"The best albums of 2020 proved that incredible new music will always make their way to our ears, even in the toughest of times" - Pitchfork announces its albums of the year special.

The top 20:

20. Fleet Foxes: 'Shore'
19. Amaarae: 'The Angel You Don’t Know'
18. Destroyer: 'Have We Met'
17. Róisín Murphy: 'Róisín Machine'
16. Run the Jewels: 'RTJ4'
15. U.S. Girls: 'Heavy Light'
14. Jay Electronica: 'Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn)'
13. The Microphones: 'Microphones in 2020'
12. Lil Uzi Vert: 'Eternal Atake'
11. Adrianne Lenker: 'songs / instrumentals'
10. Bad Bunny: 'YHLQMDLG'
9. Jessie Ware: 'What’s Your Pleasure?'
8. Haim: 'Women in Music Pt. III'
7. Yves Tumor: 'Heaven to a Tortured Mind'
6. Bob Dylan: 'Rough and Rowdy Ways'
5. Perfume Genius: 'Set My Heart on Fire Immediately'
4. Phoebe Bridgers: 'Punisher'
3. Moses Sumney: 'græ'
2. Waxahatchee: 'Saint Cloud'
1. Fiona Apple: 'Fetch the Bolt Cutters'

Some of UK's most successful songwriters "are driving Ubers" to make ends meet - songwriter Fiona Bevan told UK MPs giving evidence to digital, media, culture and sport committee inquiry into the future of music streaming, Bevan, who has written songs for One Direction, Steps and Lewis Capaldi, said many writers were struggling because of the way streaming services pay royalties, revealing she had earned just £100 for co-writing a track on Kylie Minogue's number one album, 'Disco'. "The most successful songwriters in the world can't pay their rent", she added. Chic's Nile Rodgers said - "every single time I've audited my partners, I find money. Every single time. And sometimes, it's staggering, the amount of money".

Sydney and Melbourne were allowed to open their nightclubs on Monday, with no more than 50 people on the dancefloor at once, with enough space for one person per four square meters. After seven months of lockdown, it was "cathartic, joyous and sweaty", Guardian's writer, who was there on the first day of the reopening, says about the experience, adding that - "for the first time in what seems like an eternity, it was a relief to be surrounded by strangers".

On the first anniversary of Tone Glow’s Substack iteration, its 30 writers write on the songs and albums and people that they have just discovered this year, and that mean something to them. There are some familiar names like Sade, Sleep, Grateful Dead, and Abba, as well some lesser-known like Judee Sill, Takagi Masakatsu, Gilda Radner (better-known as an actress), and Luc Ferrari. Go through it - here.

Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan, Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, and Mark Lanegan teamed up to make a very nice cover of the Jimmy Webb country classic 'The Highwayman'. The backing band featured Foo Fighters’ Nate Mendel, members of Death Cab, The Afghan Wigs, The Walking Papers, and guitarist Ian Moore. The collaboration was part of SMooCH 2020, an annual benefit show for the Seattle Children’s Hospital. The hour-long event also featured sets from Angel Olsen, Jason Isbell, Clipping., Kim Gordon, J. Mascis, and Fred Armisen.

An impressive list of artists - Dolly Parton, Henry Rollins, Cher, Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Phoebe Bridgers, Boy George, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, Kim Petras, King Princess, Sharon Osbourne, Taylor Swift, LL Cool J, Billie Eilish, Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler - has been announced for Cyndi Lauper's annual holiday benefit show. Virtual edition of 'Home for the Holidays' streams on Friday, December 11 (at 8 PM New York time, 2 AM on Saturday Berlin time, 8 AM Beijing time) on TikTok, and on Sunday, December 13 (at 10 PM Rio de Janeiro time, 3 AM Monday Kairo time, noon on Monday Sydney time) on YouTube and Facebook. Proceeds go to True Colors United, a non-profit that works to end homelessness among LGBTQ youth

The International Olympic Committee has added breakdancing as an Olympic sport for the 2024 Summer Games which will happen in Paris, ESPN reports. The sport will be called "breaking" at the Olympics, reflecting its original name in the late '70s. Sport climbing, skateboarding, surfing. and 3-on-3 basketball have also been added as new competitions, making their debut at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo which were postponed from this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"2020 bestowed an embarrassment of musical riches upon us" - PopMatters writes in its introduction of 60 best albums of 2020, with the majority of albums on the list made by solo artists.

