How TikTok—and a squeaky noise—made Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” the biggest song in America. Back in January 2006, the Billboard Hot 100 was overtaken for one week by a quirky rap track by a group that would never have a major hit again. “Laffy Taffy” was the handiwork of a troupe calling themselves D4L, an [...] Read more

For her wish to come true, it took changes in technology and chart rules. Jimmy Fallon didn’t hurt, either. At a time of year that brings us oft-told holiday fables and yarns about Christmas miracles, the moral of this story is simple: When it comes to the Billboard charts, never, ever count out Mariah Carey. [...] Read more

On “Heartless,” the singer keeps on recycling the same old tricks, and America still can’t get enough. For years—really, decades—AC/DC bandleader Angus Young has been finding creative ways to restate the maxim “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” in interviews. The guitarist can often come off as self-satisfied about his Rock Hall–inducted band’s endurance. [...] Read more

On his latest No. 1, the singer shows why he might just be our era’s most defining star. With less than a month to go in the 2010s, the decade that has utterly confounded our understanding of what genre even means in popular music, perhaps it’s appropriate that genre-obliterator Post Malone has the top song [...] Read more

2019 is the year women figured out how to take back the pop charts. One year ago—52 weeks, on the button—an accomplished, social media–commanding pop star scored her first-ever No. 1 hit by portraying herself as the graceful heroine of her story and revealing just enough about her personal life to establish a sense of intimacy [...] Read more

Lewis Capaldi can thank Adele, Dancing With the Stars, and his song’s complete lack of bells and whistles. Memo to Adele: You … are recording a new album, right? It’s been about four years now. Surely you’re cooking something up for before Christmas? You might wanna get on that, because, just FYI, the whole world [...] Read more

  The singer has long been a hit with parents. “Truth Hurts” finally won over their kids. Tweet Share Comment <img src="https://compote.slate.com/images/51fb9b74-0ef8-4e08-9bff-6b7b76e582cb.jpeg?width=780&amp;height=520&amp;rect=1560x1040&amp;offset=0x0" alt="Lizzo onstage at Coachella." /> Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella. Recently in Music America’s New Favorite Song Cements This as the Summer of Gen Z Taylor Swift’s [...] Read more

No one older than 22 has topped the Hot 100 since April. If singer-slash–nonthreatening boy Shawn Mendes got to choose a day in his life to relive over and over—as a wistful, horny Bill Murray longs to do in Groundhog Day—I’ll bet he would choose Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. Mendes’ awesome day climaxed on the MTV [...] Read more

The 17-year-old singer followed the new rules for pop success—and held on till X couldn’t no more. Does anybody remember Jay Sean? Ten years ago, this British singer, born to Sikh parents, blended Bhangra and R&B and topped Billboard’s Hot 100 with a chirpy, Auto-Tuned hip-hop ditty called “Down.” Featuring a bridge rapped by the [...] Read more

  Music It wasn’t just the controversy, the memes, or all those remixes. By Chris Molanphy July 29, 20194:34 PM Tweet Share Comment In the nearly four months since I last had a new No. 1 hit to write about for Slate, there have been moments, I’ll admit, when I wondered whether Lil Nas X’s [...] Read more