Events in 2024
- Aerosmith announced the cancellation of their touring plans due to an injury to Steven Tyler’s vocal cords.
- Maurice Williams, singer of Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs and writer of “Stay,” died at the age of 86 from unspecified causes.
- Pitbull became the first artist to acquire naming rights to a stadium when he signed a 10-year, $12 million agreement with Florida International University to rename its stadium Pitbull Stadium. The deal also included the opportunity to host concerts and festivals there.
- American rock singer Jack Russell, former frontman and founding member of hard rock band Great White, died at the age of 63 after battling Lewy body dementia and muscular atrophy. Great White had six songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including “Once Bitten Twice Shy”, which reached No. 5.
- Sabrina Carpenter scored her first entry in Spotify's “Billions Club” when “Espresso” surpassed one billion streams.
- Three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna were canceled because of a potential security threat. The shows were scheduled as part of her Eras Tour at Ernst Happel Stadium.
- The original 1953 Gibson Les Paul owned by Carl Perkins was offered at auction by GottaHaveRockandRoll.com. Perkins wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" on the instrument and also played it on his recordings for Sun Records; the estimated value was $150,000.
- Missouri woman Lisa Jeanine Findley was arrested on charges of attempting to fraudulently sell Graceland at auction. According to police, she forged loan documents and published a false foreclosure notice.
- At the Democratic National Convention, a DJ played a different song for each state while the votes were being presented for Kamala Harris as the future nominee. Massachusetts was represented by “I'm Shipping Up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys, Nevada by “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, and New Jersey by “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen. Lil Jon appeared in person and performed “Turn Down For What” for Georgia.
- GottaHaveRockAndRoll offered 24 concert contracts from The Beatles' concerts during their 1964 North American tour for auction. Each document was signed by the band's manager Brian Epstein or NEMS employee Bernard Lee.
- Reports emerged that former Beatles drummer Pete Best had converted his mother's former home at 8 Haymans Green in Liverpool into a short-term Airbnb rental. The basement of the house once housed the Casbah Coffee Club, where the early Beatles played almost forty times. Best, who was dismissed by the group's manager Brian Epstein on August 16, 1962, still maintained that he was neither angry nor bitter about his dismissal and that the event no longer bothered him.
- Foo Fighters announced that they had not given Donald Trump permission to use the song “My Hero” at his campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona, where he brought Robert F. Kennedy Jr. onto the stage. The band said that they had not been asked for permission and that, had they been asked, they would not have allowed the use of the song. A Foo Fighters representative said that any royalties from the use of the song would be donated to Kamala Harris's campaign.
- Sabrina Carpenter released her sixth album “Short n' Sweet”. With hits including “Espresso” and “Please Please Please”, the album represented her major breakthrough and placed her among successful singers who first became famous as actresses.
- Patricia Carey, Mariah Carey's mother, and her sister Alison Carey died on the same day. Patricia Carey died at the age of 87 and Alison Carey at the age of 63.
- Amy Winehouse's 2007 performance on Radio 1 Live Lounge, in which she sang a cover of “Valerie” by The Zutons, was voted the best performance on the programme during its first 25 years. Arctic Monkeys came second and third.
- ABBA and their record label Universal Music protested against the use of the song “The Winner Takes It All” at a campaign rally for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign without permission. They joined artists including Foo Fighters, Celine Dion, Adele, R.E.M., and The Rolling Stones in protesting the unauthorized use of their music at campaign rallies.
- Danielle Moore, singer of the British electronic group Crazy P, died at the age of 52. The group released six albums and several singles, beginning with “Digging Deeper” in 1996, and built a strong following in Australia, where they performed several times.
- Sabrina Carpenter became the first female artist and the third artist overall to simultaneously occupy No. 1 on the UK albums and singles charts with the single “Taste” and the album “Short ’n Sweet”. When “Taste” debuted at No. 2 on the US Hot 100, Carpenter became the first artist since The Beatles to place her first three hits in the Top 5 in a single week.
- James Darren died at the age of 88. In the first half of the 1960s, he had six songs in the US Top 40, two of which reached the Top 10. He also worked as an actor in film and television, including the films The Guns of Navarone, The Gene Krupa Story, All the Young Men and Because They're Young and the television series The Time Tunnel.
- Spotify won a legal dispute brought by publisher Eight Mile Style over Eminem’s songs. The publisher claimed Spotify had used the rapper’s music without a proper license since 2019 and sought £30 million. The court found that Spotify did not have a proper license to stream the songs, but did not order the company to pay the claimed lost licensing revenue.
- Oasis announced two additional concerts at Wembley Stadium in London due to “unprecedented demand” for tickets for their reunion tour. The band said all ticketing platforms had struggled to cope with the demand. In the same statement, Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher and the other members publicly distanced the band from Ticketmaster's decision to use dynamic pricing during the sale. This led to an angry reaction from fans on social media.
