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The 50 best albums of 2024
No 1 – Charli xcx: Brat (and Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat)

Smart, funny, moving and full of big tunes, the in-your-face masterpiece was the right album at the right time, striking a cultural nerve and defining a change in mindset

Best music of 2024
You and I are gonna live forever: why this year's pop was all about sharing the moment

Best music of 2024
The 50 best albums: 50-1

The 50 best albums of 2024
No 2 – Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee

The 50 best albums of 2024
No 3 – Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft

The 50 best albums of 2024
No 4 – Clairo: Charm

Reviews

Aphex Twin
Music from the Merch Desk (2016-2023) – Santa’s sack overspills with AFX bounty

Music from the Merch Desk (2016-2023) – Santa’s sack overspills with AFX bounty

Spotlight

‘That’s the Christmas No 1!’
How East 17 made festive favourite Stay Another Day

Brian Harvey said, ‘I’m not singing this shit!’ – and threw his headphones on the floor. It took two days to get the performance out of him

Classical

Heart-wrenching, joy-inducing and irrepressibly thrilling
Our classical critics’ highlights of the year

Live review
Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists/Rousset – joyous and immaculate festive programme

Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists/Rousset – joyous and immaculate festive programme

Live review
La Bohème – action rather than angst in lively revival

La Bohème – action rather than angst in lively revival

Add to playlist

Move over, Mariah!
The cheesiest, weepiest, silliest, booziest European Christmas bangers

Best music of 2024
The 10 best contemporary albums

Best music of 2024
The 10 best folk albums

‘Uptown Funk makes me want to move, it makes me happy’:
Lorraine Bracco’s honest playlist

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‘I don’t deal in nonsense’
Tulisa on ‘revenge porn’, tabloid stings, celibacy, success and survival

After a stint on I’m a Celebrity, the N-Dubz singer is preparing for her next act. She discusses the trauma she has lived through – and why she still has faith in the future

‘This is incredible’
A new generation of music lovers discovers the 70s sounds of the Lijadu Sisters

The twins shook up the music scene in Nigeria, becoming pop stars against the odds in a male-dominated industry. Now their five albums are being reissued

Matt Goss on love, loss and his brother Luke

I don’t want to lie any more. We’re completely estranged

The Bros frontman is back touring the UK after an 11-year Vegas residency. He discusses mega-fame, political correctness, loneliness and the joy of long-term success

‘Like Depeche Mode, but evil’
The sweaty, sexual music of 80s EBM

As documented in a new book, electronic body music swept Belgium and Germany as its artists strove to make something entirely new – but their militaristic look became controversial

Live music this week

Paul McCartney
Extraordinarily sublime and humblingly beautiful

Extraordinarily sublime and humblingly beautiful

Slipknot
Metal mammoths deliver exhilarating sonic brutality

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