2005 in music

Specific locations

• 2005 in British music
• 2005 in Irish music
• 2005 in Norwegian music
• 2005 in Scandinavian music
• 2005 in South Korean music
• 2005 in Swiss music

  Specific genres

• 2005 in classical music
• 2005 in country music
• 2005 in heavy metal music
• 2005 in hip hop music
• 2005 in jazz
• 2005 in Latin music
• 2005 in progressive rock
• 2005 in rock music

  Events

January

• January 1 – In most of Europe, copyright expired on a number of classic pop and rock'n'roll songs recorded in 1954 and earlier, including Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock", and "Only You" by The Platters.
• January 7 – Welsh punk band Mclusky officially announce their disbanding via their website. Weeks later, Welsh noisecore/punk band Jarcrew disband due to their drummer becoming a Jehovah's Witness – remnants of the two bands later went on to join forces and become Future of the Left.
• January 13 – Duran Duran begins their Astronaut in London, England.
• January 17 – Prior to missing 2 live shows, Mike Tempesta is officially no longer part of Powerman 5000 due to fighting with the band.
• January 20 – Leonard Slatkin conducts the debut concert of Philip Glass's Symphony No. 7 "Toltec".
• January 21–February 6 – The Big Day Out festival takes place in Australia and New Zealand, headlined by Beastie Boys, The Chemical Brothers and System of a Down.
• January 22 – The Tsunami Relief concert is held at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales – the largest live music event in the UK since the Live Aid concert of 1985. Performers included Madonna, Eric Clapton, Jools Holland, Manic Street Preachers, Lulu, Aled Jones, Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins, Feeder, Snow Patrol, Liberty X.
• January 29 – Avril Lavigne, Chantal Kreviazuk, the Barenaked Ladies, Raine Maida, and Sarah McLachlan conduct a concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, for tsunami relief.
• January 31
• *Tiesto releases a new single from his album Just Be entitled Adagio for Strings.
• *Jon Levasseur leaves Cryptopsy, saying he has lost interest in Extreme Music.

  February

• February 7 – The BRIT Awards are held in London. Scissor Sisters, Keane, Franz Ferdinand, and Joss Stone are among the winners.
• February 8 – Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas releases Lonely No More, his first solo hit. It peaked at #1 in Adult Contemporary.
• February 13 – The 47th Grammy Awards are held in Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, hosted by Queen Latifah. The late Ray Charles becomes the big winner at the ceremony, winning five awards, including Album of the Year for Genius Loves Company and Record of the Year for a re-recorded duet version of "Here We Go Again" with Norah Jones. John Mayer's "Daughters" wins Song of the Year, while Maroon 5 win Best New Artist. Britney Spears earned her first Grammy in the category of Best Dance Recording for her hit single Toxic.
• February 15 – Sonny Mayo replaces Clint Lowery in Sevendust.
• February 22
• *After being silent since late 2004, Blink-182 announce that they will be taking an indefinite hiatus, the news comes as a big shock for fans. According to guitarist Tom DeLonge, the band will not come completely inactive.
• *Brian Welch, guitarist of Korn, leaves the band after converting to Christianity.
• February 28 – Static-X fires Tripp Eisen because of his arrest for sex offenses involving a minor.

  March

• March 7 – Koichi Fukuda rejoins Static-X on guitar after 5 years away from the band. Fukuda replaces Tripp Eisen, who was arrested twice in February over two separate charges of sexual intercourse with underage girls.
• March 26 – Australian drummer of Crowded House, Paul Hester, is found dead in a Melbourne Park.
• March 29 – Mariah Carey releases her second single, "We Belong Together", from her tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi. The song would hold the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks, the highest record for the entire decade. Will Smith releases his fourth studio album Lost and Found.

  April

• April 3
• *Country music legend Kenny Rogers signs a major worldwide record deal with Capitol Records.
• *Alice in Chains original bass player Mike Starr is arrested for "investigation of property destruction and theft". He was also sentenced to 30 days for misdemeanor drug possession in April 1994, two years after being replaced from the group during the recording of Dirt.
• April 7 – The concert Selena ¡VIVE! takes place at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The memorial concert was held on the 10th anniversary of the murder by firearm of Selena, "The Queen of Tejano Music". Performers include Thalía, Gloria Estefan, Paulina Rubio, Pepe Aguilar, Banda el Recodo, Alejandra Guzmán and Fey.
• April 9 – Destiny's Child launch their World Tour Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It in Hiroshima, Japan.
• April 12 – Mariah Carey releases her tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi. The album went on to become the best-selling album of 2005 in the US, and the second-best seller worldwide, with global sales of 10 million copies. Its second single, "We Belong Together", was later hailed "Song of the Decade" by Billboard and accumulated 14 weeks at number one in the US, while its third single, "Shake It Off", reached number two. The album begins a career revival is her biggest success of the decade.

