NPR Music critics reflect on the lyrics that captured the year's mood, sparked emotions and stayed with them long after the music stopped. Lyrics of a song can reach us in ways that no other speech ...

Luke Bryan has been part of country music for almost 20 years. These are four of his best songs released in the last decade.

Before he was the guy leading stadiums full of fans through the chorus of "Sweet Caroline," Neil Diamond was a kid in Brooklyn writing song lyrics while bored in class. Diamond's expansive songwriting ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A collage of five musicians. This year in music had no shortage of hits, but only a handful of songs truly rose above the rest.

Often labeled as one of the most overlooked Beatles song, Maxwell's Silver Hammer reflects Paul McCartney's polished taste on ...

Welcome to one of the worst years in Hot 100 history. Sure, most #1 hits these days are especially crummy, but there’s something impossible about 2005’s lukewarm output. Considering how rich 2004 was, ...

From J. Cole to Public Enemy, these 15 tracks show how artists keep Martin Luther King Jr.’s name alive in Hip Hop and R&B.

Though David Crosby wasn't above calling out people by name, he once widened the scope of his insults to encompass an entire ...

In 1980, when the Police were working on their third album, Sting was thinking about nonsense.

Two decades later, those tracks still hit with all the brightness they did on the first watch. As High School Musical ...

When I listen to a song, I listen for the lyrics. The words put images in my head, if they're good, like a Springsteen line. (Singing) The screen door slams. Mary's dress waves. Or they convey an ...

Looking back at the year in music, it was very much a “Golden” age. But, demon hunting aside, did it also count as golden with a small G? As we dived through our favorite music of 2025 to consider ...