- British bassist Herbie Flowers, who played with David Bowie, Elton John, T. Rex and Paul McCartney, died at the age of 86. His family announced his death on social media; the cause of death was not disclosed. Flowers played the iconic bass line on Lou Reed's “Walk on the Wild Side”.
- Linkin Park released “The Emptiness Machine,” the band's first song without frontman Chester Bennington, who died in 2017. The song introduced new vocalist Emily Armstrong.
- The UK's competition regulator launched an investigation into ticket sales for Oasis's reunion tour, focusing in particular on the use of dynamic pricing through Ticketmaster.
- American pianist Screamin' Scott Simon, a member of Sha Na Na, died at the age of 75 from sinus cancer. He had been with the group since 1970 and also appeared in the film version of Grease.
- Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes died in Los Angeles at the age of 83 from complications related to the long-term effects of COVID-19. He was best known for Brasil '66 and for blending bossa nova with funk. During his career, he released dozens of albums and singles and won Grammy and two Latin Grammy Awards.
- The film "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" opened in theaters with a soundtrack that revived 1970s songs including "MacArthur Park", "Tragedy" and "Margaritaville". The film also featured "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx and "Svefn-G-Englar" by Sigur Rós.
- American R&B singer Johnny Thunder, whose real name was Gilbert Leroy Hamilton, died at the age of 93. He was best known for the 1963 hit "Loop de Loop", which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on the R&B chart. The song's chorus was almost entirely taken from the popular children's song "Here We Go Loop de Loop".
- Oasis' album "Definitely Maybe" returned to No. 1 on the UK album chart one week after the announcement of the band's reunion concerts. The album, which debuted at No. 1 upon its original release in 1994, returned to the top thanks to its 30th-anniversary edition, which included several alternative recordings and previously unreleased demos. Half of the sales were on vinyl, and the album also topped the official vinyl chart.
- Sergio Mendes, pianist, songwriter and arranger and one of the early Brazilian pioneers of modern crossover, died in Los Angeles at the age of 83. His innovative style and promotion of samba brought him worldwide fame. His family did not disclose the cause of death, although the source reported that Mendes had recently suffered from long-term effects of COVID.
- American lyricist Will Jennings died at the age of 80. He wrote lyrics for songs including "Up Where We Belong", "Higher Love", "Tears in Heaven" and "My Heart Will Go On". He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and won three Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and two Oscars, among other honors. He also co-wrote "Street Life" with Joe Sample, a worldwide hit for The Crusaders featuring Randy Crawford.
- Linkin Park announced new singer Emily Armstrong, who would join the band for a new album and tour. The new lineup announcement preceded the release of the album “From Zero” and a new world tour.
- The British postal service Royal Mail announced the release of a special series of twelve stamps commemorating The Who's 60th anniversary. Eight stamps featured their iconic albums: My Generation (1965), Tommy (1969), Who's Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), Who Are You (1978), Face Dances (1981), Endless Wire (2006), and WHO (2019). Other stamps depicted the band and their live performances. The Who thus became the seventh musical act to receive their own Royal Mail stamp series, following The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden, and the Spice Girls.
- Future became the first artist to have three No. 1 albums in a single calendar year when Mixtape Pluto reached the top following his two collaborations with Metro Boomin, We Don't Trust You and We Still Don't Trust You.
- Actress and musician Nell Smith died at the age of 17 in a car accident. She first connected with The Flaming Lips at the age of 12 and later collaborated with them on the album Where the Viaduct Looms, released in November 2021.
- Sabrina Carpenter became the first woman in Billboard history to have three of her singles in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 for five consecutive weeks: “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” and “Taste.” She surpassed Cardi B's record of four weeks in 2018.
- American soul and gospel singer Cissy Houston died at the age of 91. She was the mother of Whitney Houston, a member of The Sweet Inspirations and The Drinkard Singers, and worked as a backing vocalist with, among others, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross, and David Bowie.
- Taylor Swift, whose wealth was estimated at $1.6 billion, became the world's richest female musician according to Forbes, overtaking Rihanna. The Eras Tour contributed significantly to her wealth and became the first tour in history to gross more than $1 billion.
- Brantley Gilbert interrupted a concert in Tupelo, Mississippi, after learning that his wife had gone into labour on the tour bus with the help of a midwife. He attended the birth of his child, then returned to the stage and announced to the audience, "We've got a baby!" He subsequently finished the concert.
- The film Piece by Piece, a biographical story about Pharrell Williams told through LEGO-style animation, opened in cinemas. His close collaborators, including Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dogg, also appeared as LEGO characters.
- Listeners of BBC Radio 2 voted The Beatles the greatest British group of all time. Queen, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac followed. The rest of the Top 10 included Led Zeppelin, Take That, Coldplay, Oasis and Electric Light Orchestra.