When we remember 2021, few things will be more evocative than the music that provided the soundtrack to the world as we re-entered it after a long year filled with uncertainty and social distancing.

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 ...

As we emerged from the harsh year of 2020, 2021 became—while still in recovery— a year to break free. While the entertainment industry was getting back in full swing, more and more music came to us as ...

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 ...

Billie Eilish is the Grammy Award-winning artist behind Happier Than Ever. Several songs from this album earned Grammy nominations and even jumped to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 music chart. Here’s ...

Songs are miraculous things. These little slices of music, usually just a few minutes long, can completely overtake us—changing our mood, realigning our outlook, or even triggering some emotional ...

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.] ...

Before Taemin left for his military service, one of music’s most dynamic performers left us with an absolute smash. “Advice” builds on the success of 2020 singles “Criminal” and “Idea,” further ...

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 ...

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.