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      The 15 Songs That Hit No. 1 This Year (So Far)

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      Hear tracks by Shaboozey, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and more.Shaboozey reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 this week for the first time with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”Daniel PrakopcykDear listeners,It’s Caryn the editor here again, seizing control of the playlist one more time (don’t worry, you’ll have Lindsay back next week).On Monday, Shaboozey reached the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” making him the second Black artist to hit No. 1 on both the all-genre singles chart and Hot Country Songs. Somehow both milestones came this year: Beyoncé did it first with “Texas Hold ’Em.”The news got me scrolling through what’s topped the Hot 100 so far in 2024 — over the last 27 weeks, 15 songs have done it. And we’re going to listen to all of them in The Amplifier today.It’s always interesting to see how the official chart stacks up against cultural vibes. It may feel like the summer of “Espresso,” but Sabrina Carpenter’s Certified Bop hasn’t hit No. 1 in the United States (yet). It doesn’t just seem like Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” is dominating 2024: It is, with 11 straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. But only one of its songs — its opener, “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone — has spent any time atop the Hot 100. Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” has had two songs summit the singles chart; Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” had the one. Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan haven’t hit No. 1 yet this year, but I wouldn’t count them out.The longest run belongs to “I Had Some Help,” by Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen (six weeks, five of them consecutive). Two songs from the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef hit No. 1; perhaps unsurprisingly considering the outcome, they were both Lamar’s.So let’s take a trip through the recent past together — and for fun (or counterprogramming), see how the biggest songs of the year (so far) compare to our critics’ best songs of the year (so far).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Popcast (Deluxe): Will There Ever Be Another Global Pop Icon?

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes discussion of:The current Hot 100, which features newcomers like Tommy Richman, Shaboozey, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and othersWho has emerged, besides Taylor Swift, as a true cross-platform pop superstar in the last decade — Bad Bunny? Drake?How centrist pop has become an aggregation of several styles rather than one coherent soundHow pop superstars of the ’80s and ’90s aggregated superfans and casual fansWhether there is a path for a new star to get famous enough to play something like the Super Bowl halftime show a decade from nowConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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      Plant and Krauss Cover a Led Zeppelin Classic, and 12 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by Soccer Mommy, Tems, Floating Points and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, ‘When the Levee Breaks’No one is more entitled to cover Led Zeppelin than its singer, Robert Plant. His close-harmony duo with the singer and fiddler Alison Krauss excels at making songs sound far older than they are, and even in 1971, “When the Levee Breaks” harked back to a vintage blues by Memphis Minnie. This live recording is stark, resonant and rumbling, with a fiddle solo by Stuart Duncan that looks toward both Ireland and Morocco and a cranked-up guitar stomp that builds toward — alas! — a frustrating fade-out. JON PARELESCarly Pearce, ‘Truck on Fire’The spoiler is in the title of “Truck on Fire,” a swinging country revenge song from Carly Pearce’s new album, “Hummingbird.” Her voice seethes as she recalls “the way that you laughed it off when I was catching on/Said it was in my head,” and there’s a dark glee (and a product placement) while she watches the “flames rolling off of your Goodyear tires.” PARELESSabrina Carpenter, ‘Please Please Please’We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan Saw a Gap in Pop, and Filled It

