Why Albums Drop and Movies Launch
For this week’s Infinite Scroll column, Brady Brickner-Wood is filling in for Kyle Chayka. In the summer of 2007, Kanye West and 50 Cent were embroiled in a high-wattage—and highly…
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albums
The Most Anticipated Albums of 2026
The waiting is the hardest part, when it comes to some recording artists. And if a lot of them come through on their promises, threats or hints to deliver new material in 2026, it will be…
Natalia Lafourcade Reimagines Mexican Folk Music
After the incident, she needed reconstructive surgery, and had brain inflammation so severe that when she tried to look up, all she saw was black. Even once she was well enough to leave…
25 Best Albums of the 21st Century, Ranked
Albums are one of the newest art forms overall, as despite music being around for who knows how long, packing a collection of songs together and declaring they should all be listened to…
The 25 Greatest Classic Rock Albums of All Time, Ranked
Definitions aren’t really much fun to read, but at least one is necessary for present purposes. Just what the hell is “classic rock?” It’s rock that’s classic. Well, it’s rock music from a…
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A Year of Listening Beyond the Algorithm
My habit of seeking out new music began with a few strokes of good luck. I grew up in a college town in the early to mid-nineties, during one of the golden eras of college radio. I spent a…
The Best Albums of 2025
Looking back at the songs I played the most in 2025, I can sense my own hunger for music that felt wounded, carnal, unfamiliar, tactile, and askew—far from the uncanny sheen of A.I., far…
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Hits Milestone One Month at No. 1 on Albums Chart
One month after its release, Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” logs a major milestone as it hits a fn uninterrupted four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The set is just the…
Do We Still Like Taylor Swift When She’s Happy?
If I were writing a song about Travis Kelce, a man I’ve never met, I would mention that he plays football, and that he has a podcast. I’d point out that he’s about to marry Taylor Swift,…
Taylor Swift Sells 2.7 Million Copies of ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ on Day 1 — Already the Second-Best Tally for an Album’s First Week in History
Taylor Swift‘s “The Life of a Showgirl” has the second-highest weekly sales tally for any album, ever… after just one day. Per Billboard, Luminate has reported that the album sold 2.7…
The Uneasy Prophecies of Cate Le Bon
There’s a scene in Netflix’s “Too Much” in which the heroine, an American transplant in London, listens to a playlist curated by her new British paramour. (Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe…
Ethel Cain’s Anti-Pop Stardom
Midway through the music video for “American Teenager,” a feel-good pop song that has been streamed more than a hundred million times, the camera cuts, for an instant, to two children…
Benson Boone’s ‘American Heart’ Debuts at No. 2 on Albums Chart
Benson Boone‘s “American Heart” has made its debut on the Billboard 200 at No. 2 as the Grammy-nominated artist‘s second top 10 album. After conquering the charts with “Beautiful Things,”…
‘Something Beautiful with Miley Cyrus’ Review: The Star Co-Directs an Album’s Worth of Her Music Videos, Celebrating Her Sexuality…and Herself
It’s the rare pop star who doesn’t use his or her sexuality in some way. But the current moment, typified by stars like Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Charli XCX, tends to be about…
Taylor Swift Shocker: Singer Buys Back Her First Six Albums — Even as ‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version)’ Is Still on the Way
In one of the more dramatic business developments in pop music history, Taylor Swift has purchased her catalog of recordings that were initially released through Big Machine Records, after…
On “I’m the Problem,” Morgan Wallen Goes Back to God’s Country
Morgan Wallen is a country singer, almost defiantly so, though he is also popular on a scale that seems to circumvent genre entirely. Each of Wallen’s past two albums spent at least a…
Drake and PartyNextDoor’s ‘Some Sexy Songs 4 U’ Replaces Kendrick Lamar at No. 1 on Albums Chart
It might’ve been a long time coming, but Drake has finally scored a win in his contentious rap beef with Kendrick Lamar: “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U,” Drake and PartyNextDoor’s first joint LP,…