Pick a Day

Music History Events: Releases

April 8, 2008 Lady Gaga releases her first single, "Just Dance," co-written with Akon, who sings on the track. It catches on in clubs and gradually climbs the pop chart, landing at #1 in January 2009.

April 1, 2008 The Rolling Stones release Shine A Light, the soundtrack to their concert film of the same name, directed by Martin Scorsese.

March 25, 2008 The Raconteurs release Consolers of the Lonely.

October 30, 2007 The Eagles release their first album since 1979, Long Road Out of Eden, and Britney Spears issues her fifth album, Blackout. Thanks to a fanbase more comfortable with buying CDs than downloading, the Eagles easily outsell her, moving 7 million copies in America to Spears' 1 million.

October 24, 2007 Backstreet Boys release Unbreakable, their first album without Kevin Richardson.More

September 25, 2007 Bruce Springsteen releases Magic.

June 5, 2007 Bruce Springsteen releases Live In Dublin.

June 5, 2007 Rihanna, 19, releases her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, with top producers like Stargate and Timbaland on board. The first single is "Umbrella," which comes with an intro from her Def Jam label boss, Jay-Z.

February 6, 2007 Barenaked Ladies release their eighth studio album, Barenaked Ladies Are Men, the last BNL album to feature founding member Steven Page.

November 7, 2006 Originally due in the summer of 2005, the last album from late Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard finally arrives. The release date for A Son Unique coincides with the two-year anniversary of ODB's death at a New York recording studio.

October 24, 2006 To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its best-selling album, Def Leppard reissues Hysteria as a two-CD package. Beyond a remastered edition of the original album, the new edition includes a bonus disc with a host of non-album tracks first issued during the period.

October 10, 2006 Sting releases Songs From the Labyrinth, an album of 16th-century lute songs.

September 30, 2006 Shine On, Jet's sophomore album, is released to mixed reviews. Most notably the indie music website Pitchfork's review is nothing but a video of a chimpanzee urinating into its own mouth. The title track and third single from the record, "Shine On," is a tribute to Nic and Chris Chester's dad, who died from cancer in 2004.

August 9, 2006 Christina Aguilera issues her first album in four years, Back To Basics. With a retro sound, it harks back to boogie-woogie of the 1940s with tracks like "Ain't No Other Man" (a tribute to her new husband) and "Candyman." It goes to #1, her first to do so since her 1999 debut.

June 7, 2006 Nelly Furtado releases her third album, Loose. A Timbaland production, it includes two #1 hits: "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right."

March 6, 2006 Pearl Jam make their new single "World Wide Suicide" available as a free download after the track is leaked.

February 28, 2006 Bruce Springsteen releases Hammersmith Odeon London 1975.

February 14, 2006 Willie Nelson issues the single "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other."

September 12, 2005 The Pussycat Dolls, which started 10 years earlier as a burlesque dance troupe, release their debut album, PCD. "The whole Pussycat Doll thing is a movement," lead singer Nicole Scherzinger says. "A whole concept and a thing unto itself."More

September 6, 2005 The Rolling Stones release their album A Bigger Bang. It sells just a million copies in America (modest by Stones standards), but the accompanying tour breaks the record for highest-grossing tour, earning $558 million.

August 30, 2005 Rihanna, 17, releases her first album, Music Of The Sun. The lead single is the hit "Pon De Replay," which draws on her Bajan heritage with Caribbean rhythms.

June 3, 2005 Shakira releases the Spanish-language portion of her double-album project, Oral Fixation, which is joined by its English counterpart in the fall. The two-part project is a followup to her first English-language album, Laundry Service, and reflects the singer's evolution from a Colombian pop princess to an international superstar.More

April 26, 2005 Bruce Springsteen releases Devils & Dust.

April 12, 2005 Shakira releases "La Tortura," a Spanish-language duet with Alejandro Sanz. Thanks to a saucy video that runs on MTV, it crosses over to an English-speaking audience and becomes the first Top 40 hit (#23) sung entirely in Spanish since "Macarena" in 1996.

March 29, 2005 Weezer release "Beverly Hills," the lead single from their Make Believe album. The video is shot at the Playboy mansion, where they perform the song to a strange mix of Playboy bunnies and Weezer fans.

December 28, 2004 On his 26th birthday, John Legend releases his debut solo album, Get Lifted. The lead single is the kiss-off song "Used to Love U," but the second single, the tender ballad "Ordinary People," is the most enduring song. The album is the first released on Kanye West's GOOD Music label.

November 30, 2004 Rapper T.I. releases his third album, Urban Legend. It's his first of seven consecutive albums to hit #1 on the R&B chart.

November 30, 2004 Kelly Clarkson releases her second album, Breakaway. With a string of hits ("Since U Been Gone," "Behind These Hazel Eyes," "Because Of You"), it cements her as superstar and proves American Idol voters were right in choosing her over Justin Guarini.

November 23, 2004 Robert Downey, Jr. releases his debut studio album, The Futurist.

October 26, 2004 Sugarland's debut album, Twice the Speed of Life, is released. It is the only Sugarland album to feature Kristen Hall, who leaves the band in 2005.