Back in 2000, Amazon ran a poll asking their customers what they thought were the best books, music, and movies of the past 1000 years. The results were archived by the Internet Archive.
. . . The lists include works by Shakespeare, Stephen King, and Ayn Rand; music by the Beatles, Mozart, and Miles Davis; and films such as The Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, and Star Wars. (It bears noting that the Bible received the most votes among books, but we had to leave it off our list because it was not written within the past 1,000 years.) We've also compiled tallies for the top author, musical artist, and director, based on the total votes each received for their various works. Dig deep and enjoy!
The winners in each category (and links to their works) were:
Author of Millennium: J.R.R. Tolkien with runner up Ayn Rand
Artist of Millennium: the Beatles with runner up Pink Floyd
Director of the Millennium: Steven Spielberg with runner up George Lucas
Here are the full top 10 lists:
Books
1. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
3. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
4. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - J.K. Rowling
6. The Stand - Stephen King
7. Ulysses - James Joyce
8. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
9. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
10. 1984 - George Orwell
Music albums
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
2. The Beatles (The White Album) - The Beatles
3. Millennium - Backstreet Boys
4. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
5. Abbey Road - The Beatles
6. Thriller - Michael Jackson
7. The Joshua Tree - U2
8. The Wall - Pink Floyd
9. Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis
10. Nevermind - Nirvana
You can listen to the top ten albums here.