In 2003, "In da Club" topped the charts, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King packed theaters, a stamp cost 37¢, the average home went for about $195,000.
🎵 Top songs of 2003
"In da Club" — 50 Cent
"Get Busy" — Sean Paul
"Crazy in Love" — Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z
🎬 In theaters
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
What things cost in 2003
$1.56
Gallon of gas
37¢
Postage stamp
$6.03
Movie ticket
$2.76
Gallon of milk
$195,000
Average home
$21,700
New car
$43,300
Household income
The $1.56 gallon of gas in 2003 equals about $2.75 in today's money, and the $6.03 movie ticket about $10.65. Adjusted for inflation, filling the tank on the way to the theater cost noticeably less than it does now.
The biggest moments of 2003
Apple opened the iTunes Music Store, letting people buy songs online for 99 cents each.
The supersonic Concorde jet made its final flight, ending an era of faster-than-sound travel.
Finding Nemo became the highest-grossing animated movie ever made up to that time.
A massive August blackout knocked out power to some 50 million people across the northeastern U.S. and Canada, and neighbors spent the warm night sharing flashlights and ice cream before it melted.
An 18-year-old from Akron named LeBron James was drafted first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers straight out of high school.
The last classic Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Puebla, Mexico in July, ending a production run of more than 21 million Bugs.
Toys, TV & trends of 2003
Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards were the hot item to collect and battle with at school.
MySpace launched, giving teenagers their first taste of social networking.
Finding Nemo toys, games, and fish tanks were on every kid's wish list.
That's So Raven premiered in January, and Raven-Symone's psychic visions made it Disney Channel's biggest live-action hit yet.
A World War II shooter called Call of Duty released its very first game in October, launching one of the biggest franchises in video game history.
A little program called Skype launched in August, letting families make free computer-to-computer calls to relatives anywhere in the world.
The music scene
When the 99-cent download store opened in April, shoppers bought a million songs in the first week, stunning a music industry that thought nobody would pay for digital tracks. Beyonce stepped out on her own with the blockbuster solo debut Dangerously in Love, and by December OutKast's giddy "Hey Ya!" had everyone shaking it like a Polaroid picture. Down in Atlanta, producer Lil Jon was cranking up a bass-heavy party sound called crunk that would soon take over radio.
At the movies
The final Lord of the Rings chapter didn't just make money; at the following spring's Oscars it went a perfect 11-for-11, tying the all-time record for most Academy Awards by a single film. Johnny Depp's swaggering, eyeliner-wearing pirate reportedly baffled studio executives at first, then earned him an Oscar nomination. And a Will Ferrell comedy about a giant elf in New York quietly became a permanent Christmas classic.
Cartoons kids loved
SpongeBob SquarePants
Teen Titans (debuted in 2003)
Codename: Kids Next Door
American cartoons were openly borrowing anime's style by 2003, and nowhere more than in Teen Titans, with its speed lines, giant sweat drops, and a theme song sung by Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi. Cartoon Network's homegrown lineup, from spy kids to imaginary friends, showed the network no longer needed old Hanna-Barbera reruns to fill an afternoon.
The world in 2003
World population: about 6.3 billion
U.S. President: George W. Bush
Scientists announced the completion of the Human Genome Project, mapping human DNA.
The United States and coalition forces began the war in Iraq in March, and Baghdad's government fell within weeks, opening a long and difficult chapter.
Health workers worldwide raced to contain SARS, a new respiratory virus that emerged from Asia and was brought under control by summer.
Astronaut Yang Liwei orbited Earth in October aboard Shenzhou 5, making China only the third country ever to launch a person into space on its own.
2003 birthday questions
How old is someone born in 2003?
Someone born in 2003 turns 23 in 2026 (22 if their birthday has not come round yet).
What was the number one song in 2003?
"In da Club" by 50 Cent was among the biggest hits of 2003.
What movie came out in 2003?
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was one of the films packing theaters in 2003.
How much did gas cost in 2003?
A gallon of gas ran about $1.56 in 2003, and a postage stamp cost 37¢.
How much did a house cost in 2003?
The average home went for roughly $195,000 in 2003, against a typical household income of about $43,300.