At the end of a year in which pop songs were a constant, provocative part of the national conversation, NPR Music critic Ann Powers sifts through the 100 most popular songs of the year to highlight 10 pure pop pleasures worth remembering.
Finding new and excellent R&B is a scavenger hunt, one that winds through blogs, Tumblr and Twitter. Here are the 10 songs that didn’t make the pop charts, but should have got more love.
Discover 10 surprising, sophisticated and stellar albums released this year by artists around the globe, from electronica by way of Sudan to 1960s-style French/Brazilian cool.
2013 was a big commercial year for all things R&B and soul music. But you can’t exactly call it a banner year artistically. From throwback to eccentric to gut-wrenching, these songs suggest the state of R&B in 2013.