How Music Charts

Scrolling through Rolling Stone’s list of all-time best folk albums, one notices they have something in common: they’re old. Twelve of the top 25 albums came out in the 1960s, another 11 in the 1970s, and just two in the early 2000s....

Blue dots can keep artists up at night. 

For the last few months, the term “blue dot fever” has spread through the music industry after several headlining acts, including ...

CD culture in Japan is a unique phenomenon, driven by domestic superfandom (oshi-katsu), the bundling of perks like in-person meet-and-greets, and elaborate obi strip-adorned packaging that can turn releases into valuable collectables. Even in 2026, CDs and other physical formats still account for the majority of music sales in the world’s second-biggest mus...

The original version of this report was released in partnership with