Music

Playboi Carti has the biggest streaming week since Taylor Swift — plus, Chappell Roan goes country

Hazel Cills

The rapper Playboi Carti's much-hyped MUSIC leads this week in albums. Plus, the rapper Doechii continues to make gains with her recently released "Anxiety" and Chappell Roan finds minor country chart success with "The Giver."
Ashley Jackson brings spirituals to the harp

Michel Martin

Olivia Hampton

The rising harpist explores spirituals, musical ancestors and the influence of church on her new album, Take Me to the Water.
For Lucy Dacus, the dreamgirl of boygenius, fantasies carry a lesson

Ann Powers

Even as the songs on Forever Is a Feeling chronicle a love that's come to fruition in public, Dacus still creates a particular kind of safe space for the fans who delight in swooning with her.
As BLACKPINK's members try on solo stardom, only one finds a perfect fit

Sheldon Pearce

What does a K-pop idol look like when set free from the system? On their own for the first time, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa and Rosé each arrive at a different answer.
International

Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner embraces melancholy in new album

Lindsay Totty

With a new album, Michelle Zauner tells NPR she is finally finding balance between all the things she yearns for: her career goals, a connection to family and a connection to her ancestral home of Korea.
The best new albums out March 21

Stephen Thompson

Izzi Bavis

Our New Music Friday crew also digs into Greentea Peng, Tamino, YHWH Nailgun and more.
National

Aurelio Martínez, ambassador of Garifuna music, has died

Felix Contreras

The Honduran musician, one of the most recognized proponents of a Caribbean culture dating to the 17th century, died Monday in an airplane crash.
Lady Gaga's 'Mayhem' shakes up the charts at No. 1

Stephen Thompson

As expected, Lady Gaga's Mayhem storms to a No. 1 debut, becoming her seventh album to top the chart.
The best bands we saw at SXSW 2025

The NPR Network

Public radio stations were on the ground in Austin for this year's SXSW Music festival.
Playboi Carti, a rap superstar who's never acted like one

Sheldon Pearce

MUSIC is the elusive rapper's first album in five years, but his presence has loomed heavy over hip-hop — and the fanbase whose ears he retuned for extremity.