Before we get to this week’s column, some housekeeping: After eight(!) years writing The Week In Pop, I am handing over the reins of this column in 2022. Starting in January, Rachel Brodsky will be ...

A defiant grassroots fan-favorite, a viral TikTok smash and several cross-genre collaborations all made it into the top 10 highest-selling country songs for 2021. Billboard issued its year-end tallies ...

"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.] ...

In a year that has proved just as unpredictable as the last, the best songs of 2021 haven’t been just background noise, but a whole other world to escape into. Sure, there have been hits to herald our ...

The most-played country songs of 2021 included some surefire hits and some big surprises, some sentimental ballads and some rowdy party songs, and even two contributions from one superstar artist.

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 ...

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 ...