Music week in brief – October 17

New Releases

Tame Impala returns with Deadbeat, the band’s fifth studio album, alongside the new single “My Old Ways.”

Carly Rae Jepsen celebrates a decade of her breakout era with Emotion (10th Anniversary Edition), featuring four previously unreleased tracks: More, Guardian Angel, Back of My Heart, and Lost in Devotion.

Grimes has surprised fans with a mysterious new project titled Artificial Angels, with few details revealed so far.

Charlie Puth has announced his upcoming fourth studio album Whatever’s Clever!, set for release on March 6. He also premiered the lead single “Changes” with an official music video.

Joji has unveiled “PIXELATED KISSES,” the lead single from his forthcoming project and his first release on his newly launched label, Palace Creek.

Fall Out Boy mark 20 years of their landmark sophomore album with From Under the Cork Tree (20th Anniversary 3LP Super Deluxe Edition). The release includes remastered audio, 13 bonus tracks featuring live and acoustic performances, and the long-awaited song “Start Today.”

Scorpions celebrate six decades in music with From the First Sting, a career-spanning collection of 16 handpicked tracks, including two previously unreleased versions of classic songs.

Music News

Taylor Swift has achieved her 15th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with The Life of a Showgirl, setting a new record for the most No. 1 albums by a solo artist. The album sold 3,479,500 copies in pure sales during its first week across digital, CD, vinyl, and cassette formats. Swift surpasses Drake and JAY-Z, becoming the solo act with the second-most No. 1 albums in history, behind only The Beatles, who hold 19.

Swift also made chart history again by occupying the entire top 12 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, led by her single “The Fate of Ophelia.” She remains the only artist ever to hold the Hot 100’s full top 10 - now achieving the feat for a third time, following her Midnights (2022) and The Tortured Poets Department (2024) eras.

Spotify has announced a landmark partnership with Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Merlin, and Believe to develop responsible, artist-first AI music tools. The collaboration focuses on ensuring that AI innovation supports rather than replaces artists, emphasizing consent, fair compensation, and stronger artist–fan connections. Spotify will also establish a new generative AI research lab to build licensed, ethical, and transparent creative tools, reaffirming that technology should serve artists, not compete with them.

You can read last week’s music in brief here.