A pair of rappers pulling off the best Tom Tom Club sample since Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” (G Perico & Rucci), an iconic New Wave band trafficking in tongue-in-cheek nostalgia (Duran Duran), a ...

It’s brutal out there, and that’s why, more than ever, we needed the consoling and prodding pleasures of popular music to help everything make sense in here. [Stage direction: taps chest, knowingly.] ...

This year may have been filled with fewer unprecedented events than the previous one, but there was still a lot to adjust to. Little by little, cities across the world began reopening after nearly a ...

Albums are the traditional measure by which great artists earn that title. Somewhere along the line, we all agreed that full-length LPs were the gold standard by which musicians should be ...

Sixty-six tracks that tell the story of the year: a posthumous political statement, a hyperpop star finding his footing, an emerging force’s debut smash and a superstar’s 10-minute redo. By Jon ...

As you might've already gathered from our best albums of 2021 list, we found this to be a strange year. With blockbuster releases being scarce and often disappointing, 2021 felt particularly ...

In another trying year, many of the best songs—from “Like I Used To” to “Pick Up Your Feelings” to “Hard Drive” to “Good Days”—were about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and trying again.

As we emerged from the harsh year of 2020, 2021 became—while still in recovery— a year to break free. While the entertainment industry was getting back in full swing, more and more music came to us as ...

"Only here to sin." That admission from NPR Music's song of the year lies at the heart of many of the stories told across these 100 tracks. Perhaps the crowning of Cardi and Megan's "WAP" last year ...