Ezra Edelman's documentary was in the works for four years, and was disputed by Prince's estate for “dramatic” factual inaccuracies and “sensationalised” renderings of events The Recording Academy ...

Before he was the guy leading stadiums full of fans through the chorus of "Sweet Caroline," Neil Diamond was a kid in Brooklyn writing song lyrics while bored in class. Diamond's expansive songwriting ...

With Tony! Toni! Toné!, his songs captured the mood of how people lived and died in Oakland. By Danyel Smith When his family moved from West to East Oakland, Calif., young D’Wayne Wiggins had to make ...

90 tracks! Five hours! Remix the year in pop however you wish. By Lindsay Zoladz The longest Amplifier playlist of the year is finally here: five hours, 90 tracks, each of which was chosen as a 2025 ...

Sean “Diddy” Combs has for decades denied any part in the deaths of rappers Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. Biggie Smalls). Now Netflix’s docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning has raised ...

In what’s now become a yearly tradition every December, I’m back ranking #1 hits from topical anniversary dates. This winter we’ll be doing 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005, and 2015, and I’ll be ranking every ...

With 2025 coming to a close, that means we've reached the halfway point for this decade. Difficult as that may be to believe, it is true, and it technically marks six full years of music, counting ...

We should address the elephant in the room: hip-hop did not have a strong year on the charts. In fact, rap music had its worst showing in years. Back in October, it made headlines when—for the first ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Hugh McIntyre covers music, with a focus on the global charts. Mariah Carey charts a new top 10 hit as “Christmas (Baby Please ...

In 2024, the song of the year was so undeniable and inescapable that we don’t even have to bother naming it. This year, the landscape is much trickier. Twenty twenty-five hasn’t produced a ...