  May

• May–June – Operation Ivy/Rancid bassist Matt Freeman is diagnosed with lung cancer.
• May 2
• *Legendary blues-rock group Cream reunites for four shows in London's Royal Albert Hall.
• *Linkin Park issues a press release demanding to end its contract with Warner Music Group, on the grounds that the label would fail to meet its "fiduciary responsibility to market and promote Linkin Park" due to cost-cutting efforts at the company.
• * Nu metal Band Limp Bizkit Released their EP The Unquestionable Truth.
• May 6 – Audioslave becomes the first American rock group to perform a free outdoor concert in Cuba.
• May 17 – Kylie Minogue is diagnosed with breast cancer. Thus she has to cancel her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour.
• * System of a Down release their fourth studio album Mezmerize.
• May 19–21 – The 50th Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Palace of Sports in Kyiv, Ukraine, is won by Greek-Swedish singer Helena Paparizou, representing Greece with the song "My Number One". It is the first contest to be broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format.
• May 21 – The Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM airs the 13th Annual Weenie Roast show with Alkaline Trio, Audioslave, Bloc Party, The Bravery, The Dead 60s, Foo Fighters, Hot Hot Heat, Interpol, Jimmy Eat World, The Killers, The Mars Volta, Mötley Crüe, MxPx, My Chemical Romance, Queens of the Stone Age and The Transplants.
• May 24 – Audioslave releases their second studio album Out of Exile. The album debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
• May 25 – Carrie Underwood wins the fourth season of American Idol. Bo Bice is named runner-up.
• May 27 – Gretchen Wilson guest Miranda Lambert at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.

  June

• June 4 – Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" became her sixteenth chart topper on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song then spent 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It made history when it became the first song to simultaneously occupy the number one position on nine Billboard charts : the Hot 100, Hot 100 Airplay, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Pop 100 Airplay, Top 40 Mainstream, Rhythmic Airplay Chart, Hot Dance Club Songs, and Hot Ringtones.
• June 10-12 – The annual Download Festival takes place at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England, the festival's first three-day event. Feeder, Black Sabbath and System of a Down headline the main stage, while the Snickers stage is headlined by Billy Idol, In Flames and Motörhead, the Napster stage by Napalm Death, Helmet and Therapy?, and the Snickers Bowl stage by TAT, Reuben and Electric Eel Shock.
• June 12 – Pink Floyd announce that they will reunite with former bassist Roger Waters, who left the band in 1985, on July 2 for the Live 8 London concert. This will be the first time the band played together as a quartet since The Wall tour in 1981, and the first public performance by Pink Floyd since 1994.
• June 13 – Michael Jackson is found not guilty of child molestation.
• June 14 – The Backstreet Boys came back and released their fifth studio album Never Gone after a nearly 5-year hiatus
• June 15 – Destiny's Child announce they will disband upon completion of their world tour.
• June 16 – Motörhead celebrate their 30th anniversary with a concert in the Hammersmith Apollo, which is later released on DVD.
• June 18–19 – Green Day films their first ever live CD/DVD Bullet in a Bible at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England. They played to over 130,000 fans in two days.
• June 21 – Billy Corgan announces that he wants to reform his popular alternative rock group The Smashing Pumpkins, which disbanded on December 2, 2000.
• June 25 – Patti Smith curates the Meltdown festival.

  July–August

• July 2 – Live 8 benefit concerts are held around the world, as part of the Make Poverty History campaign.
• July 4 – The Charlie Daniels Band plays at Riverfront Park in Nashville, Tennessee
• July 6 – Lil' Kim is sentenced to a year and a day in prison for lying to a federal grand jury about her knowledge of suspects in a 2001 shooting outside a New York radio station.
• July 21 – Gigantour runs through to September 11, a festival organised by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine with bands including Dream Theater, Anthrax, Fear Factory and Nevermore.
• July 23–24 – The annual Splendour in the Grass music festival is held in Byron Bay, Australia, headlined by Queens of the Stone Age and Moby.
• August 9 – Staind releases Chapter V, which becomes their third-straight studio album to reach #1 on the US Billboard 200 album charts.
• August 18 – Interscope Records reports that Eminem has entered rehab for dependency on sleep medication. The rapper had canceled the European leg of the Anger Management 3 Tour two days earlier, citing exhaustion. A four-year hiatus would ensue until the release of the Relapse album in 2009.
• August 24-31 – The UNESCO-sponsored Fifth Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival is held in Samarkand.
• August 26 – Rihanna releases her debut album Music of the Sun, which debuts at number 10 on the US Billboard 200. The album produced two singles that achieved international chart success, including first single "Pon de Replay", which topped number 2 at the US Billboard Hot 100.
• August 28 – Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight is shot in the leg at an MTV Video Music Awards pre-party in Miami. No one is ever charged in the shooting.
• August 30 - Kanye West releases his 2nd studio album "Late Registration".