From a surprise Justin Bieber album to BLACKPINK‘s first single in years, this week brought some of the most highly anticipated new music releases of the year to date.
The Canadian singer returned after a four-year album drought with Swag, a 21-track set that dropped with only a few hours of warning on Friday (July 11). First teased with a fleet of billboards — featuring a photo of Justin, Hailey Bieber and their son, 11-month-old Jack Blues — that popped up in various cities, the new LP found one of pop’s biggest superstars jumping back into the music scene to reclaim his throne at last.
Also marking a major comeback moment is BLACKPINK, the members of which — ROSÉ, LISA, JENNIE and JISOO — finally got back together after a year or so of time apart to release “Jump,” their first single since 2023’s “The Girls” and 2022’s Born Pink. The K-pop quartet first debuted the track live at the opening show of the DEADLINE World Tour, which finds the ladies reuniting on stage for a monthslong run of dates in North America and Europe, before hitting Asia beginning in October.
But while Bieber and BLACKPINK may have claimed the splashiest releases in the world of pop, the rap, R&B, rock and amapiano genres also saw some of their biggest players unveil highly anticipated new projects. Clipse made a grand return after 15 years by dropping the Pharrell-assisted album Let God Sort Em Out, while Giveon shared a soulful new LP titled Beloved; plus, Deftones dropped the blood-pumping single “My Mind Is a Mountain” and Tyla released the party-ready dance track “Is It.”
There’s no easy way to choose a favorite with such a high volume of exciting releases, but Billboard still wants to know which project is No. 1 for you this week. Tell us by casting your vote in the poll below.
