It has been quite the year for former Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter. In late 2023 and early 2024, Carpenter opened for sections of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” in Latin America and Asia. This earned her a career boost that would push her popularity to heights beyond the expectations of the music executives representing her. Since Carpenter’s rapid popularity growth, three of her singles have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, with “Please Please Please” snatching the No. 1 spot back in June. Most impressively, “Short n’ Sweet” earned over 350,000 sales units in its first week of release, nearly 20 times the individual sales of her 2022 album “emails i can’t send.” “Short n’ Sweet” is an all-around victory for Carpenter – and the compressed and consistent quality of the album makes it deserving of every unit sold.

The summer of 2024 has been a significant period for music in the 2020s. Many of the world’s top pop stars released their highly anticipated albums, with “brat summer” taking over following the release of Charli xcx’s album “BRAT,” and Sabrina Carpenter rising in popularity with a career breakthrough for the ages. Billie Eilish’s third studio album, “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,” stood out for its songwriting, impeccable vocal performances and uniqueness within the musical production.

Nearly five years after the release of their self-titled EP, the indie-rock supergroup boygenius’ debut album “the record” was released on Friday, March 31, to overwhelmingly positive reviews from websites such as Metacritic, NME, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. 

The very first beat of Ethan Torchio’s drums on the first track “OWN MY MIND” of Måneskin’s new album “RUSH!” captivates listeners with its seductively dark punk rock tempo, lyrics and sound, making it nearly impossible to not fully feel each and every beat on the highly anticipated third studio album.

“Her Loss,” the highly anticipated collaboration album from Drake and 21 Savage, is finally here, having touched down on all major streaming platforms on Friday, Nov. 4. The project spans one hour and includes 16 songs in total.

Two years of waiting are over: 5 Seconds of Summer’s (5SOS) fifth studio album, “5SOS5,” was released Friday, Sept. 23.

Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, dropped his recent album “Un Verano Sin Ti” on Friday, May 6.

On Friday, May 6, Jack Harlow released his much-anticipated sophomore studio album, “Come Home the Kids Miss You.”

California-based band Bad Suns released their fourth album, “Apocalypse Whenever,” on Jan. 28. Their last full-length release came out three years ago, so fans have been craving something new. The band did not disappoint as they returned to a new wave-inspired sound that was missing from their previous release.

After almost four years with no new music, renowned Japanese American singer-songwriter Mitski Miyawaki, better known by the moniker “Mitski” to audiences, released her sixth studio album. “Laurel Hell” approached the artist’s individualized path of making music through indie-pop and rock-influenced synths and chillingly inquisitive songwriting.