What's the value of music in 2020? Are charts measuring album sales the best metric for popularity?

How Merchandise Bundles Undid the Album Chart

The Popcast is hosted by Jon Caramanica, a pop music critic for The New York Times. It covers the latest in popular music criticism, trends and news. 

Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp

Music

Music Interviews

Music Commentary

Digging into “Only God Was Above Us,” an LP that’s both catchy and complex. Guest host: Jon Pareles. Guests: The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich and Pitchfork's Matthew Strauss.

Vampire Weekend’s New Album Goes Underground and All Over

Breaking down the convoluted recent beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar (and Future, Metro Boomin, the Weeknd, ASAP Rocky, Rick Ross and more).

Popcast (Deluxe): It’s Drake vs. Everybody … Who’s Winning?

A conversation about how the pop superstar’s genre experiments explore race and power, and the implicit politics that come with them. Guests: Marcus K. Dowling and Julianne Escobedo Shepherd.

Beyoncé, ‘Cowboy Carter’ and Filling in History’s Gaps

How conversation about very specific aspects of the new albums “Cowboy Carter” and “We Don’t Trust You” can obscure talk of their musical quality.

Popcast (Deluxe): Listening to Beyoncé & Future (and the Discourse)

An in-depth interview with the Atlanta hip-hop and EDM legend, tracing his path through punk, skateboarding and crunk music on the way to this year’s Super Bowl.

How Merchandise Bundles Undid the Album Chart

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