The Best-Selling Albums and Songs of 2002
Eminem had the year’s biggest album and Nelly was artist of the year, but the No. 1 song belonged to a rock band: Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me.”
Artists of the Year
Top 10 Albums of 2002 Billboard 200
- 1The Eminem ShowEminem
- 2WeatheredCreed
- 3NellyvilleNelly
- 4M!ssundaztoodP!nk
- 5Hybrid TheoryLinkin Park
- 6O Brother, Where Art Thou?Soundtrack
- 7Silver Side UpNickelback
- 8BritneyBritney Spears
- 9Now That’s What I Call Music! 8Various Artists
- 10Word of MoufLudacris
Top 10 Songs of 2002 Hot 100
- 1How You Remind MeNickelback
- 2FoolishAshanti
- 3Hot in HerreNelly
- 4DilemmaNelly ft. Kelly Rowland
- 5Wherever You Will GoThe Calling
- 6A Thousand MilesVanessa Carlton
- 7In the EndLinkin Park
- 8What’s Luv?Fat Joe ft. Ashanti
- 9U Got It BadUsher
- 10BlurryPuddle of Mudd
What the 2002 Charts Show
- The year split: Eminem led on albums while Ashanti led on singles.
- Hybrid Theory placed in the year-end top 10 for a second straight year, having also charted in 2001.
How the 2002 charts were compiled
Every position here is a chart placement — measured sales, radio airplay and, in the years Billboard counted it, streaming across its tracking year — not an editorial ranking. Albums come from the year-end Billboard 200, songs from the year-end Hot 100.
Billboard’s tracking year runs from roughly late October to mid-October rather than January to December, which is why a late-autumn release can win the following year and why a song can appear on two consecutive year-end lists.
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