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©2013 NPR
The albums that sum up our year span genres and borders. From Astro to Wadada Leo Smith, Fiona Apple to Frank Ocean, here are 50 albums that made 2012 great.
NPR Music remembers the singers, instrumentalists, songwriters and personalities who died in 2012. Explore their musical legacies.
We asked musicians, music industry folks, writers, programmers and DJs — fans all — to tell us how they saw 2012 in music. We sent them five questions asking what began and what fell apart, what made them happy and what disappointed them.
by Saidah Blount & Eleanor Kagan
It was a great year for videos that referenced high fashion, personal style, beautiful cinematography and a wide variety of clothing — from monks' robes to colorful suits — perfect for dancing.
©2013 NPR
by Maura Johnston
The question "what do readers want?" has hovered over any media business worth its advertising revenue for years, but in 2012, it took on more urgency. Knowing the answer to that question can be bad for the product.
by Ann Powers
Ann Powers picks her favorite chart-topping, radio-dominating songs of 2012.
by Chris Molanphy
Two things make for great years in pop music: variety and shared pleasure. After a handful of years when four-on-the-floor dance beats dominated radio, 2012 had both in spades.
by Briana Younger
He laces his bouncy, terse rhymes with a charisma reminiscent of another musician — Ringo Starr. The success of both artists, one in a '60s rock 'n' roll era and the other in a 21st century rap era, is a testament to people who consume pop music, which is everybody.
Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley
The cohosts of NPR Music's Microphone Check got together to remember the year in hip-hop — the albums they had to have, the ones they loved with reservations and the performance they can't stop talking about.
The albums that sum up our year span genres and borders. From Astro to Wadada Leo Smith, Fiona Apple to Frank Ocean, here are 50 albums that made 2012 great.
This is what 2012 sounded like to us. These are the songs that made us smile, cried with us, put our hands in the air and brought us back down to earth.
