Lily Allen’s live return, Charli xcx’s Wuthering Heights and Simon Rattle’s Janáček: music to listen out for in 2026

Raye, Deftones and Yungblud do UK tours, Jill Scott returns for more neo-soul, and classical world gears up to celebrate György Kurtág at 100

‘Have sex to my own music? That sounds repugnant’: KT Tunstall’s honest playlist

The Scots singer thought Kim Wilde was cool and got talked into buying a Cocteau Twins record but which song gives her a slap in the face?

‘Almost collapsed’: behind the Korean film crisis and why K-pop isn’t immune

Both industries dominate the world but now face fundamental transformation and uncertainty at home

‘Hardcore had a level of violence I was really interested in’: the thrash solos and beatdowns of False Reality

The band may be relatively new but its members have spent years steeped in the scene, giving them edge and an ear for tracks that rip through a room

The best songs of 2025 … you may not have heard

From a folk murder ballad to an impassioned call for peace, Guardian writers pick their favourite lesser-heard tracks of the year

Soul-baring ballads, alt-rock fury and neon-lit techno: five-star albums you may have missed this year

Valentina Magaletti drummed for her life, Sarz got hips swinging and Daniel Avery got slinky and serpentine: our writers pick their favourite unsung LPs from 2025

Paranoia, pop-dubstep and perfectly odd gems: the best old music we discovered this year

Strange folk, lost pop, disco oddities and, um, Dido – here are the forgotten tracks that became this year’s most replayed revelations

What happened next: the Oasis comeback – and how it transformed a hill in Manchester

When the band played their homecoming shows, the city council attempted to discourage ticketless fans from an area that became known as ‘Gallagher Hill’. But, realistically, nothing could keep them away ...

Bold docuseries or dull branding exercise? What The End of an Era really told us about Taylor Swift

Swift’s six-parter charting her Eras tour began with some riveting revelations – but the drama ebbed away, leaving another piece of mere product for fans

‘It contains the greatest song ever about an ice cream truck’: readers’ favourite albums of 2025

The beautiful despair of Cameron Winter, the perfectly imperfect life of Lily Allen, the maximalist R&B of Dijon and more: here’s what our readers have had on heavy rotation

The 10 best global albums of 2025

Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with mournful minimalism, Mohinder Kaur Bhamra’s 1982 album of Punjabi disco makes a comeback and Venezuelan-Guatemalan duo Titanic serve up ecstatic tracks

Despite his knack for slick pop, the principled and passionate Chris Rea never took the easy road

The late musician bristled against his record companies, his producers and fame itself – but that friction ignited both his AOR hits and his raw, spirited take on the blues

Barry Manilow to undergo surgery for lung cancer

The 82-year-old singer says the disease is in its early stages and he plans to be back on stage in February

Chris Rea obituary

Singer, songwriter and guitarist best known for his enduring hit Driving Home for Christmas

Chris Rea’s Driving Home for Christmas is an evergreen, everyman anthem that captures the season’s true spirit

By rejecting the bombast of 80s pop, the late singer-songwriter’s track has endured, and thereby perfectly captures the nostalgic feelings at the heart of Christmas