Five of 2001's top 10 most-played artists in trade publication Airplay Monitor's annual all-format tallies are primarily country: repeating champ Faith Hill; her husband, Tim McGraw (No. 3); George Strait (6); Alan Jackson (7); and Garth Brooks (9).

Accordingly, No. 2 Destiny's Child pulled off quite a coup to break through, scoring hits across top 40, R&B and AC. Jennifer Lopez (No. 8) achieved a similar feat, accumulating enough spins of her first album's hits to go with the pair of 2001 songs she placed among the year's top 25 most-played records.

Matchbox Twenty (No. 4), Creed (5) and 3 Doors Down (10) captured top 40, AC and rock airplay; the last-named band remarkably reached the top 10 on the strength of just one album's worth of songs.