I can’t imagine that would have been wise
In an ideal world.
Yes https://www.albumoftheyear.org/2000/releases/january-01.php?s=release
Reckon most of those are just January releases where the specific date isn’t known/remembered.
January 1st 2000 was a Saturday, which has never been a major release day, even before these things were standardised to Fridays.
Moby probably did