Canadian rapper and vocalist Drake sustained a high-level commercial presence shortly after he hit the scene in 2006, whether with his own chart-topping releases or a long string of guest appearances on hits by the likes of Lil Wayne, Rihanna, and A$AP Rocky. Drake collected two Grammy nominations for the 2020 ceremonies, one for best rap song with his Rick Ross collaboration "Gold Roses" and another for best R&B song with his Chris Brown-assisted "No Guidance." That same year, he released another mixtape made up of demos and singles titled Dark Lane Demo Tapes. One of the songs was "Toosie Slide," his third song to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first male artist to accomplish that feat.

Justin Bieber became a global pop phenomenon with his debut, My World (2009), a multi-platinum smash in the singer's native Canada and several other territories. Only 15 years old at the time of its release, Bieber was fast-tracked to sustained commercial presence with a remix compilation, an acoustic set, a concert film, and additional studio recordings, including the Grammy-nominated My World 2.0 (2010) and similarly chart-topping Believe (2012), all hitting the market within a three-year period. Also preceded by the first installments of his Seasons documentary and the headlining singles "Yummy" and "Intentions" (eventual Top Ten hits in Canada and the U.S.), Changes arrived in February 2020 and entered the Billboard 200 at number one. During the next couple of months, material from Changes was divided into a series of loosely themed five-track EPs (such as R&Bieber and Biebs and Chill).

Grammy-winning rock quartet Tool established themselves as one of America's most enduring and unpredictable acts with their ever-evolving brand of muscular but mind-altering sonics, wry sense of humor, and mystical aesthetic that attracted a cult-like following of devoted fans with just a handful of albums spread across decades. Their greatest breakthrough was to meld dark underground metal with the ambition of art rock, crafting multi-sectioned, layered songs as if they were classical composers. While embracing the artsy, they also paid musical homage to the relentlessly bleak visions of grindcore, death metal, and thrash. Even with their post-punk influences, they executed their music with the aesthetic of prog rock, alternating between long, detailed instrumental interludes and lyrical rants in their songs. Debuting in the early '90s with Undertow, they were initially lumped in with the nu-metal contemporaries of the time, which made them a hit on rock radio with their sophomore effort, 1996's Ænima. However, they would soon break away from those associations, evolving beyond the confines of traditional song structures and song lengths, crafting epics that often clocked in past the ten-minute mark on 2000s head-trips Lateralus and 10,000 Days. After a lengthy 13-year hiatus, they returned to the fold in 2019 with their fifth opus, the chart-topping, Grammy-nominated Fear Inoculum.

The Weeknd is the alias of alternative R&B enigma-turned-pop star Abel Tesfaye, whose aching accounts of emotionally and physically toxic indulgences have translated to multi-platinum sales and Grammy recognition. Toward the end of 2019, after a handful of intermediary collaborations and soundtrack contributions, Tesfaye issued the first two singles off his fourth proper album. "Heartless," co-produced by Illangelo and Metro Boomin, topped the Hot 100, and "Blinding Lights," another Max Martin collaboration, went Top Ten before After Hours arrived in March 2020. The heartache-filled set, which also featured a handful of collaborations with Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), became Tesfaye's fourth straight number one release on the U.S. and Canadian album charts.

By bringing style, fun, and catchy songwriting back to rock music, the Strokes became one of the most influential bands of the early 21st century. Their direct, hooky sound -- equally inspired by classic tunesmiths like Buddy Holly and the brash attitude of fellow New Yorkers the Velvet Underground and Ramones -- set trends even as it looked back on rock history. With their acclaimed 2001 debut, Is This It, the Strokes reinvigorated a rock scene that had spent years focused on post-grunge and nu-metal. Along with the White Stripes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, they helped shape the sound and look of alternative rock in the 2000s, with Kings of Leon and the Killers and the Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, and Arctic Monkeys reflecting their impact in the U.S. and the U.K., respectively.

Preceded by shows including a 2019 New Year's Eve concert in Brooklyn and a February 2020 rally for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, The New Abnormal arrived in 2020 and introduced a more thoughtful and confessional level to the Strokes' sound and songwriting.

Our conversation with the extremely talented multi-instrumentalist Isabelle Hyde. 

Combining dream pop, R&B, electronic, and hip-hop influences into futuristic yet familiar-sounding songs, Grimes' Claire Boucher became one of the most distinctive artists of the 2010s. An ethereal yet hard-hitting concept album that explored climate change and human extinction, Miss Anthropocene appeared in February 2020. She is carrying Elon's baby too. That seems important. 

KULT KRIMES is the solo effort from a multi-instrumentalist and electronic composer, London Van Rooy. Each song tells a tale of its own and seems to operate from individual characters existing in one vessel. Merging genres like hip hop, post-punk, synth-pop, and even industrial rock, daring to break the idea of having "a sound" while pulling you in with an emphasis on mood and fanciful expression.