2018 is coming to a close and, boy, what a year it's been for music.

Drake dominated the world's charts with Scorpion, A Star Is Born and The Greatest Showman got everyone in a soundtrack fever, Ariana Grande and Little Mix outdid themselves, and Cardi B released the biggest debut album of the year. Returns from Lily Allen, Years & Years, Robyn and Mariah Carey blew us away, and #2018GAYTEEN thrived with incredible releases from MNEK, Troye Sivan and Hayley Kiyoko.

So, what's next? What more could we possibly want following such a thirst-quenching 12 months? Oh, honey; there's a lot more still to come...

Rihanna - TBC

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Rihanna is set to put her make-up brushes and sewing kit away to make a return to the stage with her highly-anticipated ninth studio album. The legendary singer has reportedly been working on the follow-up to 2016's Anti since 2017 - with reports of a double album (half-pop, half-reggae) emerging earlier this year - and kept very quiet about the details, however it's believed that she could release in the first half of 2019 as she recently reunited with her vocal producer Kuk Harrell in the studio. Finishing touches, is it, Miss Fenty?

Ariana Grande - thank u, next

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Can you believe we're getting two Ariana Grande albums in one year? Hell, make that six months. The pop superstar accidentally recorded her fifth album - titled thank u, next when she spent a month in the studio after Mac Miller died, and she wasted no time in moving on as she released the lead single (and title track) in November... as we're sure you'll know by now.

She initially hinted that the album would be out before the new year, however the massive success of the single has reportedly pushed the release back. So, this one could actually be with us in 2018 but we'll have to simply wait and see because we're not getting anything other than "soon", it seems.

Kanye West - Yandhi

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First we had Yeezus, now we're getting Yandhi. Kanye West's upcoming album was, like Ariana's, set to drop by December 31st, although delays have stalled its release. With 'I Love It' becoming one of the biggest rap hits of the year, there's a lot of hype surrounding the album, which comes not long after his eighth LP ye that came out in June 2018. Kanye is well-known for working to his own schedule and even re-recording entire albums in two weeks, so we'll be hearing this whenever he wants us to hear it.

Lady Gaga - TBC

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A star was reborn in 2018 as Lady Gaga's standout performance in A Star Is Born has breathed new life into her already-legendary career. While she topped both the singles and album charts in 2018 with the movie's incredible soundtrack, the world awaits her return to pop music following 2016's country moment, Joanne. Mother Monster is said to have worked with PC Music producer SOPHIE (Charli XCX, Madonna) - which is absolutely major news - but other than that we don't know much... other than the fact that she's coming for our wigs.

Coldplay - TBC

View the lyrics My father said, "never give up, son"

Just look how good Cassius become

Muhammad, Mahatma and Nelson

Not scared to be strong



(Man, what if they say I'm no good)

(What if they say, "get out of here kid, you got no future")



Now you could run and just say they're right

No, I'll never be no one in my whole life

Or you could turn and say "no wait, they're wrong"

And get to keep on dancing all life long



My father said, "never give up son"

Just look what Amelia and Joan done

Oh Rosa, Teresa, their war won

Not scared to be strong



Now you could run and just say they're right

No, I'll never be no one in my whole life

Or you could turn and say "no wait, they're wrong"

And get to keep on dancing all life long



Yeah, you could be

Someone special

You've got bright in your brains and lightning in your veins

You'll go higher than they've ever gone



In you I see

Someone special

You've got fire in your eyes and

When you realize, you'll go further than we've ever gone



Look

Just turn it on



I paid my intuition, I couldn't afford tuition

My funds was insufficient, it felt like I'm in prison

Until I realized I had to set my mind free

I was trusting statistics more than I trust me



Get a degree, good job, 401k

But I'm trying to turn K's to M's, what does it take?

And maybe I could be the new Ali of music prolly

Instead of doing it just as a hobby, like these boys told me to



I guess you either watch the show, or your show and prove

Prove it to them or you prove it to yourself

But honestly it's better if you do it for yourself



Never complacent until we hit the oasis

One life don't waste it, feel my heart racing

Success I taste it, ah

We on the verge of getting every single thing that we deserve



Yeah, you could be

Someone special

You've got fire in your eyes, I see heaven inside

You'll go further than we've ever gone



In you I see

Someone special

You've got bright in your brains, you can break through these chains

You'll go higher than we've ever gone



Just turn it on



In you I see

Someone special

Don't go to war with yourself

Just turn, just turn, just turn it on

And you can't go wrong Writer(s): Berryman Guy Rupert, Anderson Sean Michael Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com Hide the lyrics

Coldplay... or is it Los Unidades? Coldplay had a fairly quiet 2018 until November, when they surprise-dropped new music under a brand new band name Los Unidades. The band took a well-deserved sabbatical after three years on the road promoting their seventh album A Head Full of Dreams, however it seems they've still been working hard in secret and have a big plan under their sleeves.