Here are the top 20:

20. Deftones - 'Ohms'

19. Adrianne Lenker - 'Songs/Instrumentals'

18. Perfume Genius - 'Set My Heart on Fire Immediately'

17. Taylor Swift - 'folklore'

16. Bob Dylan - 'Rough and Rowdy Ways'

15. Bad Bunny – 'YHLQMDLG'

14. Childish Gambino – '15.3.20'

13. Jay Electronica - 'A Written Testimony'

12. Thundercat - 'It Is What It Is'

11. Dua Lipa – 'Future Nostalgia'

10. Fontaines D.C. - 'A Hero's Death'

9. Waxahatchee - 'Saint Cloud'

8. SAULT - 'Untitled (Black Is)'

7. Ital Tek - 'Outland'

6. Run the Jewels - 'RTJ4'

5. Yves Tumor - 'Heaven to a Tortured Mind'

4. Haim - 'Women in Music Pt. III'

3. Jessie Ware - 'What's Your Pleasure?'

2. Fiona Apple - 'Fetch the Bolt Cutters​'

1. Phoebe Bridgers - 'Punisher'

Spin is celebrating their 35th anniversary with a list of 35 most influential artists since 1985, with Nirvana taking the top spot because - "these days, you’d be hard-pressed to find a rock band or any modern artist — that’s not inspired in some way by that rowdy trio from Seattle". Lower down the list, among the Top 10, there are Prince, Madonna, N.W.A., Nine Inch Nails, 2Pac, Run DMC, R.E.M., Public Enemy, and Rage Against The Machine.

Bob Dylan has sold his entire songwriting catalogue to Universal Music for $300 million, according to the New York Times. The deal gives Universal the ownership of over 600 Dylan's songs spanning a period of almost six decades, starting with early classics such as ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, ‘The Times They Are A-Changing’ and ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, all the way through to 2020’s ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’. The deal means that Universal now controls one of the most celebrated back catalogues in history, and does not have to share future revenues with any other songwriters.Let's hope

“We have all the data that confirms and statistically proves that Brazil is a racist country. We are a country that was built on slavery” - Brazilian singer Luedji Luna says in a Guardian interview about her country. But there's more to Luna and her home-country than racism - “We’re expected to sing about hunger, pain, hunger, sadness. But we can sing other things. We live other things, too. That’s why I talk about love, to escape this stereotype, this expectation of pain when you think about a Black woman. I’m talking about love as healing. I’m talking about love as power”.

Saturday Night Live aired a Christmas-themed parody of Eminem’s classic 'Stan' video, starring Pete Davidson as "Stu" who repeatedly writes to Santa Claus asking for a PlayStation 5. After he doesn't get it he writes hate mails, when a famous rapper appears to solve the problem.

DIY pop artists and UK rap came big on BBC's Sound of 2021 - a list of the best rising talent in music. English rap maverick Pa Salieu is already breaking it with his debut mixtape 'Send Them to Coventry', and Norway's Girl In Red is big on Spotify with seven million fans playing her lo-fi tales of teenage angst on the service. Others on the list are soul-R'n'B singer Greentea Peng, pop singer Griff, as well as Alfie Templeman, Berwyn, Bree Runway, Dutchavelli, Holly Humberstone, and The Lathums.

Bad Bunny debuts at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart with his latest album 'El Último Tour Del Mundo', the first all-Spanish album to hold the top spot in the 64-year history of the chart, Billboard reports. Bad Bunny’s 'El Último...' debuted at No. 1 with 116,000 in sales and streaming.

Mongolian metal-folk band The HU have covered Metallica's classic 'Sad But True' in their native tongue, employing both traditional Mongolian instruments and throat singing. “Like millions of people around the world, Metallica has been a huge influence and inspiration for us as music fans and musicians. It is a great honor to show them our respect and gratitude by recording a version of ‘Sad But True’ in our language and in the style of The HU” - The HU’s Galbadrakh “Gala” Tsendbaatar said, according to Loudwire.

There’s Christmas cheer up and down the Official UK Singles Chart, with 21 songs among the Top 40, the Chart reports. Mariah Carey holds the highest spot, with her 1994 Christmas single 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' logging at No. 2. Wham's 'Last Christmas' climbs 17 places to No. 3, while The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s 'Fairytale of New York' zooms 26-8. Further 18 more holiday hits - including songs by John Lennon, Elton John, Band Aid, Chris Rea - impact the Top 40.

"For an independent artist with a dedicated audience, the [streaming] system doesn’t work. And neither does it work for loyal fans. If you are a dance fan, jazz fan, or metal fan, the artists you love and listen to are unlikely to see a penny of your subscription. Streaming is the future, but to deliver a rich and culturally diverse musical future, non-mainstream music needs to be able to keep its head above water... Now we’re asking the government to intervene and... grant musicians rights to income from streaming, so they can earn a percentage from every stream regardless of the system" - Nadine Shah, who had to move back to her parents, writes in the Guardian about a broken system.

An interesting interview with Rico Nasty in the New York Times:

“You don’t have to dress a certain way and you don’t have to sound a certain way to be a female rapper”

“To survive stan culture, you have to understand stan culture — you have to have been a stan. If anything, it makes me want to open up more”

“Being a mother taught me to go get some money. Once you become a mom, it’s just like, ‘OK, strategy. How are we going to pay for this?’ You do what’s necessary, and sometimes you get creative”

Hype Machine’s new program Merch Table lets users input their Spotify playlists and purchase those songs via Bandcamp. Merch Table works relatively simply - plug in the Spotify playlist url code into the search bar, press the “Find releases” button, and results of the songs listed begin to compile, taking you to each artist’s Bandcamp page to purchase tracks directly.

