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 ...

While 2020 felt like the year that didn’t happen, 2021 has felt like the year that just… kinda did. As the calendar pages flipped by, we cautiously began searching for a semblance of a familiar life, ...

"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 ...

Congratulations, we made it, everyone! The year of 2021 was like no other in regards to new music. It was a year in which we listened to more songs than ever before — we're talking thousands and ...

"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 ...

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.] ...

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 ...

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 ...

Let's celebrate by running through the songs we had on repeat in 2021. The tracks we highlighted below represent a little bit of everything from the last 12 months: pop-punk revivalism, newly minted ...

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 ...