March 24, 2020 Producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland face off in the first Verzuz battle, where songwriters, producers and artists take turns performing their hits and are judged by an online audience. The series quickly becomes very popular, regularly drawing virtual audiences in the six figures. Popular battles include Gladys Knight vs Patti LaBelle, Teddy Riley vs Babyface, and Erykah Badu vs Jill Scott.
March 20, 2020 The Weeknd releases After Hours, an album filled with the kind of anxiety and paranoia many are feeling in the early weeks of coronavirus lockdown. It goes to #1 in the United States and many other territories, and the single "Blinding Lights" becomes one of the most-streamed songs of the spring and summer.
March 18, 2020 Gal Gadot posts a video of herself and a host of celebrities singing "Imagine" line-by-line from their places of quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic. It doesn't get the reaction she's after.More
March 17, 2020 With St. Patrick's Day festivities shut down due to the coronavirus, Dropkick Murphys livestream a free concert from an empty venue in Boston. Over the next few weeks, many other artists follow suit, using livestreaming as a way to perform for fans during lockdown.More
March 17, 2020 A federal judge rules in favor of Katy Perry, overturning a verdict that her song "Dark Horse" infringed on the song "Joyful Noise" by Flame. The jury had ordered $2.78 million in damages.
March 11, 2020 Keara Wilson posts a dance challenge on TikTok to Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" that quickly spreads across the platform. It gives the song a huge boost, and when Beyoncé jumps on a remix, it goes to #1 in America.
March 9, 2020 An appellate court upholds a 2016 ruling that Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" did not infringe on the Spirit song "Taurus," bringing an end to the lawsuit that was filed in 2014. The court also overturns the "inverse ratio rule," which sets a lower standard for infringement based on how much access a defendant had to a song.
March 4, 2020 At 58, Garth Brooks becomes the youngest recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Past recipients of the award include Gloria & Emilio Estefan, Tony Bennett, Willie Nelson, Billy Joel, Carole King, and Paul McCartney, among others.
March 1, 2020 Public Enemy kick Flavor Flav out of the group, claiming he often missed live gigs and recording sessions. "He always chose to party over work," the statement reads. On April 1, the band releases a new song with Flav and claims kicking him out was a hoax.
February 10, 2020 While performing at the Get Out The Vote rally in New Hampshire in support of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, The Strokes debut the animated video for their new single "At The Door." They also perform the forthcoming followup single "Bad Decisions" for the first time.More
January 26, 2020 Billie Eilish, 18, wins big at the Grammys as the death of Kobe Bryant and an internal scandal cast a cloud on the ceremony.More
January 21, 2020 Ever the trendsetter, Dolly Parton creates a viral meme that shows off four sides of her personality, as represented by LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Tinder. Celebrities like Oprah, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Garner, and Miley Cyrus join in on the fun with their own versions.More
January 4, 2020 Mariah Carey becomes the first artist to top the Hot 100 in four different decades when "All I Want For Christmas Is You" stays at #1 for a third week.
December 13, 2019 Harry Styles releases his highly anticipated second album, Fine Line, which includes the hits "Adore You" and "Watermelon Sugar." It's a global smash, putting Styles way ahead of his One Direction bandmates in solo success.
December 8, 2019 Juice WRLD, a 21-year-old rapper known for his hit "Lucid Dreams," dies after suffering a seizure onboard a private jet.
November 30, 2019 Slayer call it a career, playing their final show at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The last song is "Angel Of Death."
November 28, 2019 The Pussycat Dolls, who broke up in 2010, announce their reunion. They perform on X Factor UK two days later, but their tour is called off due to COVID. Lead singer Nicole Scherzinger and group founder Robin Antin trade lawsuits, but in 2026 the group returns to action, this time with just three members, including Scherzinger.
November 22, 2019 Pollstar publishes their list of the top touring artists of the 2010s in North America. U2 is on top with a gross of $1,038,104,132, followed by The Rolling Stones ($929,196,083), Ed Sheeran ($922,361,663), Taylor Swift ($899,627,048) and Bon Jovi ($868,715,392).
November 10, 2019 In Houston, Joe Walsh stages the first annual VetsAid concert to assist veterans. He's joined on the bill by ZZ Top, Sheryl Crow and The Doobie Brothers.
November 2, 2019 Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" goes to #1 in America, making him the first Scottish solo singer to claim the top spot since Sheena Easton with "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" in 1981.
October 26, 2019 The beat-up sweater Kurt Cobain wore on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged special sells at auction for $334,000. After Cobain died, Courtney Love gave it to the family's nanny, who sold it to pay for cancer treatments.
October 4, 2019 After being reissued for its 50th anniversary, The Beatles' Abbey Road album returns to #1 in the UK, where it spent 17 weeks in the top spot in 1969 and 1970.
October 4, 2019 The blockbuster film Joker becomes the first film to use "Rock And Roll Part 2" since Gary Glitter's 2015 conviction for pedophilia. Many in the UK, where Glitter's crimes are well-known, are outraged because it earns the disgraced glam rocker substantial royalties.
October 2, 2019 Kim Shattuck of The Muffs dies at 56 after a battle with ALS. Her bandmates remember her as "a brilliant songwriter, rocking guitarist and singer/screamer extraordinaire."
September 30, 2019 Green Day and the National Hockey League announce a partnership deal that includes the band playing halftime of the 2020 All-Star Game, and their song "Fire, Ready, Aim" as the opening theme to the Wednesday Night Hockey broadcasts.
September 25, 2019 The first installment of Ken Burns' eight-part documentary series Country Music airs on PBS. The film chronicles the evolution of the genre from the early "hillbilly" musicians of the '20s with Fiddlin' John Carson through the New Traditionalists of the '90s with Garth Brooks.
September 23, 2019 Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter dies at 78.
September 13, 2019 Lizzo, Cardi B and Jennifer Lopez play strippers in the movie Hustlers, which also features Usher as a patron. It's the film debut for Cardi, who was an exotic dancer before launching her music career.
September 9, 2019 Kelly Clarkson's daytime talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, debuts. Every episode starts with "Kellyoke," where Clarkson sings a cover of a popular song.
September 7, 2019 Thanks to an appearance in the Netflix show Someone Great where Gina Rodriguez gets tipsy and sings it to get over a breakup, "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo goes to #1 in America nearly two years after it was first released.
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