10 years? More like a lifetime: See what was hot in pop music in 2005

A lot can change in a decade, especially in pop music.

Case in point: Ten years ago, Lorde was in elementary school. Music lovers actually bought CDs. And Justin Timberlake notched his bad boy image thanks to a 2004 Super Bowl halftime spectacle with Janet Jackson.

Ah, yes, 2005 was a great year. Here are 12 music moments you might remember.

1. Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas was then called Smirnoff Music Centre.

Founded as the Coca-Cola Starplex Amphitheatre in 1988, the venue dropped the soda company’s name 10 years later, becoming simply Starplex Amphitheatre. Smirnoff bought the naming rights in 2000, then it became Superpages.com in 2008 and Gexa Energy in 2011.

2. 50 Cent’s The Massacre was Billboard’s No. 1 album of the year.

Released in March 2005, the album's most popular songs included "Candy Shop" and "Just a Lil Bit." That same year, 50 starred in an autobiographical film entitled Get Rich or Die Tryin', named for his first release on Interscope Records. In early 2014, 50 split from Interscope and began releasing albums on his independent label, G-Unit Records.

3. R. Kelly debuted his ‘rap opera’ Trapped in the Closet.

Infidelity, guns, scandal — R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet had it all. The R&B singer first intrigued audiences with TP.3 Reloaded featuring the first five of 12 chapters to hit airwaves in 2005. The saga grew to 33 episodes over several years and was said to debut new chapters in 2014 via IFC Network, but those didn't surface. (You can watch every episode here.)

4. Kelly Clarkson was the hottest noob in pop music.

After winning the first-ever American Idol competition, the small town Texas girl took mainstream music by storm. Clarkson released her sophomore album Breakaway in November 2004, which won her Grammys for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Since U Been Gone” and Best Pop Vocal Album. It also landed among Billboard’s top albums of the year.

5. Carrie Underwood won American Idol season four.

The Oklahoma singer, who turned 22 while on the show, reportedly garnered more than 500 million votes throughout the season. Near the end of 2005, Underwood released her debut album, which was an instant hit. Among her numerous accolades since, Underwood now sings the Sunday Night Football theme song and, in December, released a greatest hits album, Decade #1.

6. Britney Spears became a mom.

At 23 years old, Britney Spears was the star of her own short-lived reality television series with new, also short-lived hubby Kevin Federline. That fall the couple had their first child, Sean Preston. What 2005 music listeners didn’t know back then was Spears was two years away from a very public breakdown, which most remember as her shave- head days.

7. Kanye West controversially said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

After Hurricane Katrina devastated southern Louisiana in August 2005, celebrities aided rescue efforts with a massive benefit concert. During the live broadcast performance, rapper Kanye West — on the heels of two acclaimed albums, The College Dropout (2004) and Late Registration (2005) — went off script and lambasted the United States president for his response to the disaster. West is still one of pop music’s most controversial figures today.

8. Mariah Carey released one of the year’s most popular songs, called “Shake It Off.”

It’s a song about players and heartbreakers from the R&B songstress’ The Emancipation of Mimi album. Wait, that sounds familiar.

9. Weezer hit mainstream with Make Believe.

Weezer's hit single "Beverly Hills" was a make-or-break track for many fans – either you considered the alt rockers total sell outs or jumped on the radio-friendly bandwagon. Make Believe received a 0.4 out of 10 from Pitchfork and a whopping four out of five stars from Rolling Stone. (Personally, I never purchased another Weezer album.)

10. Blink 182, Destiny’s Child and Something Corporate called it quits.

Blink 182 went on “indefinite hiatus,” which led to less exciting side projects like Angels & Airwaves and +44 before the band reunited in 2009.

Destiny’s Child announced a break, ironically, during its Destiny Fulfilled tour, and Beyonce went on become queen of American pop music, worth more than $115 million.

Something Corporate front man Andrew McMahon left piano rock to found Jack’s Mannequin on a slightly different version of piano-inspired rock.

11. Now That’s What I Call Music 18 came out.

The world welcomed the latest in what was arguably already too long a running music series. Now 18 featured songs by Lindsay Lohan, Howie Day, a collaboration between Nelly and Tim McGraw, among other early aughts gems.

12. Apple released the first iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano.

In January, Apple proudly released the iPod Shuffle, the first of its kind under $100, according to then CEO Steve Jobs. In September, the company introduced consumers to iPod Nano, which Jobs claimed to be “the biggest revolution since the original iPod” because of its size and memory storage. Also that year, iTunes reached 500 million song downloads. According to an Apple spokeswoman, iTunes surpassed 34 billion song downloads in May 2014.