It's unknown whether their new working name is just a one-off for the Global Citizen EP 1, which features their new single E-Lo with Pharrell, or if their new album will also be released under it. Whatever happens, it certainly will surprise us all.

Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell

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At last! We have a date! We think. March 29th, is rumoured to be when Lana Del Rey's sixth studio album will arrive. The anticipated set is the product of Lana collaborating with Jack Antanoff for the first time and if the first two songs - 'Mariners Apartment Complex' and 'Venice Bitch' - are anything to go by, it's going to be incredible.

Selena Gomez - TBC

Instagram/SelenaGomez

It's been 84 years... Not really, it's only been three, but it sure feels like it. Selena Gomez's third solo album has been teased for a while now, specifically since 'Bad Liar' first dropped in May 2017. Due to personal reasons, the album has (understandably) been delayed multiple times while Selena's many collaborations - like current single 'Taki Taki' with DJ Snake, Ozuna and Cardi B - have kept us going. We're holding out for it finally dropping in 2019, although we're sure it'll sound completely different from its 2017 version.

Rudimental - Toast to Our Differences

View the lyrics Showed up at the right time

In a broke down limousine

All you had was red lights

I went and turned them all to green

I found you in the landslide

And pulled you out again



The hardest conversations

Are the ones you never had

Well you don't have to say it

'Cause you know I understand

Never been the bravest

But if you need a hand



I got you, baby

You're in trouble I got you, baby

Nothing that I wouldn't do, baby

And you know, you know that



I am a rock, I am a stone (Oh-oh-oh)

I'll be your strength, I'll be your home (Oh-oh-oh)

And you may walk a lonely road

But you will never walk, walk, walk alone

You will never walk, walk, walk alone

You will never walk, walk, walk alone

Oh-oh, woah, oh, oh-oh, woah, oh-oh



I don't have the answers

But I can listen for a while

Might not understand it

But I can try to make you smile

When you're in a black place

And need a shoulder you can cry out



I got you, baby

You're in trouble I got you, baby

Nothing that I wouldn't do, baby

And you know, you know that



I am a rock, I am a stone (Oh, I am a stone)

I'll be your strength, I'll be your home (Oh, I'll be your home)

And you may walk a lonely road

But you will never walk, walk, walk alone

You will never walk, walk, walk alone

You will never walk, walk, walk alone

Oh-oh, woah, oh, oh-oh, woah, oh-oh

You know, you know



I am a rock, I am a stone

I'll be your strength, I'll be your home

And you may walk a lonely road



But you will never walk, walk, walk alone

(You will never walk alone)

You will never walk, walk, walk alone

(You will never walk alone)

You will never walk, walk, walk alone

Oh-oh, woah, oh, oh-oh, woah, oh-oh

(Oh, no, no, no)



'Cause I am a rock, I am a stone, oh

And I'll be your strength, I'll be your home

And you may walk a lonely road

But you will never walk, walk, walk alone Writer(s): Kesi Dryden, Amir Amor, Piers Aggett, Ilsey Juber, Dacoury Natche, Jesse Shatkin Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com Hide the lyrics

Rudimental returned to the top this year with their Number 1 single 'These Days' but they've made us wait a lot more days to hear their album in full. Luckily, Toast to Our Differences will finally be released on January 25th. James Arthur, Jess Glynne, Major Lazer and Anne-Marie are just some of the massive names that appear on the hefty track list, with future Number 1s bound to feature on the album.

The 1975 - Notes on a Conditional Form

View the lyrics We're fucking in a car, shooting heroin

Saying controversial things just for the hell of it

Selling melanin and then suffocate the black men

Start with misdemeanours and we'll make a business out of them



And we can find out the information, access all the applications

That are hardening positions based on miscommunication

Oh, fuck your feelings! Truth is only hearsay

We're just left to decay, modernity has failed us



And I'd love it if we made it

Yes, I'd love it if we made it

Yes, I'd love it if we made it

Yes, I'd love it if we made it



"And poison me, daddy," I got the Jones right through my bones

Write it on a piece of stone, a beach of drowning three-year olds

Rest in peace Lil Peep, the poetry is in the streets

Jesus save us! Modernity has failed us



And I'd love it if we made it

Yes, I'd love it if we made it

Yes, I'd love it if we made it

Yes, I'd love it if we made it



And I'd love it if we made it

And I'd love it if we made it

And I'd love it if we made it

I'd love it if we made it



Tell me something I didn't know



Consultation, degradation

Fossil fueling, masturbation

Immigration, liberal kitsch

Kneeling on a pitch



"I moved on her like a bitch!" Excited to be indicted

Unrequited house with seven pools, "Thank you, Kanye, very cool!"

