The late, great Lester Bangs once wrote that we will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. And he was basically right until Lil Nas X came sliding down the stripper-pole to Hell. Oh, ...

As you might've already gathered from our best albums of 2021 list, we found this to be a strange year. With blockbuster releases being scarce and often disappointing, 2021 felt particularly ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

“Lover” is reminiscent of Swift’s early songwriting after enjoying a decade full of massive pop hits. Appearing on her 2019 album of the same name, the song seems to take a step back, reflecting over ...

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 ...

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In another trying year, many of the best songs—from “Like I Used To” to “Pick Up Your Feelings” to “Hard Drive” to “Good Days”—were about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and trying again.