2024: The Biggest Upcoming Releases (That We Know About)

2023 gave us loads of comeback tours, new music, and lots to look forward to in 2024 with our favorite pop stars. Here are some of the albums that we are most excited about.

In September, R&B superstar Usher announced his ninth studio album will be released on February 11, the day he performs at the Super Bowl Halftime show. Titled Coming Home, the artist will feature the 2023 track “Good Good,” featuring Summer Walker and 21 Savage. The upcoming album’s artwork features a shirtless Usher holding a peach behind the back of his neck. Usher worked on the album with L.A. Reid, who produced his multi-platinum 2004 hit album Confessions.

Jennifer Lopez announced her Ben Affleck-inspired sequel album to 2002's This Is Me... Then with This Is Me... Now, releasing on February 16. The "All I Have" singer, over twenty years later, is providing a companion film to go along with the album, which she co-wrote with her husband. Lopez said this album captured the time she was “reunited with the love of my life, and we decided we would be together forever. The whole message of the album then is this love exists.”
https://x.com/PrimeVideo/status/1729123076829266418?s=20

Following her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (where she performed with Olivia Rodrigo), Sheryl Crow is releasing her 11th studio album, Evolution on March 29. Featuring nine new songs, the album’s lead single “Alarm Clock” dropped in November.

One pair-up we didn't see coming is the J Balvin and Ed Sheeran collaborative album, which he hopes will be released in 2024. “It came about in an organic, natural way," J. Balvin said of how they met and often ran into each other. "That’s going to be another album that will offer a lot to talk about, because it’s like merging two worlds,” the "Mi Gente" artist said over the summer. Meanwhile, Sia's tenth studio album, Reasonable Woman, marks the return of the singer, and her first solo pop album in eight years. With the release of the dance track "Gimme Love," Sia said the album is due out in the spring of next year. No track listing or exact release date has been announced as of yet.

As we reported back in June, Selena Gomez revealed that she was hitting the studio, working on her upcoming album. Gomez says that she enjoys being both a singer and actress addeding that she prefers working nonstop. She teased that her new as-yet-untitled album is set to drop sometime in February. The artist's forthcoming album will most likely feature her 2023 hit track from August, "Single Soon."

Dua Lipa dropped a track titled "Houdini" in the fall of 2023, with the upcoming album expected to drop in 2024. Though there is no name of the new record or any set date, the pop icon said her new sound is inspired by "1970s-era psychedelia.” She has said the process of writing her new music is “insular and exciting.”

While attending the Toronto International Film Festival, Lil Nas X teased that he’s working on “good, fire a– music” and expressed a desire to experiment with different genres, listing folk and Brazilian funk as examples. As we reported, the musician crossed over into the Christian era of his career, but it looks like he was doing it to troll people. Meanwhile, Zayn Malik dropped a new song over the summer, titled "Love Like This." In November, the musician shared a black-and-white clip of him playing an acoustic guitar on Instagram, hinting at new music on the way.

Music artists are constantly vying for the top of the charts. But an artist's relevance is about more than just the hit singles and albums these days. It's even about more than concert ticket an merch sales. Wettfreunde analyzed Google search results over the last year to find out what music artists have been the most searched in different countries around the world.

With K-pop being on the rise in popularity worldwide, it is no surprise that the biggest boy bands and girl bands from that genre made the list. BTS and Blackpink are the most famous, and more K-pop bands are gaining popularity in the US as well. The K-pop genre is popular for its catchy rhythms and choruses, as all mainstream pop music  has. The groups consist of young, attractive, and stylish members, just like the teen idols of decades past. Meanwhile, U.S. based pop stars have extended their reach globally to their fans via social media and touring, propelling the interest in searches on Google.

For the music artists who haven't gone on tour or released new music in the last year, their influence on their fans across the world has kept them relevant enough to keep them on people's minds. For example, Rihanna has not released an album since 2016's Anti. She offered her voice for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack with "Lift Me Up" in 2022 and performed at the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show. Despite not having new music for her fans, RiRi gave birth to two children with her partner, A$AP Rocky, and runs multiple successful businesses, which seem to keep her busy enough.

The search results of the 1000 most-streamed artists across 189 countries were compared. Keep scrolling to see the results of which music artists are the most searched of the year.