The music industry in 2021 was one of the best for artists when it came to releasing music. Many popular artists released their debut albums, comeback albums, and re-recordings. The music year started off with smaller releases that would, later on, lead up to the big albums that the world would anticipate. With bigger named artists releasing music after a long time away from quarantine, the music industry was taken by storm. Artists created a new name for themselves with the rise of new trends and an increased social media presence. One of these new artists that gave themselves a name was Olivia Rodrigo.

Olivia released the hit album “Sour” on May 21, 2021. This album was Olivia’s debut as an artist with hits such as “Drivers license”, “Good 4 U”, and “Deja vu”. Her album reached number one on the Billboard 200 for a little over a month competing with bigger names including her favorite artist, Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift has had a very good year in the business lately with her very up-to-date releases. In 2020 Taylor released two albums as a byproduct of being in quarantine. However, this year has been different for her releases, these songs are a reproduction of her other hits. So far this year she has released “Fearless” which was her second original album release. Just recently this week, she also released “Red” which was originally her fourth studio album. The reasoning behind her recordings is due to management issues with her past label and owners. 

Another artist who came back after a long-awaited release was Drake, his last album release was in 2018 but during this year he released “Certified Lover Boy” this album was immediately well-received by his fans and listeners after the long wait. Another rapper who released this year was Lil Nas x. The album “Montero” would be his first album released ever since his rise to fame for the past few years. For this album, he promoted it in ways that many have never seen or done before. This album made it huge and created a new boundary for artists in the music industry. 

This year in music was one that many didn’t anticipate, but it never failed to shock anyone. After the troubles in 2020 many sought comfort in music so with the rise of so many releases, it seems people can be expecting more art coming soon. Bigger releases are to come in the future such as Adele who is coming back after her long hiatus with the album “30”. The music industry never stops so there is always something new to look forward to, however, this year did very well chart and stream-wise.