Pick a Day

Music History Events: Releases

May 8, 2012 Fiona Apple releases "Every Single Night," her first new song since 2005. The song is a visceral expression of her internal struggle, as she sings about how every single night is a fight with her brain.

March 26, 2012 Madonna releases her dance-heavy 12th album, MDNA, the title a play on her name and also the club drug ecstacy. It goes to #1 in America, giving Madonna her eighth chart-topper.

February 22, 2012 Five months after debuting the song in her native Canada, Carly Rae Jepsen releases the single "Call Me Maybe" in America. With help from a video of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and other tween celebs lip-syncing to the song, it rises up the charts and becomes a worldwide hit. In the US, it is the song of the summer, topping the Hot 100 on June 23 and staying until August 25.

October 21, 2011 Tom Waits releases Bad as Me, his 16th studio album and his first in five years to feature entirely new material (the last being 2006's Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards).

October 10, 2011 Lana Del Rey releases her first single, "Video Games," a song inspired by two fractured relationships.

September 13, 2011 After an eight-year absence, Anthrax release their 10th studio album, Worship Music. Joey Belladonna, who hasn't been with the band since 1992, returns to handle lead vocals.

September 12, 2011 Ed Sheeran's debut album, +, is released in the UK, where it tops the albums chart.

July 26, 2011 Eric Church releases his breakthrough album, Chief, with the hits "Springsteen" and "Drink In My Hand." The album cover is his first where he's wearing his signature Aviator sunglasses.

July 19, 2011 Rebecca Black, the world's most ironic celebrity, cashes in on her worldwide viral Internet fame by launching her own record label, RB Records, and her first single on the label, "My Moment." The song fails to get the same attention as her breakout hit, "Friday."

June 28, 2011 Bluegrass duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings release The Harrow & The Harvest, their first album in eight years.More

June 21, 2011 Justin Vernon's group Bon Iver release their second album, which is self-titled. Vernon, who keeps a low profile, is shocked when it earns the group the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

June 21, 2011 Crossfade return after five years with We All Bleed - the band's first album after being dropped by Columbia Records in 2008.

June 7, 2011 Def Leppard release their first ever live album: Mirrorball.

February 22, 2011 Adele releases her second album, 21, in the US. The record becomes the best-selling album of 2011, shifting a total of 5.82 million copies. Many of the songs, including "Rolling In The Deep" and "Set Fire To The Rain," are about the devastating breakup with her ex-boyfriend.

January 7, 2011 Ed Sheeran releases what will be his final independent EP, No.5 Collaborations Project, in the UK. The EP goes on to reach #2 on the UK's iTunes chart, despite Ed having no label.

December 10, 2010 Michael Jackson's first posthumous album, Michael, is released.

November 30, 2010 Seven months after being released from jail after serving three years for tax evasion, Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers releases the album Mr. I, with contributions from Lauryn Hill and T.I.

November 26, 2010 Duffy releases her second album, Endlessly, in the UK. Unlike her breakthrough debut Rockferry, it gets little attention, with no hit singles.More

November 22, 2010 On their fourth and final album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, My Chemical Romance cast themselves as post-apocalyptic outlaws fighting corruption on the mean streets of California. More

October 25, 2010 Taylor Swift releases her third album, Speak Now. One of the more confessional songs is "Mean," where she takes aim at her critics, including industry insider Bob Lefsetz, who wrote that Swift was "too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made" in performing with Stevie Nicks at the Grammy Awards.

September 28, 2010 Bad Religion release their 15th full-length studio album, The Dissent of Man.

September 10, 2010 Linkin Park release their fourth studio album, A Thousand Suns, an apocalyptic-themed concept album that finds the rap-rockers exploring electronic rock on singles like "The Catalyst" and "Waiting For The End."

August 31, 2010 Papa Roach release their first live album, Time for Annihilation. Alongside nine live tracks, the record contains five new studio tracks.

August 24, 2010 Teenage Dream, Katy Perry's second major-label album, is released. It goes to #1 in the US, where the first five singles, starting with "California Gurls," all top the Hot 100.

August 2, 2010 Arcade Fire release The Suburbs, their third studio album. It's almost universally lauded by fans and critics alike, with the latter feeling that the album fully realizes the great artistic potential hinted at by Funeral and Neon Bible, the band's first two albums.More

June 22, 2010 Lynyrd Skynyrd release Live from Freedom Hall, their eight live album. It features music performed June 15, 2007 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.

March 30, 2010 Barenaked Ladies release their ninth studio album, All In Good Time. It's their first album since the departure of co-lead singer Steven Page, who officially left the band in 2009.

January 26, 2010 Lady Antebellum release their second album, Need You Now, which goes to #1 in America, where it sells over 4 million copies. The title track becomes the first country song to make a big impact on the pop chart since "Not Ready To Make Nice" by Dixie Chicks in 2007. Both groups later change their names, becoming Lady A and The Chicks.

December 1, 2009 R. Kelly releases Untitled, his ninth studio album.

November 3, 2009 Country singer Carrie Underwood releases her third studio album, Play On, featuring the crossover hit "Cowboy Casanova."