Ne-Yo wrote the R&B track before he was a household name, and it topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine weeks. By Mesfin Fekadu Before Ne-Yo became a household name, the budding performer was ...

Love songs and you-should-let-me-love-you songs. Heartbreaker songs and heartache-to-heartache songs. Maybe you’re amazed by the way she loves you all the time. Maybe you lost the only one who really ...

In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. It’s-a him!

A hit 2004 song from an R&B sensation has gone viral on TikTok and become a soundtrack for frustration, panic, and excitement. It is also, as one commenter pointed out, “one of them classic old skool ...

The soft-rock peak of the late 70s and early 80s accepted all comers. It didn’t matter what kind of history you had before that point as a band or artist. As long as you pulled it together for a song ...

Of all the revelations on the Beatles’ new Let It Be box set, the biggest is the song that didn’t even make the original album. “Don’t Let Me Down” is John Lennon’s raw love ballad to Yoko Ono, much ...

This essay first appeared in the NPR Music newsletter. Sign up for early access to articles like this one, listening recommendations and more. I love the word "heartthrob." It stops you whether you ...

When Dolly Parton writes a song, it’s her song — no exceptions. Not even for the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. Parton was asked during an appearance on BBC 2 Radio whether it was true that she wouldn’t let ...