units globally. It had been the dominant handheld gaming device of the 1990s.

Marvel Comics won a court case in 2003, classifying X-Men action figures as “non-human creatures” for customs tariff purposes, despite the central premise of the X-Men being that they are human. The classification reduced import tariffs significantly. The irony was noted by virtually everyone.

The word “McJob” was added to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary in 2003, defined as “a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement.” McDonald’s objected strenuously. Merriam-Webster declined to remove it.

Steven Bartman, sitting in Section 4, Row 8, Seat 113 at Wrigley Field on October 14, 2003, reached for a foul ball that Cubs outfielder Moises Alou was attempting to catch during Game 6 of the NLCS. The Cubs, leading the series 3-2, went on to lose that game and Game 7. The Marlins went to the World Series. Bartman was escorted from the stadium under police protection and subsequently lived quietly in Chicago. He received a 2016 World Series ring when the Cubs finally won.

The “@” symbol was added to Morse code in 2003 using the sequence “•–•-•” — the first addition to Morse code since World War II, made necessary by the prevalence of email addresses.

Disneyland and Walt Disney World were designated national defense airspace no-fly zones by the FAA in 2003, maintaining a three-nautical-mile restricted zone to 3,000 feet altitude around each park. They remain the only privately owned civilian entertainment facilities with permanent flight restrictions.

The Collar Bomb Case

On August 28, 2003, Brian Wells, a pizza delivery driver in Erie, Pennsylvania, entered a PNC Bank branch with a shotgun attached to a homemade bomb locked around his neck and a note demanding $250,000. He told police he had been forced to wear the device against his will. He was taken into custody outside the bank. While police waited for the bomb squad, the device detonated, killing him. The subsequent investigation revealed a scheme involving multiple conspirators, including Wells to a degree that remains disputed by his family. Two others were eventually convicted. The case was one of the strangest crimes in American legal history.

The Scandals

Paris Hilton’s sex tape, One Night in Paris, was released in November 2003 without her consent by then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, who later sued her for defamation and settled. Hilton sued as well and also settled. The tape’s release came just before The Simple Life debuted on Fox, creating an attention environment that launched her celebrity brand in ways that subsequent reality television participants studied and attempted to replicate.

Jayson Blair resigned from the New York Times on May 1, 2003, after an internal investigation found he had fabricated quotes, descriptions, and datelines in at least 36 articles. The editors’ note the Times published on May 11 was 7,239 words, the longest correction in the paper’s history. The scandal led directly to the resignations of executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd.

Rush Limbaugh admitted on October 10, 2003, that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and entered rehabilitation. He had been the most-listened-to radio host in America for over a decade and had spent years discussing drug addiction on air in terms he later acknowledged had been hypocritical.

Madonna kissed Britney Spears — and then Christina Aguilera — at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, 2003, while performing a medley of Like a Virgin and Hollywood. The moment was photographed at the precise instant of the Spears kiss, which ran in newspapers worldwide. The kiss with Aguilera was captured on camera but featured less prominently in coverage, a fact Aguilera noted publicly.

Year of the Goat — Chinese Zodiac 2003

2003 was a Year of the Goat in the Chinese zodiac, the eighth sign in the 12-year cycle. Years of the Goat include 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027, and 2039. People born in the Year of the Goat are said to be creative, gentle, empathetic, and adaptable, with a strong aesthetic sense and a talent for listening. The Goat is associated with art, nature, and a preference for harmony over conflict.

