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New Music Friday: Our Top 9 Albums Out On Jan. 17

The late rapper Mac Miller. His posthumous release, Circles, is on our shortlist for the best new albums out on Jan. 17. Christian Weber/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Christian Weber/Courtesy of the artist

New Music Friday

January 17, 2020 • A posthumous release from Mac Miller, Halsey's Manic and Little Big Town's Nightfall top our shortlist for the best new albums out this week.

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Playlists

Hand-picked songs curated by the NPR Music staff

41 Women Who Should Be In The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

So why isn't Dolly Parton in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Fairfax Media Archives/Getty Images hide caption

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Fairfax Media Archives/Getty Images

41 Women Who Should Be In The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

Dolly Parton, Carla Thomas, Fanny, The Runaways and Salt n Pepa are just some of the women who should be in the Hall by now.

Chris Sharron

NPR Classical

This week's additions offer King connections: musicians and composers who had connections to Martin Luther King Jr., including Duke Ellington, Nina Simone and conductor Paul Freeman.

Viking's Choice: Polvo Reissues, Speed Punk, Apocalyptic Rebetika

Today's Active Lifestyles, Polvo's second album from 1993, gets a slight makeover from its original, puke yellow-and-green color scheme for a vinyl reissue. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Viking's Choice

In the '90s Chapel Hill scene, Polvo stood out for how little it wanted to fit in. Those reissues, plus new music from Code Orange and Chubby and the Gang and old music from Greece.

Angela Hsieh/NPR

Heat Check

The R&B playlist for slow-burners, oddly satisfying cross-genre concoctions and the discoveries you almost want to keep for yourself.

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Editors' picks

Essential stories and videos from npr music

Diatom Ribbons, by Kris Davis (center) was selected as the No. 1 jazz album of 2019 in a poll of 140 critics. Davis' album includes contributions from a wide range of musicians, including Terri Lyne Carrington (left) and Val Jeanty (right). Caroline Mardok/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Caroline Mardok/Courtesy of the artist

The 2019 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll

The results of the year-end poll of 140 jazz critics offered surprise after surprise, including what's likely the youngest group of musicians, and more women than ever, in the top 10.

The Past Year, And Decade, In Music Listening: Video Rules, The Boy's Club Remains

Two competing data firms, BuzzAngle and Nielsen Music, released reports in early Jan. 2020 detailing the many changes in listening over the past decade. Kirsty Lee / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm hide caption

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Kirsty Lee / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm