A pair of divas topped the Billboard Hot 100 the week of May 24, 1986: Whitney Houston with ‘Greatest Love of All‘ and Madonna with ‘Live to Tell.’ Alas, I’ve already written about both.
That brings us to #3, where we find another diva teaming up with one of the great soul singers. Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald’s ‘On My Own’ eventually spent three weeks at #1 and became the biggest hit for either artist.
Throwing back to the week of May 23, 1976, we find Diana Ross atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Love Hangover,’ the third single from her self-titled soul album released in February of that year.
The first single, which also reached #1, was ‘Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To),’ a Best Song Oscar nominee the previous year.
My final new release of the week is an album that came out at the beginning of the month: Kacey Musgraves’ seventh album, Middle of Nowhere.
I’m a bit shocked that Musgraves already has seven albums under her belt, even if the number is padded a bit by a Christmas release. I’m a big fan of her debut, 2013’s Same Trailer Different Park, and her Album of the Year-winning fourth album, 2018’s Golden Hour, but haven’t found much time for the rest.
This is the third straight year I’ve hotly anticipated a new album from Lana Del Rey, who currently sits aside Miranda Lambert as my favorite working musical artists.
In early 2024, Del Rey teased a country-influenced album titled Lasso to be released later that year. Never happened. In 2025, the title was now The Right Person Will Stay and the release date was that May. Never happened.
This year, we’re told the title is Stove and the release should come sometime this summer. I’m not holding my breath.
Madonna isn’t the only legend with new music out after a long hiatus. Sir Paul McCartney, 83 years young, will drop his 21st studio album this July.
The Boys of Dungeon Lane, McCartney’s first album since 2020’s McCartney III, promises to be a nostalgic look back at his childhood memories of Liverpool. I’d never speculate that this will be the last McCartney album, but if it is, the subject matter is certainly appropriate.
Meet Me In Montauk 