In a year saturated with excellent releases — luminous false starts idling in the shadow of this never-ending global tragedy — projects that maximized ferality won me over. Identifying and rejecting ...

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.] ...

Just five country artists held the Top 10 spots on Billboard's list of most-streamed country songs in 2021, with all but one of those artists landing multiple songs on the list. They were an assembly ...

As normal came back into view in 2021 — then seemed to slip away again — great songs arrived from places we could predict and places we never thought to look. Here are The Times music staff’s picks ...

Columbia Records, left, and Big Loud Records-Republic Records via AP New data from the music industry confirms what a lot of people long suspected — 2021 was a very good year for Morgan Wallen, Adele ...

In Slate’s annual Music Club, Slate critic Carl Wilson emails about the year in music with fellow critics — featuring New York Times contributor Lindsay Zoladz, freelance writer Briana Younger, NPR ...

“Too much pain,” Young M.A. offers on her second LP, “could barely notice the beauty in things.” Not only did these albums provide comfort and commiseration, they also taught me new ways to listen, to ...