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      Two pure pop songs, “Espresso” and “Good Luck, Babe!,” may give the aspiring stars behind them a boost from music’s middle class to the big time.The caffeinated drink of the summer isn’t cold brew or iced matcha — it’s “me espresso,” a weird and strangely brilliant neologism coined by the pop singer Sabrina Carpenter in her ascendant hit “Espresso.” The track — sugary sweet, fiendishly catchy and meme-ready — has been out for only a month and change, but it is already one of the defining songs of 2024.It’s also one of the defining songs of Carpenter’s career so far. Last year, I described her as a member of “pop’s middle class”: a group of internet-beloved artists creating music that makes winking reference to pop history, whose celebrity vastly outmatches their commercial success. Although she is a new star in the minds of many, Carpenter, 25, is by no means a fresh arrival: “Espresso” was released almost 10 years to the day after her debut EP, “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying.” Carpenter was 14 years old then; four more full-length albums have followed.Her career has been unusually slow-burning in the context of the well-oiled pop machine, and “Espresso” is a bullish breakthrough after a string of songs, including the Billboard-charting “Nonsense” and “Feather,” that had some radio and TikTok success but failed to permeate pop’s center. (“Espresso” reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is still in the Top 10.)She’s not the only middle-class pop star having a brush with more tangible success. Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” has quickly become her first hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Roan, 26, loosely fits a similar mold: Her music is funny and oftentimes covertly acerbic, and on her 2023 debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” as Carpenter did with her 2022 breakthrough “Emails I Can’t Send,” Roan tried on a variety of styles that each seemed to pay tribute to a different era of pop, sometimes even a specific diva.Chappell Roan leveraged the spectacle of her live shows to make herself omnipresent on short-form video platforms over the past year. Scott Kowalchyk/CBS, via Getty ImagesRoan first signed to a major label at 17 and was dropped five years later, a setback that compelled her to move back to her Missouri hometown and work as a barista to fund her career. She has since signed to Amusement, an imprint of Universal Music Group started by the producer Daniel Nigro specifically to release Roan’s music. “Good Luck, Babe!,” a kiss-off to an ex with a queer twist, has been streamed over 106 million times on Spotify since its early April release; for context, that’s far more than any song on Beyoncé’s splashy “Cowboy Carter,” which arrived a week earlier, with the exception of its lead single, “Texas Hold ’Em.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Popcast (Deluxe): Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan + Editing Taylor Swift

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThis week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:How “The Tortured Poets Department” has aged with the passing of one week since its releaseThe huge commercial success of “The Tortured Poets Department” so farThe contemporary expectations of immediate album reviewsHow Swift’s pandemic albums “folklore” and “evermore” introduced a new generation of hard-core fansJon and Joe’s picks for the best songs from “The Tortured Poets Department”The rise of a pair of pop’s middle-class stars, Chappell Roan and Sabrina CarpenterCarpenter’s emergence into the shadow of Dua LipaThe success of “Espresso”Chappell Roan’s meteoric six-month rise and her relationship to drag cultureRoan’s diaristic and specific songwritingSongs of the week from Tommy Richman, Cash Cobain (featuring Bay Swag and Ice Spice) and ShaboozeySnack of the weekConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More

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      A Brief Tour of Pop Music’s Caffeine Addiction