The war has been incited, and guess what? You're all invited

And you're famous, modernity has failed us



And I'd love it if we made it

And I'd love it if we made it

And I'd love it if we made it

Tell me something I didn't know

And I'd love it if we made it

And I'd love it if we made it

And I'd love it if we made it

And I'd love it if we made it Writer(s): Ross Stewart Macdonald, Adam Brian Thomas Hann, Matthew Timothy Healy, George Bedford Daniel Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com Hide the lyrics

The 1975 might have just released A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, although that's only part one. Their third album was originally meant to be titled Music for Cars but the band ended up recording two albums and split the release in two, deciding the entire era is called Music for Cars. So, the second third album Notes on a Conditional Form will be released in May with very high expectations following the truly incredible record that is ABIIOR.

Bring Me the Horizon - amo

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Bring Me the Horizon are back with their first album in over three years. On January 25th, the Oliver Sykes-led band will release amo, their sixth studio album. If you thought they were worried about following up an album as critically acclaimed as That's the Spirit, the new album's brilliant lead single 'Mantra' shows no sign of nerves. They're going to nail it again, we just know it.

Tom Walker - What a Time to Be Alive

Tom Walker is undeniably one of 2018's breakout stars. 'Leave a Light On' became an enormous international hit, reaching the Top 10 of over a dozen countries (including a Number 1 in France!), and has made his forthcoming album one of the most anticipated debuts in recent memory. What a Time to Be Alive is due out on March 1st.

Zara Larsson - TBC

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Swedish pop princess Zara Larsson came back into our lives with the ominously-titled yet bloody brilliant 'Ruin My Life' this year, giving us a taste of what's to come from her third studio album. She worked with some of the industry's biggest hitmakers on her first album - MNEK, Stargate and Ty Dolla $ign to name a few - so we can only imagine what she's got in store with the new record. Here's hoping she doesn't make us wait as long as she did for So Good (soz, Zara).

The Chemical Brothers - No Geography

View the lyrics Free yourself, free yourself

Free yourself, free yourself

Free yourself, free me, dance

Free yourself, free them, dance

Free yourself, help to free me, free us

Free yourself, help to free me, free us

Free yourself, dance

Free yourself, dance

Free yourself, dance

Free yourself, dance



Dance



Free yourself, free me, dance

Free yourself, free them, dance

Free yourself, help to free me, free us

Free yourself, help to free me, free us



Dance, dance, dance, dance



Dance, dance, dance, dance

Dance, dance, dance



Free yourself, free me

Free yourself, free them

Free yourself, help to free me, free us

Free yourself, help to free me, free us

Free us, free us, free us, free us



Free yourself, free me, dance

Free yourself, free them, dance

Free yourself, help to free me, free us

Free yourself, help to free me, free us

Free us, free us, free us, free us Writer(s): Rowlands Thomas Owen Mostyn, Simons Edmund John Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com Hide the lyrics

The Chemical Brothers are coming for their seventh consecutive UK Number 1 album. The legendary duo recently announced their new album No Geography will be released some time in Spring 2019. The album will include their latest single 'Free Yourself', a resounding banger which centres political liberation on dance, which sounds pretty good to us.

Meghan Trainor - Treat Myself

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When will Meghan Trainor return from war? The pop star was supposed to release her third album Treat Myself in August of this year before she pushed the date back by five (!) months. Now the set will (hopefully) arrive on January 25th, with some newly-added songs taking it to 15 songs in total. That means, with the five tracks already released, we've still got another ten brand new songs to come our way. Whew! We are not worthy.

Busted - Half Way There

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Busted are set to release their fourth album at the top of 2019. The second LP of their comeback, Half Way There, will be released on February 9th and officially means they'll have released as many albums in their second form as they did in the early days. Lead single 'Nineties' revealed that they're going back to their cheeky rock-pop origins on the new record and we cannot wait to hear the rest.

Which albums are you most excited for? Let us know @MTVUK!