On April 8, Billie Eilish announced her newest album. This has only added strength to a question that’s been on my mind for a while: is everyone releasing music this year? 

First it was Ariana Grande. Then it was Taylor Swift’s Grammys announcement. Then it was Beyonce. Then Dua Lipa announced a new album. And finally, Billie Eilish announced hers. This is the first time in their respective careers that all five artists will release an album in the same year. To quote a tweet with over 8,000 likes, “2025 music drought will be so serious.” There are more artists who have released new music this year (Sabrina Carpenter, Anitta, Cardi B, Lana Del Rey, Hozier, Shakira and Katy Perry to name a few). However, I’ve decided to focus on these five for the sake of the word count and my sanity. So how did we get to this situation, when should these artists release music next and what does that mean for 2025? 

Ariana Grande has released seven albums over the course of her career (including the upcoming “eternal sunshine”). On average, she releases her albums 1.8 years after the previous one. However, this statistic might be misleading. Before 2020, she had never gone longer than two years without releasing an album. Between 2018 and 2020, she released an album during all three years. However, she then took a break from making albums for over three years, making her comeback in 2024. Since she’s busy with “Wicked” this year, it might be at least two years before she releases another album, likely 2026 or 2027.

Beyoncé’s first album was in 2003, and a year after that she released her final album with Destiny’s Child. When you include that album, as well as her album with Jay-Z, she had an average of 2.3 years between albums. However, she is currently in the midst of a trilogy of albums. Renaissance was released in 2022 and Cowboy Carter was released in 2024. So we should probably expect the final album in 2026. 

Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa have only released two albums, which is a very small sample size, even for album releases. Eilish has an average of two and a half years between albums (including “Hit Me Hard and Soft”). Lipa has an average of three and a half years. Based on that data, Billie Eilish’s next album could be in 2026-2027 and Dua Lipa’s next album could be in 2027-2028. Or perhaps it could be earlier, or later. We just don’t have the information for that. 

Finally, we have Taylor Swift. The question of what counts as a Taylor Swift album can be confusing. Over the past four years, Taylor Swift has been in the process of re-recording her first 6 albums. She released two of them in 2021 and two in 2023. It is entirely possible that her next re-recorded album could be in 2025. She also has an average of exactly two years between non-recorded albums. Her next studio album might be in 2026. 

So what can we expect in 2025 (Besides Taylor Swift’s next recording, possibly)? I think next year is going to be the year of newer artists. Three of the artists that I have talked about before have been active for over a decade, and the other two have been active for six years. Many people have suggested that Olivia Rodrigo (who’s first album was in 2021) might have new music in 2025. Perhaps next year will also be the year of discovering a new artist to fall in love with.