Nobel Prize Winners

Physics — Alexei Abrikosov, Vitaly Ginzburg, and Anthony Leggett for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids
Chemistry — Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon for discoveries concerning channels in cell membranes that transport water and ions
Medicine — Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield for discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging; MRI technology had already transformed diagnostic medicine before the Nobel committee caught up with it
Literature — J.M. Coetzee, South African novelist, for work that in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider; best known for Disgrace
Peace — Shirin Ebadi, Iranian lawyer and human rights activist, for her efforts for democracy and human rights, especially regarding the rights of women and children; she was the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize
Economics — Robert F. Engle and Clive W.J. Granger for methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility and common trends

Broadway in 2003

Wicked opened October 30, 2003, at the Gershwin Theatre, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It ran 7,485 performances before closing in January 2023, making it the longest-running show in Broadway history and the highest-grossing in history. Its cast recording sold over a million copies. The show made Defying Gravity a graduation ceremony staple for two decades.

Avenue Q opened July 31, 2003, featuring adult-themed Muppet-style puppets addressing subjects including racism, pornography, and the existential challenges of post-college life. It won the Tony for Best Musical, beating Wicked in an upset that surprised nearly everyone, including, reportedly, Avenue Q‘s producers.

Best Film Oscar Winner

Chicago, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere, won Best Picture at the 75th Academy Awards on March 23, 2003, for the 2002 film year. It was the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! in 1969 — a 34-year gap. Zeta-Jones won Best Supporting Actress.

2003 Entries to the National Film Registry

Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman (1974)
Atlantic City (1980)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Chechahcos (1924)
Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894/95)
Film Portrait (1972) Fox Movietone News: Jenkins Orphanage Band (1928)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
The Hunters (1957)
Matrimony’s Speed Limit (1913)
Medium Cool (1969)
National Velvet (1944)
Naughty Marietta (1935)
Nostalgia (1971)
One Froggy Evening (1956)
Patton (1970)
Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909)
Show People (1928)
The Son of the Sheik (1926)
Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
Tin Toy (1988)
The Wedding March (1928)
White Heat (1949)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

Top Movies of 2003

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Finding Nemo
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
4. The Matrix Reloaded
5. Bruce Almighty
6. X2: X-Men United
7. Elf
8. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
9. The Matrix Revolutions
10. Cheaper by the Dozen

Most Popular TV Shows of 2003

1. American Idol (Fox)
2. CSI (CBS)
3. Survivor: All Stars (CBS)
4. Friends (NBC) — in its 10th and final season
5. Survivor: Pearl Islands (CBS)
6. The Apprentice (NBC)
7. ER (NBC)
8. CSI: Miami (CBS)
9. Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS)
10. Without a Trace (CBS)

Friends was in its final season in 2003-04; the series finale aired on May 6, 2004, and was watched by 52.5 million viewers. The O.C. and One Tree Hill both premiered in 2003, targeting the same demographic simultaneously. Chappelle’s Show launched and immediately became the most talked-about comedy on television.

2003 Billboard Number One Songs

November 9, 2002 – January 31, 2003: Lose Yourself — Eminem
February 1 – February 7: Bump, Bump, Bump — B2K featuring P. Diddy
February 8 – March 7: All I Have — Jennifer Lopez featuring LL Cool J
March 8 – May 9: In Da Club — 50 Cent
May 10 – May 30: Get Busy — Sean Paul
May 31 – June 27: 21 Questions — 50 Cent featuring Nate Dogg
June 28 – July 11: This Is the Night — Clay Aiken
July 12 – September 5: Crazy in Love — Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z
September 6 – October 3: Shake Ya Tailfeather — Nelly, P. Diddy, and Murphy Lee
October 4 – December 5: Baby Boy — Beyoncé featuring Sean Paul
December 6 – December 12: Stand Up — Ludacris featuring Shawnna
December 13, 2003 – February 13, 2004: Hey Ya! — OutKast

50 Cent spent 18 weeks at #1 in 2003 across two separate singles. Beyoncé spent 13 weeks at #1 across two singles. Between them, they owned the year’s chart, with OutKast closing it out.