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      Hear songs by Sabrina Carpenter, Squeeze, SZA and more.Sabrina Carpenter’s perky bop “Espresso” is … a bit addictive. (We’re sorry.)Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDear listeners,A few weeks ago in our Friday feature the Playlist, I recommended a bubbly new single by the pop artist Sabrina Carpenter and made a bold prediction: “Get ready to hear this one everywhere.” Even more quickly than I imagined, the prophecy has come true. Last week, “Espresso” debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Carpenter’s highest charting hit yet. More important, it has taken over the nation’s psyche. You can hardly go anywhere these days without hearing someone quoting the song’s infectious hook “That’s that me espresso” or wondering aloud, “what is a ‘me espresso?’”That’s a profound philosophical question for another day. Today, we are simply honoring the absurdist joy of “Espresso” with a playlist of songs about caffeinated beverages.Coffee has been a consistently evocative theme throughout pop musical history, so this mix travels from 1940 right up to the present moment. That trusty beverage is often used to describe a sophisticated kind of romance (as it does on Otis Redding’s swooning ballad “Cigarettes and Coffee”) or perhaps the idle hours waiting around for said romance to occur (see Peggy Lee’s sultry take on the 1948 standard “Black Coffee”). Chappell Roan tries to use it as a shield against romance on a track from her 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” reasoning with a former flame, “I’ll meet you for coffee, ’cause if we have wine/You’ll say that you want me, I know that’s a lie.”In “Espresso,” Carpenter uses the caffeine metaphor to suggest how restless she makes a guy she has wrapped around her finger: “Say you can’t sleep? Baby, I know.” Also, crucially, she understands that “espresso” rhymes with “I guess so.” That’s poetry.It’s time for the percolator,LindsayListen along while you read.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sabrina Carpenter Drops a Perky Bop, and 10 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by girl in red, Margo Guryan, Phish and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Sabrina Carpenter, ‘Espresso’The rising pop artist Sabrina Carpenter scored a hit with the breathily sung disco throwback “Feather,” but she seems poised for an even bigger smash. Enter “Espresso,” a cheeky, summery tune that just might have the juice to propel her to the next level. Atop a mid-tempo beat that lightly recalls the muffled retro-funk of “Say So,” the song that made Doja Cat a star, Carpenter plays the unbothered temptress with winking humor: “Say you can’t sleep, baby I know, that’s that me, espresso.” Make it a double and get ready to hear this one everywhere. LINDSAY ZOLADZgirl in red, ‘I’m Back’In “I’m Back,” girl in red — the Norwegian songwriter Marie Ulven Ringheim — defies the cycles of depression. “It’s not like I wanna die,” she whisper-sings. “At least not now/I love being alive.” Quasi-Baroque keyboard arpeggios pace a track that holds back, recognizes that “Time doesn’t stop for a sad little girl” and surges as she decides, “This time I think I’m found.” One-syllable words; deep breakthroughs. JON PARELESWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      10 Festive (and Brand-New) Holiday Songs

