Pop
Here you'll find album stories, birthdays, and anniversaries from pop artists across the decades, along with news of vinyl reissues as titles return to print. Pop built much of its early history on the 7-inch single, the format that carried hit songs into homes and jukeboxes long before albums became the main event, and that legacy still shows up in picture sleeves, colored pressings, and singles boxes collectors look for today. The stories here follow how specific songs and albums came together, the writers and producers behind them, and why a particular reissue or pressing still catches a collector's eye.
379 STORIES
Why Did Mercedes Sosa Sing When the Guns Were Out?
In the city of La Plata, a concert was underway. On stage stood Mercedes Sosa, the Argentine folk singer known to millions as la Negra, a nickname that came fro…
· 3 min read
How Shontelle Turned a Joke Into a Debut Album
Shontelle's debut album Shontelligence began as a studio joke and was finished in just six months, arriving in November 2008 on Motown.
· 3 min read
Mikolas Josef: From Street Corners to Eurovision
Czech pop singer Mikolas Josef went from busking in Prague, Oslo and Vienna to finishing sixth at Eurovision with 'Lie to Me'. It remains the best result any Czech entry has achieved.
· 3 min read
How Katy Perry's Last Teenage Dream Single Almost Won
Katy Perry's 'The One That Got Away' was the sixth and final single from Teenage Dream, released on Capitol Records in autumn 2011. It peaked at number three on the Hot 100.
· 4 min read
How Lil Mama Turned a Viral Hit Into Staying Power
Lil Mama, born Niatia Jessica Kirkland in Harlem, turned a viral hit into a career spanning music, television and acting. Her debut album VYP reached number 25 on the Billboard 200.
· 3 min read
How Kevin Richardson Left the Backstreet Boys and Found His Way Back
Kevin Richardson left the Backstreet Boys in 2006 after thirteen years. He returned in 2012, and the group released In a World Like This with all five original members in 2013.
· 3 min read
How Gwen Stefani Became the Queen of Confessional Pop
Gwen Stefani went from sharing a microphone in her brother's Fullerton ska band to a solo career that Rolling Stone labelled the queen of confessional pop.
· 3 min read
How Romina Power Shed the Scandal and Found Pop Fame
Romina Power was born in Los Angeles in 1951 and named for Rome, then spent her teens in Italian films before Al Bano turned her into a pop star.
· 5 min read
How Porcelain Black Fought the Pop Machine
Porcelain Black, born Alaina Marie Beaton, signed with Virgin Records as a teenager and spent years fighting labels over the music she wanted to make.
· 3 min read
Kylie Minogue's Fever at 25
Kylie Minogue's eighth studio album Fever came out on 1 October 2001. Released by Parlophone, it turned a career in trouble into one of the biggest pop stories of the decade.
· 4 min read
Fossora at 4 and the Sound Björk Dug Up From Grief
Four years after its release, Björk's tenth studio album Fossora remains a deliberate descent into soil, roots, and the silence that follows loss. The record was shaped by lockdowns and grief.
· 4 min read
Why Did Cissy Houston Give Away Midnight Train to Georgia?
Cissy Houston, born Emily Drinkard in 1933, recorded the original 'Midnight Train to Georgia'. She spent decades as a gospel, soul, and pop voice before her death in 2024.
· 3 min read
Why did Miley Cyrus trade acting for Bangerz in 2013?
In 2013, Miley Cyrus left acting behind to release Bangerz, her first album on RCA Records. It debuted atop the Billboard 200 and earned triple platinum certification.
· 4 min read
Tom Tom Club's 'Genius of Love': Why Hip-Hop Kept Sampling It
A bassline played by a man asleep under the mixing desk became the backbone of one of the most sampled hooks of the 1980s. Tom Tom Club released 'Genius of Love…
· 5 min read
How Johnny Mathis Turned a $25 Piano Into a 73-Album Legacy
A twenty-five-dollar upright piano, bought secondhand by a domestic cook in San Francisco, became the unlikely launchpad for one of the most durable careers in …
· 4 min read
Johnny Mathis: How a 25-Dollar Piano Led to a 490-Week Album
A 25-dollar family piano and a father's advice steered Johnny Mathis away from athletics. That decision produced the first greatest-hits album, which spent 490 weeks on the chart.
· 5 min read
Gavin Creel: The Man Who Walked Through Every Broadway Door
Gavin Creel, the Broadway star who originated Elder Price in The Book of Mormon and won a Tony for Hello, Dolly!, died in September 2024 at 48, two years after his final stage work.
· 4 min read
Why did Udo Jürgens walk away from schlager?
Udo Jürgens, born in 1934 in Klagenfurt, rose from a Carinthian castle to become a defining figure of German-language pop. He reshaped schlager with jazz and chanson influences.
· 4 min read
How Basia turned Polish beat clubs into global jazz-pop
Basia, born Barbara Stanisława Trzetrzelewska in Jaworzno, turns seventy-two today. She sold two million copies in the US with her first two solo records.
· 4 min read
Prince's Let's Go Crazy: How the Purple Rain Opener Hit #1
On September 29, 1984, Prince and the Revolution took Let's Go Crazy to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The single confirmed his shift from underground eccentric to mainstream pop star.
· 4 min read
Bros: How a Surrey band nearly broke Oxford Street
In September 1988, Bros drew such a crowd to an HMV autograph session on Oxford Street that police closed the road. It capped a year of chart success for the Surrey trio.
· 5 min read
Kurt Nilsen: The Plumber Who Beat the World
In 2004, plumber Kurt Nilsen from Bergen won World Idol singing U2's 'Beautiful Day', becoming Norway's most improbable pop export of the mid-2000s.
· 4 min read
Why did Julien Baker's Sprained Ankle resonate so deeply?
Julien Baker's 2015 debut Sprained Ankle turned a nineteen-year-old's confession into a quiet anthem. It mapped faith, addiction, and mental illness with structural precision.
· 5 min read
How Selena Gomez Made Kiss & Tell a Chart Surprise
Selena Gomez & the Scene's 2009 debut Kiss & Tell sold over 900,000 copies in the US, turning a Disney star's band-first gamble into a chart surprise.
· 5 min read