Biggest Pop Artists of 2003

50 Cent, Beyoncé, OutKast, Sean Paul, Eminem, Nelly, Ludacris, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Clay Aiken, Norah Jones, The White Stripes, Evanescence, Coldplay, Matchbox Twenty, Linkin Park, Black Eyed Peas

Sports Champions of 2003

World Series: Florida Marlins defeated the New York Yankees 4-2; the Marlins were a wild card team, defeating the Cubs in the NLCS in a series that included the Bartman incident; they went on to beat the favored Yankees, their second championship in seven years
Super Bowl XXXVII: Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Oakland Raiders 48-21 on January 26, 2003; the Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin had designed the Raiders’ offensive system, giving Tampa Bay unusual insight into Oakland’s plays
NBA Champions: San Antonio Spurs defeated the New Jersey Nets 4-2; Tim Duncan was named Finals MVP
Stanley Cup: New Jersey Devils defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-3
U.S. Open Golf: Jim Furyk
U.S. Open Tennis: Men/Women: Andy Roddick / Kim Clijsters
Wimbledon: Men/Women: Roger Federer / Serena Williams; Federer’s first Wimbledon title launched a run of dominance that continued for the next two decades
NCAA Football Champions: USC
NCAA Basketball Champions: Syracuse
Kentucky Derby: Funny Cide, the first gelding to win the Kentucky Derby since 1929

Sports Highlight: Roger Federer won Wimbledon in 2003 at age 21, defeating Mark Philippoussis in straight sets, the first of his record eight Wimbledon titles. Funny Cide’s Kentucky Derby win was notable for being ridden by Jose Santos and owned by a group of high school friends from upstate New York — a Secretariat-era-type story that briefly captured national attention before the horse was beaten in the Belmont Stakes.

FAQ — 2003 History, Facts and Trivia

Q: What was the World-Changing Event of 2003?
A: MySpace launched in August 2003, becoming the first social network to achieve mass mainstream adoption and introducing the era of online personal identity, friend networks, and user-generated profile customization that social media has never stopped building on.

Q: What happened when the Space Shuttle Columbia returned to Earth?
A: Columbia broke apart during re-entry on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members. The cause was foam insulation that had broken off during launch and damaged the leading edge of the left wing. The debris field stretched across Texas and Louisiana and was searched so thoroughly that recovery teams also found several murder victims and meth labs in the remote areas they covered.

Q: What was the Human Genome Project?
A: A 13-year, $2.7 billion international scientific effort to map the complete sequence of human DNA, completed in April 2003. The project mapped approximately 3 billion base pairs and fundamentally transformed medicine, biology, genetics research, and the science of inherited disease.

Q: What is the story of Steven Bartman?
A: Bartman was a Cubs fan sitting in the front row at Wrigley Field on October 14, 2003, who reached for a foul ball at the same moment Cubs outfielder Moises Alou was trying to catch it. The Cubs, leading 3-0 in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the NLCS, went on to lose that game and Game 7. Bartman was escorted out under police protection and largely disappeared from public life. He received a 2016 World Series ring when the Cubs finally won.

Q: When did iTunes launch?
A: April 28, 2003, offering songs at 99 cents each. Apple sold one million songs in the first six days. iTunes became the dominant music retailer in the United States within two years and fundamentally restructured the recorded music industry.

Q: What did Beyoncé accomplish in 2003? 
A: Released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, while still technically a member of Destiny’s Child, won five Grammy Awards, had two separate #1 singles (Crazy in Love and Baby Boy), and spent 13 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 across those two songs. She had already filmed Austin Powers: Goldmember and was preparing for her first world tour.

Q: What Broadway musical opened in 2003 and ran longer than any other show in history? A: Wicked, which opened October 30, 2003, and ran 7,485 performances before closing in January 2023 — the longest run in Broadway history and the highest-grossing production in the form’s history.

Q: What happened to Johnny Cash in 2003?
A: Cash died September 12, 2003, at age 71, four months after the death of his wife, June Carter Cash. His final recording of Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt, made in the final months of his life with a stripped-down video that showed him in physical decline, was widely recognized as one of the most powerful recordings of his career. He had been performing for 50 years.