Ironic, then, that such a shift seems to have been ushered in by a death — not of R&B proper, mind you, but of one of its greatest modern pacesetters: The Weeknd. Since 2011, the persona inhabited by ...

As we head into December 2025, both Brenda Lee and Bobby Helms are in the Top 5 on Billboard’s Holiday 100 — for 1958’s ...

The best songs of 2025 worked admirably toward the daunting task of attempting to describe what it feels like to be alive in the unpredictability matrix of the mid-’20s. Songwriters expressing pangs ...

From Clipse to Metro Boomin and Cardi B, the year was full of memorable rap songs that expanded and experimented with the ...

From the big-city yearning of Chappell Roan’s breakup ballad to Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s wonderful collaboration ‘Rein Me ...

The right ’70s song does more than trigger nostalgia, it feels like it could drop into a 2025 playlist without missing a beat ...

GRAMMY-nominated singer Carl Carlton has tragically died aged 72. The soul legend’s death comes six years after he suffered a ...

In our time, it's easy to shut your mind, driven by fear or misinformation. This year, NPR Music's pop critic found the antidote in music that encouraged exploring.

Listen to 48 tracks that broke new artists, blew apart genres and revived beloved sounds. By Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz Jon Caramanica On the one hand, living in an environment in which sounds ...

Listen to a playlist of the year's best songs as selected by The Times' August Brown, Cerys Davies and Mikael Wood.

In these 100 songs, you’ll hear lusty dubstep, quietly subversive electronic pop, regional rap bangers, alt-country odysseys, ubiquitous chart-toppers, and much more. We were drawn to songs this year ...

They’re the soundtrack to the moments that matter most. They capture every chapter of love: the anticipation, the devotion, the joy, and the gratitude. From Sade’s timeless calm to Beyoncé’s ...