The women of country music made a strong showing in the decade of the 2000s. The Dixie Chicks were flying high early in the decade. Then Gretchen Wilson came along and showed us it was alright to keep our Christmas lights up year round. And Taylor Swift? She simply owned the last couple of years of the decade. Of course, most of the guys you'd expect to be on this list are here, too, including Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts. But the top album of the decade? Well, it wasn't from any one particular artist at all. You might be surprised. Or maybe not. Keep reading to find out.

10. 'When the Sun Goes Down' - Kenny Chesney

Before the release of Kenny Chesney’s ninth album, he had already set the bar very high with his preceding album, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems. But he came out swinging with When the Sun Goes Down, and with three No. 1’s, he knocked it out of the park. Already dubbed the Calypso Cowboy because of his laidback beachcomber attitude, this wonderful collection of songs made him country’s heir-apparent to Jimmy Buffet. But don’t be fooled by some of the album’s more tropical leanings, this is far from a steel drum-laden island record. NASCAR-loving middle-America was the target here, and Chesney’s aim was dead-on.

Release Date: February 3, 2004

Label: BNA

Key Tracks:

• “There Goes My Life”
• “When the Sun Goes Down”
• “Anything But Mine”

9. 'Fearless' - Taylor Swift

When the smoke clears and the time of history allows us to look back on the stunning success of Taylor Swift’s sophomore album, Fearless, it will undoubtedly be remembered as a watershed album in country music history. Reviled by more than a few stone-cold traditionalists as nothing more than pop music thinly veiled as country, Fearless still tapped into a major nerve center with millions of country fans, including many hardcore aficionados. The album, plain and simple, is a country-pop hit machine unlike any seen in history. Fearless became the new standard-bearer for major crossover success.

Release Date: November 11, 2008

Label: Big Machine

Key Tracks:

• “You Belong with Me”
• “Fifteen”
• “Love Story”

8. ‘Here For The Party’ – Gretchen Wilson

Gretchen Wilson’s breakout debut single, “Redneck Woman,” from her equally good debut album, was such a blockbuster hit, it threatened to overshadow the album itself. The single was so big, there were even whispers that she might become a one-hit wonder. Thankfully, that didn’t pan out, mainly because of the strength of all of the songs on Here for the Party. Wilson’s follow-up single, “Here for the Party,” picked right up where “Redneck Woman” left off, while “When I Think About Cheatin’” proved that she was just as adept at tugging on our heartstrings as she at was man-handling a beer-bong.

Release Date: May 11, 2004

Label: Epic Nashville

Key Tracks:

• “Redneck Woman”
• “Here for the Party”
• “When I Think About Cheatin’”

7. ‘Me and My Gang’ – Rascal Flatts

Rascal Flatts’ fifth studio album, the quintuple-platinum, Me and My Gang, is as ballad-heavy as any CD they’ve put out before or since. But that’s okay because nobody comes close to doing it any better. There is humor, too, especially on the snappy and fun song, “Backwards,” which turns cliché country lyrics on its head. The song’s central character describes what you get when you play a country song backwards: You get your house back/You get your dog back/You get your best friend Jack back/You get your truck back. But the real meat and potatoes of Me and My Gang are the emotional songs, which rip at your heart.

Release Date: April 4, 2006

Label: Lyric Street

Key Tracks:

• “What Hurts the Most”
• “My Wish”
• “Stand”

6. ‘Drive’ – Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson was already on the forefront of contemporary country before delivering, Drive, his eighth studio album. Upon its release, however, he cemented his status as the genre’s king. Beginning with “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” his lament to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Jackson beautifully summarizes the pain of the free world. The song meshes well with the wonderful ballads and requisite but still excellent mid-tempo honky-tonk numbers. Drive is arguably the best album of Jackson’s amazing career.

Release Date: January 15, 2002

Label: Arista Nashville

Key Tracks:

• ”Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)”
• ”Drive (for Daddy Gene)”
• ”That’d Be Alright”

5. ‘Live Like You Were Dying’ – Tim McGraw

In 2002, Tim McGraw went against Music City conventions by utilizing his own touring band to record the studio album, Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors. The result was a gritty intimacy that worked well. Two years later, McGraw brought his Dancehall Doctors back into the studio to record 16 wonderful tracks for Live Like You Were Dying. From the opening track, “How Bad Do You Want It,” a Lynyrd Skynyrd meets the Outlaws blues-rocking scorcher, to the album's gripping title track, Live Like You Were Dying reveals an artist at the very height of his powers.

Release Date: August 24, 2004

Label: Curb

Key Tracks:

• “Live Like You Were Dying”
• “Old Town New”
• “How Bad Do You Want It”

4. ‘Fly’ – Dixie Chicks

Fresh off of their wonderful sextuple-platinum debut album, Wide Open Spaces, the Dixie Chicks came roaring back and loaded for bear with their sophomore release Fly. Natalie Maines (singer) and sisters Martie Seidel (fiddle and mandolin) and Natalie Robison (banjo and dobro) took no prisoners in their undying quest to have a good time while bashing the men who dare to even look at them cross-eyed. The vocals and instrumentation on Fly are top-notch, and the album solidified the Chicks’ status as the shot-in-the-arm country radio desperately needed to pull itself out of the doldrums.

Release Date: August 31, 1999

Label: Monument

Key Tracks:

• “Cowboy Take Me Away”
• “Ready to Run”
• “Sin Wagon”

3. ‘Shock’N Ya’ll’ – Toby Keith

Infused with his patented humor and cut-to-the-bone honesty, Toby Keith took on the world’s bad guys with Shock’N Y’all. He succeeded in making us fist-shaking mad in one moment, then laugh-out-loud hysterical in the next. From terrorists to ex-girlfriends, Keith skewered those he considered evil. In “I Love this Bar,” he made it acceptable to love our seedy local watering hole. And his song “Weed with Willie” is simply hilarious: You can pour me some old whiskey river my friend/But I’ll never smoke weed with Willie again/In the fetal position with drool on our chins/We broke down and smoked weed with Willie again.

Release Date: November 4, 2003

Label: DreamWorks

Key Tracks:

• “I Love this Bar”
• “Weed with Willie”
• “Whiskey Girl”

2. ‘Some Hearts’ – Carrie Underwood

Halfway through the fourth season of American Idol, show creator and judge, Simon Cowell, told Carrie Underwood that she wouldn’t just win that season’s contest, but she would go on to sell more records than any other previous Idol contestant. Cowell didn’t have to wait long for his prediction to come true. Underwood flew out of the gate with her debut album, Some Hearts, a wonderful CD full of emotion and heart and the biggest new voice in country music since Martina McBride.

Release Date: November 15, 2005

Label: 19/Arista Nashville

Key Tracks:

• “Jesus Take the Wheel”
• “Before He Cheats”
• “Wasted”

1. ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou’ – Various Artists

O Brother, Where Art Thou? was a modest hit in the movie theaters, but the film’s wonderful star-studded soundtrack took off like wildfire. Among the luminaries contributing their musical talents were Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, The Whites and Gillian Welch. It sold over six million units and racked up numerous major awards, including Grammys for Best Country Album, Best Collaboration with Vocals and Best Male Country Vocal Performance for Bluegrass legend, Ralph Stanley.

Release Date:December 5, 2000

Label: Mercury Records

Key Tracks:

• “O Death”
• “Man of Constant Sorrow”
• “Down to the River to Pray”