The cost of 2020 — in lives, livelihoods, legacies and communities — is high and still being tallied. For jazz critic Nate Chinen, all that loss demands change to old ideas of critical objectivity.
Isolation and the disappearance of live music changed the All Songs Considered host's listening habits drastically in 2020. These albums offered not just calm, but richness and depth to explore.
Watch 20 of the year's greatest Tiny Desk performances, featuring a small sample of the talented artists who delivered intimate sets from NPR Music's D.C. offices.
Little Richard saw a depth and possibility for American culture, for black genius, that he could not fully see for himself. It's up to us to continue the work.
NPR Music's classical editor traces the high points of a year spent listening to new albums that offered comfort and confrontation in counterpoint with the relentless world outside the headphones.
There was an avalanche of reissues and vault rediscoveries, across all genres and all eras. Each promises edification, but also flat-out thrilling listening.
Is it possible to hear the music of 2020 without getting lost in the noise? NPR Music's critic Ann Powers studies a year during which nearly everything about loving music was turned upside down.
Phoebe Bridgers, Tame Impala, Black Pumas and many more of your favorites landed on this list of the most-played songs on public radio stations across the country.
The musicians who massaged our temples for us this year took more than one approach — some immersive soundscapes, some acoustic lullabies, at least one wild pop-punk experiment.
As dance floors stood empty, a wide spectrum of dance music transformed bedrooms into clubs, kitchens into discotheques and backyards into glow-stick raves.
The great songs of 2020 were as abundant as the rest of the year was a drag. Think of these 100 jams as a silver linings playlist for the worst year of our collective lives.
2020 was so stuffed with urgent voices it could be hard to discern the melody from the noise. Here's our guide to the greatest albums that emerged from a year of cacophony.