“I believe the best revolution will come from the mind. It will come from thinking. It will come from rediscovery" - multi-instrumentalist Made Kuti told in a Spin interview announcing his debut album 'For(e)ward'. Made is third-generation Kuti to play music - his grandfather Fela Kuti was an Afrobeat pioneer, his father Fela Kuti continued the tradition, and Made Kuti now is pushing for change in society and politics through music. Made's album 'For(e)ward' is coming out in conjunction with Fela's 'Stop the Hate'.

Guardian explored how fatherhood affected careers of male musicians, and how they dealt with it. UK rapper Ghetts says that when he had his daughter eight years ago, he “wasn’t as financially secure as I am now, so I panicked. It was like, ‘Wow, I’m going to be responsible for another human being.’ So it threw me into being more busy, if anything”. Similarly, Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard cites his breadwinner role - his children “get upset when I am about to go away”, but they “understand my job provides a good lifestyle for them where we have the things that we want”. As for logistics, Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne brought his newborn on tour, similar to Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, while Ghetts solves his fatherly duties by “speeding back during the night” after shows, and then “doing the school run in the morning”.

Billboard talked to Cardi B about being named their 2020 Woman of the Year based on the influence she made with her song 'WAP': "I know I’m a role model because I know there’s a lot of women like me. At the end of the day, I know I’m a bitch that made it through because I work my ass off, not because luck fell on my thighs. I want to show people that you can do positive things, but you can also be yourself. I’m a very sexual person. I love sex, and I like to rap about it... I’m just a naughty girl, and I’m not hurting nobody because I love my p**** and want to rap about it".

"The best indie-pop in 2020 privileged self-questioning and human connections over showy declarations of greatness. Small music with a big impact... Things I'm happy for in 2020 - there's still room for murkiness and mystique within melody-forward pop tunes" - PopMatters says introducing their list of 10 best indie-pop albums of this year. They are:

10. Peel Dream Magazine – 'Agitprop Alterna'

9. The Very Most – 'Needs Help'

8. The Legends – 'The Legends'

7. Pia Fraus – 'Empty Parks'

6. Thibault - 'Or Not Thibault'

5. Terry vs Tori – 'Heathers'

4. Tan Cologne – 'Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico'

3. Koney – 'Koney'

2. Fenne Lily – 'Breach'

1. Cindy – 'Free Advice'

United Nations' Commission for Narcotic Drugs made the decision to remove marijuana from the Schedule IV classification of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which deemed it a dangerous drug, next to heroin. The suggestion to remove marijuana came from the World Health Organization, the New York Times reports. The motion passed with a vote of 27 to 25. The removal does not equate to worldwide legalization or decriminalization, but it will allow for more scientific research to be conducted on the plant.

Alice in Chains were the recipients of the Museum of Pop Culture's 2020 Founders Award, and at the great virtual celebration that took place this week, Korn (almost) stole the show with their rendition of 'Would?' (watch below). Also performing were the Alice in Chains themselves, Metallica, members of Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Billy Corgan, Mastodon, as well as Chris Cornell's eldest daughter, Lily Cornell Silver, who made her live musical debut with a piano cover of 'Black Gives Way To Blue'.

"For decades, Dolly has been our contradictory savior. Authentic yet synthetic, tough yet haunted, brilliant yet aw-shucks, with a constructed, surgical femininity that somehow circles back into genderless and asexual. Wealthy enough to buy herself some taste, she always held on to a poor person’s idea of glamour and managed to make tacky classy" - Guardian reflects on Dolly Parton's $1million donation for Covid-19 research, the last in a long line - because she understands "that money is something you do rather than something you have".

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have released their original score for 'Mank', David Fincher’s new movie about Citizen Kane co-writer Herman Mankiewicz. The Nine Inch Nails duo exclusively used period-authentic instruments from the 1940s to compose the songs for the ode-to-Hollywood movie.

Home to young, multi-racial and multilingual populations, South East Asia has steadily developed an indigenous hip-hop community and the world is finally taking notice - BBC writes in an introduction of selected rap artists from the region - Malaysian trailblazer Yogi B, Singaporean Yung Raja, Malaysian Zamaera, Filipino Flizzow...

Madonna did it, Ian Brown also, as well as MIA, Ice Cube, Wiz Khalifa, Deftones' Stephen Carpenter... Why? Guardian shortly tries to explain: "Music attracts mavericks and outsiders. The typical psychological profile of a conspiracy theorist – arrogant, stubborn, proudly heterodox – also fits many performers. Some are autodidacts, attracted to the juicy secret knowledge that you won’t get from the mainstream media, while lacking the analytical tools necessary to sort the wheat from the chaff. And given that musicians who express an interest in politics are disproportionately leftwing, it’s inevitable that a minority will drift to its furthest fringes. Prodigious weed-smoking may also play a part".

Chicago rapper G Herbo and his entourage have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identify theft worth $1 million in products and services over a four year period, USA Today reports. The US government alleges that Herbo and his fellow defendants took part in an identity theft scheme using stolen credit card information partially acquired on the dark web. With it, they secured themselves a Jamaica vacation in 2017, pure-breed puppies, bills for hotels and restaurants, the renting of luxury cars, a private jet...