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      New tunes from Brandy, Cher and the Philadelphia Eagles may find their place among classics in your holiday playlist.Recent holiday releases include (clockwise from top left) albums from the Philadelphia Eagles, Samara Joy, Cher and Sabrina Carpenter.Dear listeners,Musically speaking, the holidays are a time when we return to perennial favorites — the fact that the current top five artists on the Billboard Hot 100 are Mariah Carey, Brenda Lee, Bobby Helms, Wham! and Burl Ives certainly attests to that.But there’s also something to be said for sprinkling some fresh holiday tunes in with the old to keep your playlist from getting as stale as last year’s Christmas cookie. Where ever will you find new holiday music? Never fear: Today’s Amplifier has you covered.Every song on this playlist came out this holiday season. A few are covers of classics, but they all put a novel twist on their material, whether it’s Cher doing her best Chuck Berry, the Lumineers paying homage to Willie Nelson, or Samara Joy channeling Judy Garland.This mix features quite a few new holiday originals, too: Sabrina Carpenter turns a sweet character from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” into a romantic rival, Brandy wishes Christmas would never end, and Norah Jones and Laufey find the Christmas spirit among the pine trees.You can add these songs to your existing holiday playlist, or — if you’re hosting a gathering and really want to impress your guests with how up to date you are on music — just play this one the whole way through. And if you need even more Amplifier holiday cheer, you can always revisit my playlist of are-they-or-aren’t-they Christmas songs.Lastly, thanks to all who have submitted songs and stories about the older song that defined your year. There’s still time to send me your suggestions; you can do that here. We may use your response in an upcoming edition of The Amplifier.Listen along on Spotify while you read.1. Cher: “Run Rudolph Run”Cher’s first-ever holiday album has a refreshingly no-nonsense title: “Christmas.” ’Nuff said. Though the LP’s single is the glittery, dance-floor-ready original “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” my favorite track is Cher’s rousing rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run,” which allows her to lean into her voice’s rock ’n’ roll attitude. (Listen on YouTube)2. Brandy: “Christmas Everyday”Brandy wants time to freeze on “Christmas Everyday,” a jubilantly upbeat number from her recently released “Christmas With Brandy.” “I don’t know another time when everybody shines so bright,” she sings, pining (ahem) for it to be Christmas every day. (Listen on YouTube)3. Sabrina Carpenter: “Cindy Lou Who”This season, the irreverent pop singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter put out her first holiday-themed release, the six-song EP “Fruitcake.” On this plaintive, breathily sung ballad, Carpenter becomes obsessed with an ex’s new girlfriend, who just may be from Whoville. (Listen on YouTube)4. Norah Jones & Laufey: “Better Than Snow”It’s an intergenerational summit of the jazz-pop girlies as the veteran crooner Norah Jones joins forces with the 24-year-old Icelandic sensation Laufey on this plinking, piano-driven song about celebrating Christmas in decidedly un-Christmas-like weather: “Now as I sweat through my ugly sweater, Christmas with you is better than snow.” (Listen on YouTube)5. Bright Eyes featuring John Prine: “Christmas in Prison”Bright Eyes tackle this bittersweet John Prine tune, with a little help from the late, great man himself. Conor Oberst sings in his warmly cracked voice and an extended sample from “A John Prine Christmas” enlivens the cover with Prine’s wry spirit and inimitable storytelling. (Listen on YouTube)6. The Lumineers: “Pretty Paper (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)”This April, the Lumineers were part of a star-studded group of musicians who performed Willie Nelson songs at the Hollywood Bowl, in honor of the legend’s 90th birthday. It’s finally seasonally appropriate to appreciate their song selection: “Pretty Paper,” Nelson’s enduring Christmas classic. (Listen on YouTube)7. The Philly Specials featuring Howie Roseman: “The Dreidel Song”Don’t think I forgot about Hanukkah, or this very delightful holiday album that members of the Philadelphia Eagles (yes, those Eagles) released this year. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I do believe this is the first time the general manager of a professional sports team has sung lead on an Amplifier selection. (Listen on YouTube)8. Ladytron: “All Over By Xmas”The electro-pop group Ladytron create a dreamy, glacial atmosphere on this new original song about a poorly timed breakup: “Yes, it will be all over by Christmas.” (Listen on YouTube)9. Morgan Reese: “Scrooge Xmas”The young bedroom-pop artist Morgan Reese lets loose an admittedly catchy “bah humbug” on her first holiday release, the sparkly little ditty “Scrooge Xmas.” (Listen on YouTube)10. Samara Joy: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”And finally, the Grammys’ reigning best new artist, the 24-year-old jazz singer Samara Joy, brings her buttery tone and intuitive phrasing to this Christmas classic, proving — as she does throughout her new EP, “A Joyful Holiday” — that she possesses a musical intelligence well beyond her years. (Listen on YouTube)She reminds me of a chess game with someone I admire,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“10 Festive (and Brand-New) Holiday Songs” track listTrack 1: Cher, “Run Rudolph Run”Track 2: Brandy, “Christmas Everyday”Track 3: Sabrina Carpenter, “Cindy Lou Who”Track 4: Norah Jones & Laufey, “Better Than Snow”Track 5: Bright Eyes featuring John Prine, “Christmas in Prison”Track 6: The Lumineers, “Pretty Paper (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)”Track 7: The Philly Specials featuring Howie Roseman, “The Dreidel Song”Track 8: Ladytron, “All Over By Xmas”Track 9: Morgan Reese, “Scrooge Xmas”Track 10: Samara Joy, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”Bonus TracksSpeaking of the Philly Specials, I cannot recommend highly enough this adorable and hilarious short, created by the Philadelphia animation studio unPOP, which accompanies the N.F.L. team’s album “A Philly Special Christmas Special.” It reminds me of all the stop-motion animation classics of my childhood and features, among other charming cameos, the Kelce Brothers, Jordan Mailata and a visit from St. Nick (Foles). Guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Unless you root for the Dallas Cowboys.Also: I spent much of the weekend immersed in the recently released, almost-six-hour third volume of Joni Mitchell’s Archive series — another experience I’d highly recommend. One of my favorite discoveries was this alternate cut of her 1972 hit “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio,” featuring Neil Young and his backing band the Stray Gators. Talk about Canadian excellence!Sprinkle in new tunes from Brandy, Cher and the Philadelphia Eagles along with Yuletide classics. More