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An American singer/songwriter with a distinctively warm, light rasp to his voice, Noah Kahan makes folk-infused pop in the realm of artists like Ben Howard and Vance Joy. After his 2017 debut single "Young Blood" went viral, "Hurt Somebody," from his 2018 debut EP of the same name, charted in countries including Australia and New Zealand. Kahan released his first album, Busyhead, in 2019, followed by 2021's I Was/I Am and 2022's Stick Season, the latter of which reached number two on the Billboard 200 and helped earn him a Grammy nomination. A number of related releases, including deluxe editions, a live LP, and a duets collection followed before the end of 2024.

Born in 1997, Kahan was raised in rural Strafford, Vermont, where his family owned a tree farm. He first started writing songs at the age of eight and was still in high school when he and his friends began producing and uploading some of his work online. After coming to the attention of producer Joel Little (Lorde, Taylor Swift), who offered to collaborate, Kahan signed with Republic Records at the age of 20.

The label released a series of singles throughout 2017 beginning with "Young Blood," which went viral, collecting tens of millions of streams. By the second half of the year, he was touring in support of the Strumbellas. The EP Hurt Somebody arrived in January 2018 and featured singer Julia Michaels on the title track. "Hurt Somebody" charted in several countries, reaching number 13 in the Netherlands and 14 in Australia. Kahan made his late-night TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that February and spent the rest of the year touring in support of George Ezra and completing his first headlining tours of North America and Europe.

With Little producing, Kahan recorded his debut album, Busyhead, in New Zealand. Led by the single "False Confidence," the record was released in June 2019. He followed it a year later with another EP, Cape Elizabeth, and "Pride," a collaborative single with mxmtoon. In September 2021, he returned with his sophomore full-length, I Was/I Am, which again found him working with producer Little. Featured on the album was the song "Someone Like You," a collaboration with Joy Oladokun. Kahan's third LP, Stick Season, arrived in October 2022, landing at number two on the Billboard 200. Included on the album was the title track, which hit number 13 on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. Several non-album singles arrived in 2023, including a cover of Jason Isbell's "If We Were Vampires" (featuring the Lumineers' Wesley Shultz) and a piano version of the Stick Season track "Orange Juice." He also paired with Zach Bryan for "Sarah's Place," which hit number 14 on the Hot 100. By the end of the year, he had released additional collaborations with Hozier, Kacey Musgraves, and Gracie Abrams and earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Two expanded editions of his third album, Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever) and Stick Season (Forever), were released in June 2023 and February 2024, respectively; the latter featured many of these collaborations along with a new single, "Forever." Another related album, Live from Fenway Park, featuring the unreleased song "Pain Is Cold Water" and an appearance from Gracie Abrams, followed in August 2024; it cracked the Top 100 of the album charts in the U.S., Canada, and Ireland. Eight recent duets in all were then collected on the November 2024 Record Store Day release Town Hall (Stick Season Collaborations), which included appearances by Post Malone, Sam Fender, and Brandi Carlile and resulted in another appearance on the Billboard 200 for Kahan. ~ Marcy Donelson

Diamond-certified American hitmaker Post Malone bridges the gap between the worlds of rap and the pop mainstream. Within five years of his debut, he went from underground genre novelty to certified superstar, amassing a string of Top Ten singles with a hybrid style that combined his unique vocal delivery, pained lyrics, and hip-hop production inspired as much by Tim McGraw as Kanye West. After the release of his 2015 quintuple-platinum single "White Iverson" from his debut, Stoney, he quickly ascended to the top of the pop mainstream in the late 2010s with a succession of multi-platinum hits that included chart-toppers "Rockstar" with 21 Savage and "Psycho" with Ty Dolla $ign, from 2018's Grammy-nominated Beerbongs & Bentleys, and one of the highest-certified singles in RIAA history, "Sunflower" with Swae Lee, from 2019's pop-leaning Hollywood's Bleeding. After dialing things back with 2022's vulnerable Twelve Carat Toothache, he made a further push into guitar-based pop with 2023's Austin. In 2024, he made another pivot with his foray into country on his sixth album, F-1 Trillion, topping the Billboard 200 and country chart and picking up Grammy nominations in the process.

