The Century: America's Time

The Century: America's Time is a 15-part series of documentaries produced by the American Broadcasting Company about the 20th century and the rise of the United States as a superpower. The documentary originally aired on The History Channel in 1999. Another earlier series, simply called "The Century" also produced by ABC, appeared on the ABC network in 1999, and also later appeared on the History Channel. It consists of six two-hour shows with each chronicling two different events based around a common theme. The narrator of both series was Peter Jennings, anchor from ABC World News Tonight.

Along with distinguished journalist Todd Brewster, Jennings co-authored a book titled The Century which became a national bestseller. This series is part of the History Channel's "Cable in The Classroom" curriculum and the study guides for each episode can be found on their website, under the letter "C".

ABC ran a mini-marathon of the series on Saturday September 15, 2001 in reaction to the September 11th Attacks. The marathon signaled the transition from 24/7 news coverage, which had gone uninterrupted since the first reports of an incident at the World Trade Center, back to "normal" programming.

21st century

The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era or the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 2001, and will end on December 31, 2100. It is the first century of the 3rd millennium. It is distinct from the century known as the 2000s, which began on January 1, 2000 and will end on December 31, 2099.

Transitions and changes

The first years of the 21st century have thus far been marked by the rise of a global economy and Third World consumerism, mistrust in government, deepening global concern over terrorism and an increase in the power of private enterprise. The longterm effects of increased globalization are not known, but there are many who are concerned about its implications. The Arab Spring of the early 2010s led to mixed outcomes in the Arab world. The Digital Revolution which began around the 1980s also continues into the present. The Millennials (born c. 1981-2000) having been born before the turn of the century give way to the rise of Generation Y & Generation Z in Western countries.

Songs of the Century

The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America’s musical and cultural heritage" in American schools. Hundreds of voters, who included elected officials, people from the music industry and the media, teachers, and students, were asked in 2001 to choose the top 365 songs (not necessarily by Americans) of the 20th century with historical significance in mind. The voters were selected by RIAA, although only about 15% (200) of the 1,300 selected voters responded.

The list

The list of the top 25 songs, in the order of votes received. Each song is followed by the name of the artist who made the most notable recording of the song.

Criticism

B. George, director of the ARChive of Contemporary Music, said pop music genres such as electronic dance music, punk rock, and rap were given short shrift. An informal survey of CBS News producers indicated surprise at some of the choices on the list.NPR's Talk of the Nation highlighted songs that were excluded from the RIAA list but were on a similar list produced by NPR the same year. One song that was highlighted was George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"

Century

A century (from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred; abbreviated c.) is 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages (e.g. "the 7th century AD/CE"). A centenary is a hundredth anniversary or a celebration of this, typically remembrance of an event which took place a hundred years earlier; and its adjectival form is centennial.

Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar

According to the Gregorian calendar, the 1st century AD/CE started on January 1, 1, and ended on December 31, 100. The 2nd century started at year 101, the 3rd at 201, etc. The n-th century started/will start on the year (100 × n) − 99 and ends in 100 × n. A century will only include one year, the centennial year, that starts with the century's number (e.g. 1900 is the final year in the 19th century).

1st century BCE and AD

There is no "zeroth century" in between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century AD. Also, there is no year 0 AD. The Julian calendar "jumps" from 1 BCE to 1 AD. The first century BCE includes the years 100 BCE to 1 BCE. Other centuries BCE follow the same pattern.

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, the Billboard Hot 100 or Top 40.

Many different criteria are used in different charts, including sales of records, cassettes and compact discs, the amount of radio airplay, and since the introduction of digital technology, the number of downloads and the amount of streaming activity.

Some charts are specific to a particular musical genre and most to a particular geographical location (although download charts are not easily pinned down in this way). The most common period of time covered by a chart is one week with the chart being printed or broadcast at the end of this time. Summary charts for years and decades are then calculated from their component weekly charts. Component charts have become an increasingly important way to measure the commercial success of individual songs.

Chart hit