2000, but not very much.

2006 had T-Pain, Rihanna, and Chris Brown, which 2003 didn't have.

2000 for sure. R&B, Pop rock and hip hop in 2000 was similar to 2003.

2000, easily.

I'm leaning towards 2006 honestly. 2003's music is already quite a bit different from the teen pop, trance-leaning, boy bands-invaded 2000 besides both years having some nu metal-stuff popular. On the other hand 2003 already feels like a precursor to the club rap, urban r&b and internet indie trends of 2006.

I'm leaning towards 2006 honestly. 2003's music is already quite a bit different from the teen pop, trance-leaning, boy bands-invaded 2000 besides both years having some nu metal-stuff popular. On the other hand 2003 already feels like a precursor to the club rap, urban r&b and internet indie trends of 2006.


Same, I'm going with 2006 mainly due to the reasons you stated. I don't think the music scene changed much between 2003 and 2006 going by memory. In 2003 it was all just Hip Hop, Crunk, R&B, Post-Grunge and Alternative Rock, 2006 was pretty much all the same stuff, just with Emo and no Nu-Metal. In 2000, Ballads and House music was still alive on the charts, along with Bubblegum/Teen Pop, Boy Bands and the Latin fad, I don't remember hearing any of that in 2003. Also, 2000 was REALLY lacking in Hip Hop (with the exception of Eminem of course), meanwhile 2003 was absolutely dominated by it. What I remember being very popular in both years was R&B, Alternative Rock and Post-Grunge.

Slightly more like 2006 IMO.

I choose 2006.

50 Cent made his debut in 2003 -- you couldn't escape "In Tha Club." The airwaves became saturated with songs from his second album in 2005-2006, like "Candy Shop."

Closer to 2003!

I went with 2000, since ringtone rap wasn’t a thing yet, emo wasn’t mainstream, and nu metal was still a major cultural force which it was not in 2006. Eminem also didn’t go downhill yet, and the likes of Kanye West didn’t exist yet.
To be fair, teen pop was dead by 2003, and we did have things like indie rock in the mainstream which 2006 also had, so it’s not definitive, but I still find it more similar to 2000.
Even the way we listened to music in 2003 was transitional, since iPods were now a thing in 2003 and were really starting to catch on which they were not in 2001-2002. We also saw the rise of legal music downloads with the launch of the iTunes Store, unlike 2000 which was the peak of Napster. That said, CD players still had popularity in 2003 that they did not have in 2006. Not everybody had an iPod yet.

2006.

Music went through a huge transition in late 2001-mid 2002.

2000 was the era of Bubblegum pop, numetal, etc

2003 and 2006 were practically the same, with 2006 having slightly more electronic influence.