From tear-jerkers to mic-drops, NPR's music critics share the 2025 lyrics that made them laugh, cry and hit replay.

Debating the merits of today’s popular music versus the hits of the past is largely a matter of taste. But regardless of your ...

The lyrics website Genius has released its top 10 lyrics of 2025, based on "annotation views." In other words, people clicking on specific lyrics to understand what they mean or what they refer ...

To understand the role of storytelling in contemporary pop music, researchers at UC Berkeley created a machine learning ...

Over the past 50 years, the lyrics of popular songs in the U.S. have become simpler, more negative, and contain more stress-related words, according to an analysis published in Scientific Reports. The ...

The lyrics of more than 6,000 songs were analyzed. This is an Inside Science story. "Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth," sings Pharrell Williams in "Happy," but the joyful sentiments ...

“Bad Moon Rising” is one of CCR’s biggest hits, complete with their signature upbeat vibe and happy energy. A lot of diehard fans have been listening to this song since 1969. But, many haven’t really ...

These three country songs were all big hits in the 90s, likely because they all have stunning and unexpected lyrics.

There's a Christmas song for all tastes – jolly to melancholy – so corralling them into one list is not only futile, but impossible. Still, we try.