New year, new me — that's how the saying goes when everyone realizes New Year's Eve is fast approaching and it's time to get their resolutions and year-end goals in check. But for me, "new year, new music" is the motto. What I really care about is what artists will be dropping new bops in the year ahead, and with these 16 artists releasing new albums in 2020, the new year is looking bright.
Not only are these artists gearing up to release new music in the new year, but they're doing so for the first time in a while. The likes of Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna have taken over two years off from the recording studio, and fans have been eagerly awaiting their return to the airwaves.
Some artists have taken even longer to regenerate their creative juices, and are planning to make a return after more than ten years away from the scene. Meanwhile, others have been dropping singles left and right, building up anticipation for their very first album release.
There were so many incredible albums released in 2019, it's going to be a hard year to top, but something tells me these artists are going to shake things up in the year ahead.
The Rihanna Navy is on high alert for Riri's next record. The songstress promised that a new album is finally on the way — her first since 2016's ANTI. True to form, Riri is shaking things up with her next release, and promised R9 will be reggae influenced.
Back in August, The Weeknd teased that his Chapter VI album was on the way three years after the release of his last full-length album, Starboy. On Nov. 27, he released a new single called "Heartless," and the track has fans wondering if this album was inspired by his exes, Selena Gomez and Bella Hadid.
In early 2019, Lady Gaga confirmed she was pregnant. Not with a baby... but with a new album. Thanks to her comical clapback at the tabloid press speculating she was preggers, we learned Mother Monster was hard at work on her sixth studio record.
The album never dropped in 2019, so it's likely she's prepping it for a 2020 release date.
Selenators, rejoice. A new album from Sel has been a long time coming. She's been on hiatus since 2015, focusing on her mental health, but her next, self-titled album drops on Jan. 10 and will explore pretty heavy themes, like love, loss, and self-discovery.
We don't know much about queen Cardi's next album just yet, but we do know she's been spending tons of time in the studio and that she has something a little different in the works.
"There's certain music that I want to do, but I feel like, is people interested in that? I feel like things have changed," she told Billboard in November. "It's more like a twerk sound going on right now. It's just like, 'Should I just do my music around that?' But I cannot just go with what's hot. I still gotta go with what I want to do."
It seems like just yesterday Halsey dropped 2017's Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, but, alas, it's time for new music from the singer. Halsey stans will be happy to know that Manic will drop Jan. 17, 2020, featuring some very highly-anticipated collabs with BTS' Suga, and Alanis Morissette.
Kesha announced her next studio album, High Road, can be expected in 2020. It will be her first album since 2017’s Rainbow and it sounds like it's going to be one angsty album.
When teasing her new music on Twitter, she wrote: “”ANIMALS!!!! yall deserve to know first…..New Music Is Coming VERY Soon!!!! So excited! Spoiler alert – I Got My Balls Back.”
Her lead single, "Raising Hell," was a bop and a half.
A Louis Tomlinson studio album is finally coming our way, and the release of Walls on Jan. 31, 2020 will mark his first ever solo album. Surely, the album will be incredibly personal as Tomlinson sadly lost both his mother and sister in the past three years, which may have contributed to the delay.
However, Tomlinson also explained that the record was a slow burn because he wanted it to be flawless.
"I’m very much a perfectionist,” he revealed to Tiger Beat in 2017. “But I am nervous about it, because I want it to be as good as it can be, obviously. I’ve got an idea, and a vision, and a message; what to get across. It’s a difficult thing actually doing that across a body of work [on] an album.”
Dua Lipa stole hearts with her 2017 self-titled album, and she announced that her new album, Future Nostalgia, is coming soon — though a release date has yet to be announced.
She did already drop the ultimate girl's-night-out bop — "Don't Start Now" — though, so hopefully there's more music magic where that came from.
True to form, Dua included a list of rules in the chorus, much like she did in "New Rules." Clearly, Dua knows what works for her.
On Nov. 24, PartyNextDoor confirmed his third studio album will be arriving at the top of the year. Obvi, nothing will top the time he kissed Kylie Jenner in the rain during his "Come and See Me" video, but hey, it's worth a try.
The Dixie Chicks are set to release their first album in 13 years in 2020. Yes, 13 years. Expections are high after their 2019 collab with Taylor Swift, "Soon You'll Get Better," was released and was so stunning it had Swifties in literal tears.
Haim has slowly been dropping singles over the last few months, so chances are we'll be seeing an album in 2020. The band released their last record, Something To Tell You, in July 2017.
Their most recent track, “Hallelujah," was written about their bond as sisters, so the record will surely be a personal one. "Hallelujah" follows Haim's other new singles released in 2019, “Now I’m in It” and “Summer Girl."
Three cheers for new music from Echosmith. The band will be releasing their first record since 2017 in January.
Alanis Morissette surprised fans on Dec. 2, when she announced her first new record in eight years. If you're unfamilar with Morissette, don't worry, you've surely heard her classic moody jams at your local karaoke bar. Basically anything off her 1995 Jagged Little Pill album makes for crowd-pleasing karaoke content.
In 2020, Australian rockers Tame Impala are making their return to the music scene, five years after the release of Currents. It will be hard to top their epic 2019 Coachella headlining set alongside the likes of Ariana Grande and Donald Glover, but fans will be glad to know they just announced a tour, too.
