2024: A Perfect Year for Music
From the insanity that was the Kendrick v.s. Drake beef, to Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, 2024 has been one of the most influential years in music history. Artists as big as Taylor Swift released ground-breaking, chart-climbing albums that have gathered millions of streams as the year progressed. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest albums of 2024 to wrap up this year of musical talent…
The Tortured Poets Department gained attention almost instantaneously, as Taylor Swift arguably has one of the largest fan bases for an artist in the 21st century. After its release on April 19th, the album managed to become the first to reach over 300 million streams in a single day on Spotify. Swift has never failed to appeal to the masses, but this groundbreaking album reached another level of renown. Swift collaborated with rapper Post Malone on the album’s most popular song Fortnight; with these creative, collaborative efforts, they composed a song that pleasantly reverberated in people’s ears and the music industry in no time.
Released on May 17th, Hit Me Hard and Soft touched millions of listeners instantly. Eilish has already garnered a (to say the least) large following, some having loved since her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and some just now discovering the talent, creativity, and authenticity of Billie Eilish. The album included songs that countless people resonated with, as it addressed body image, sexuality, and love in a way that validated the listener and could even evoke strong feelings of confidence. Eilish’s song Birds of A Feather achieved a huge–but not surprising–popularity, reaching #1 on various pop music charts.
Steering away from pop and more toward the genre of rap, Chromakopia was released on October 28th by the extraordinary, eclectic Tyler, the Creator. This album had been amassing listeners through a snippet that had been released prior to the album’s launch and was incredibly popular on social media. This snippet was then revealed to be the chorus of the song St. Chroma, which has now been streamed millions of times. The most remarkable part of Chromakopia is the fact that Tyler made the album singlehandedly, writing and producing his own songs. To say the album is a work of art is an understatement, as Tyler makes almost all of his music himself (hence ‘the Creator’) and features phenomenal artists like Daniel Caesar and Childish Gambino in his songs. He has been a prominent figure in the music industry and his way of music ‘creation’ is like no other.
Similarly to Tyler, Kendrick Lamar had an extremely noteworthy year in all aspects of his musical career. Kendrick and Drake started 2024 off in a feud in which the winner is still to be determined, and both released music as the year went by. However, looking past the passionate, anger-filled diss tracks, came the melodious album GNX. Published on November 22nd, GNX became Kendrick’s sixth studio album and did not disappoint. Alongside his lyrical genius is also Kendrick’s ability to work harmoniously with his features. Luther is a perfect example of this collaboration, as both SZA and Kendrick bring notice to each other’s voices against a vibrant, feel-good beat. It is no surprise that–with the aforementioned albums–GNX also currently has millions of streams and is the perfect way for listeners to look past the ‘feud’ and more into the talent he has.
Of course, many more albums have debuted this year that have struck a chord with many; however, these are simply just some of the more prominent, widespread albums. Whether you choose to look into these albums or not, one thing is certain–2024 was the perfect year for music, with albums appealing to millions of people across the globe from one genre to the next. We may be leaving this year behind, but the impact of this music is yet to come.