Raised in Dallas, Austin Post loved a wide range of music from a young age and planned on joining a band thanks to the video game Guitar Hero. When his dad gave him a copy of Terror Squad's hit "Lean Back," though, Post decided to become an MC. He hung out with the Dallas crew the IRAS until a move to the West Coast dropped him in Los Angeles. After putting some braids in his hair, he coined the term "White Iverson," and when he posted the track in early 2015, he hit a million views within a month. Post signed with the Republic label later that year.

In 2016, he released the single "Go Flex" along with his official debut mixtape, August 26th. Months later, his first studio effort arrived. Stoney featured guests ranging from Justin Bieber to Migos' Quavo to Kehlani, peaking at number four on the Billboard 200 and later achieving multi-platinum certification. Following the success of his debut, Post issued the chart-topping singles "Rockstar" with 21 Savage and "Psycho" with Ty Dolla $ign, which reached a combined total of 13-times platinum. Those hit tracks landed on his sophomore follow-up, Beerbongs & Bentleys, which dealt with his rapid climb to fame and all its trappings. The set reached number one upon release and was later nominated for Album of the Year at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Along with producers Scott Storch, PartyNextDoor, Louis Bell, and London on da Track, the dark, introspective affair also featured guest rappers Nicki Minaj, YG, and G-Eazy, as well as the additional radio hit "Better Now."

In between official full-lengths, Post capitalized on his steady ascent in the mainstream, hopping onto the Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack with previous collaborator Swae Lee. Their duet, "Sunflower," topped the charts across the globe and marked a slight pop-smart shift in Post's production (Within a few years, the song was certified over 50 times platinum around the world, becoming one of the biggest songs of the decade). "Wow," "Goodbyes" with Young Thug, and "Circles" all followed, firmly planting him in the Hot 100's upper reaches for much of 2019. This quartet of hits all appeared on his third effort, Hollywood's Bleeding, which recruited guests Da Baby, Future, Halsey, Meek Mill, Lil Baby, SZA, Travis Scott, and even Ozzy Osbourne. His second number one album, the set topped the Billboard 200 for at least five non-consecutive weeks, the most for any artist that year. While "Circles" became his fourth Hot 100 chart-topper at the close of the year, he received a pair of Grammy nominations for that other 2019 number one, "Sunflower," including Record of the Year.

Post's 2020 output mainly consisted of guest appearances like Tyla Yaweh's "Tommy Lee" and Big Sean's "Wolves." He returned to solo work in 2021 with a cover of Hootie & the Blowfish's "Only Wanna Be with You" for the Pokemon 25 album, and his own track, "Motley Crew." The following year, he released his fourth full-length effort, Twelve Carat Toothache, which featured guest spots from Doja Cat, the Kid Laroi, and Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold. Dealing with the pressures and pitfalls of fame and fortune, the oft-dour set, which hit number two on the Billboard 200, included hit singles "Cooped Up" with Roddy Ricch and "One Right Now" with the Weeknd.

Less than a year later, he issued the hits compilation The Diamond Collection before priming fans with the release of "Chemical," the pop-punk-leaning single from album number five. That set, Austin, fully realized the guitar-based influence that had always bubbled behind Post's most successful mainstream hits (and was on full display during his viral 2020 Nirvana tribute set). The album again returned him to number two on the Billboard 200.

In March 2024, Malone shifted gears to film, making an uncredited appearance as an underground fighter the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring remake of Road House. However, that May he revealed an ever bigger move embracing a country music, a creative shift he heralded with the single "I Had Some Help," featuring Morgan Wallen. The first track released off his heavily country-leaning sixth album, it cracked the Top 40 and reached number nine on the Country Airplay chart. The full-length F-1 Trillion arrived in August and featured guests such as Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Billy Strings, and many more. Along with topping both the Billboard 200 and Country Albums charts, it also finished the year with two Grammy nominations, including for Best Country Album. ~ Neil Z. Yeung