@Eliran Sagi

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The tracks you can’t get enough of lately, all in one place. Updated as you listen.

The songs you can’t do without. The more you use Apple Music, the more essential they become. Refreshed every Tuesday.

Whether it’s a weekday morning or Saturday night, get going with this personalised set of upbeat music. Refreshed every Monday.

Songs to help you relax and unwind. Updated every Sunday.

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

The only rule for pop in the ‘10s? Trusting your instincts can do wonders for your star power. Take Lady Gaga, who shape-shifted from hard-edged diva to big-voiced balladeer multiple times during the decade, or Ariana Grande, who kept fans guessing with surprise drops and coded lyrics. The 2010s were a wild time on the charts, with pop divas, hip-hop stars and guitar-strumming crooners all making their own way to the top. Adele belted her way through heartbreak and triumph; Drake got in his feelings over street-sourced beats; Taylor Swift shared her innermost thoughts with millions; and Shawn Mendes made the leap from viral-video star to world-conquering pop icon. Groups hit it big, too, whether they were singing in sweet harmony like the boy banders of One Direction or revamping themselves alongside the times like the soul-poppers in Maroon 5.

Amy Winehouse was one of those once-in-a-generation artists who rerouted the direction of pop music. Born in 1983, the London-raised singer paid her dues as a session vocalist before releasing her debut album, <i>Frank</i>, in 2003. While Winehouse’s uncommonly gritty yet graceful voice made her a UK sensation, <i>Frank</i>’s jazzy torch songs (“You Sent Me Flying / Cherry”, “Take the Box”) and chilled funk atmospheres (“In My Bed”, “F**k Me Pumps”) only teased at the feisty character she would become. Winehouse’s outsized persona got the space to fully flourish on 2006’s <i>Back to Black</i>, which transformed Winehouse into the consummate anti-diva, exuding a raw, unfiltered authenticity that was at once cheekily risqué (“Rehab”, “You Know I’m No Good”) and emotionally shattering (“Love Is a Losing Game” and the devastating title track). Sadly, the album was both her career apex and her swansong—she died of alcohol poisoning in 2011. But if Winehouse’s star burned all too briefly, it left a never-ending vapour trail to guide artists like Adele, Janelle Monáe, Sam Smith and Lana Del Rey to pursue their own retro-modernist visions.

As the calendar flipped to Y2K, teen pop ruled music’s roost, with megastars like Britney Spears and *NSYNC dominating the charts. But over the course of the 2000s, a varied pop landscape would emerge, with streetwise hip-hop, emotionally fraught rock, swooning R&B, hook-studded emo and big-tent pop all getting their moments in the sun—and even coming together in DJ-crafted mash-ups and high-profile collaborations. Pop in the 21st century’s first decade reflected the emergent digital-music era, with the “on shuffle” ideal resulting in radio playlists where Kanye rubbed elbows with The Killers and Kelly Clarkson, or where a hard-hitting Eminem track was bracketed by offerings from Beyoncé and Mariah Carey. That mix of genres and outsize personalities made for an exciting decade that put the party back in pop.

Rediscover the chart-toppers, classics and lost favourites of the ‘90s. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

An irresistible synth melody. A snare drum loaded with reverb. A guitar line that’s tight and powerful. If the song you’re listening to has at least one of these things, it may be from the 1980s, the decade when disco waned and hip-hop emerged, Madonna blew up in the US, the hitmaking team of Stock Aitken Waterman pumped out smash singles for Rick Astley and Dead or Alive, and Michael Jackson broke sales and chart records around the world. Of course, thanks to MTV, this was also a decade when the biggest stars weren’t just heard but also seen, as the music video gave artists a new medium to explore. Peter Gabriel mastered the form with psychedelic mini-masterpieces to complement his vibrant art-pop, while Prince, in the midst of reinventing rock ’n’ roll, turned out two feature-length film masterpieces with classic soundtracks to match.