'00s Pop 4

The Zeroes were stuffed to the gills with magnificent, sparkling, timeless pop — it was a decade when grime scrubbed up and and went mainstream; when Take That proved their worth and returned to chart glory; and when supernovas formed both within and without the unstoppable talent show system. Our fourth glistening collection of hits gets underway with "Greatest Day" (and we've got Robbie Williams waiting in the wings with "Feel"); there are star turns from American raiders Lady Gaga ("Poker Face") and P!nk ("Get the Party Started"); Joe McElderry makes short work of "The Climb"; and Tinchy Stryder hooks up with N-Dubz for "Number 1".

Madonna and Miley Cyrus offer contrasting national snapshots, in Next Steps.

The X Factor/Pop Idol contingent makes a strong showing here, as Alexandra Burke adds elegance to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Leona Lewis invests Snow Patrol's "Run" with tenderness, and the united posse of 2009 X Factor finalists offers an uplifting version of Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone". Madonna rewinds us to the start of the decade with her dance-styled, William Orbit-produced cover of Don McLean's "American Pie", Miley Cyrus bookends that track with her feelgood response to global recession-era blues, 2009's "Party in the U.S.A.", and Kings of Leon supercharges the shindig with "Sex On Fire".

Susan Boyle sets her wild horses against the Baha Men's dogs, in Deep Cuts.

Talent comes in all shapes, sizes . . . and ages, here in Deep Cuts, as Susan Boyle delivers an angelic version of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses", Florence + the Machine puts a new spin on "You've Got the Love" by Candi Staton and the Source, and S Club Juniors strut with perky confidence through "One Step Closer". The Ting Tings funk up the jam with their endlessly addictive "Shut Up and Let Me Go", Baha Men get us all howling at the moon with "Who Let the Dogs Out", Mark Owen conducts his own Take That sideshow with "Four Minute Warning", and Coldplay delivers "Clocks" — one of the finest singles of the band's career and a deserving winner of a 2004 Record of the Year GRAMMY®.

There's plenty we can learn about pop from this, our fourth collection of hits from the '00s — first, thanks to Enrico Iglesias, we can now induct the humble ping-pong ball into the percussion instrument Hall of Fame ("Do You Know?"); second, any combination of Xenomania and Girls Aloud makes an effective recipe for dynamite ("Something Kinda Ooooh"); and third, judging by the phenomenal success of Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz, the British rapper is now an international pop force to be reckoned with. Course, there's a lot more wisdom just waiting to be uncovered here, from the virtue of not writing off a good boy band once it hits middle age (Take That, *NSYNC), to the proven effectiveness of using chipmunk backing vocals (Akon) . . . so dive in, listen and learn.