Year in review: The biggest newsmakers of 2021

After nearly six years without so much as a one-off single, Adele made her triumphant return in 2021 with her fourth studio album, . She finalized her divorce in 2020, and anticipation grew for another heartbreak album from the Queen Of Teary Ballads. Her comeback is the biggest news about the music superstar this year—but that’s all Adele really needs. Add in an interview with Oprah, , and a , and she’s pretty much set for music domination. [Gabrielle Sanchez]

Few stars have seen their careers torpedoed as quickly or as stupendously as Armie Hammer. It started when from what was believed to be Hammer’s account began making the rounds on social media, and quickly escalated into him being accused of sexual assault and . Hammer was unceremoniously, and he soon began bailing on after . [Shanicka Anderson]

In 2021, Billie Eilish released , the eagerly anticipated followup to her debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for three consecutive weeks. Back in June, she also became the subject of controversy when to a song by Tyler, The Creator resurfaced. Eilish apologized for the clip, saying that she was “appalled and embarrassed” and explaining that at the time of the video (which was recorded when she was 13 or 14), she didn’t realize the word was a slur. As a capper to her big year, on December 11, appearing as both host and musical guest. [Shanicka Anderson]

Britney Spears’ fans knew she was under a conservatorship, but it wasn’t until this year that the world learned the details of what the pop icon was forced to endure. The documentary offered insight into the terms and conditions of Spears’ conservatorship. After receiving immense support from fans who decried father Jamie Spears’ role as conservator, Britneyt, detailing the trauma she endured throughout the 13-year legal arrangement. The #FreeBritney moment proved to be powerful: after , Judge Brenda Perry . [Tatiana Tenreyro]

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Once the queen of Twitter and , Chrissy Teigen took a big tumble in 2021. Though no stranger to controversy (), allegations made by Courtney Stodden knocked Teigen back this year. Stodden, who spoke out about years of alleged abuse at the hands of their ex-husband, actor Doug Hutchinson, claims that amid the media blitz caused by Stodden’s marriage to Hutchinson, when Stodden was 16 and Hutchinson was 51, . and she’s been mostly silent ever since, give or take hosting an ill-advised Squid Game party. [Matt Schimkowitz]

Always in the news for all the wrong reasons, DaBaby spent the year in the headlines for going on . He , , and then hid behind Kanye’s over-designed Yeezy Slide of feigned cancel culture victimhood. As annoying as it was offensive, DaBaby sullied whatever goodwill the public at large had for the rapper when he appeared . DaBaby’s antics were tired from the jump, as were his reductive, offensive, and outright foolish displays of homophobia. Next year, DaBaby could take a nap. [Matt Schimkowitz]

Issa Rae’s is set to finish in December and though many are sad to see the groundbreaking show go, the end marks the beginning for Rae. In March, she inked a five-year overall deal with HBO for a that will include TV and first-look film projects. Sweet Life: Los Angeles, Project Greenlight, Rap Sh*t, and are just some of Rae’s upcoming projects that have already been announced. [Shanicka Anderson]

Jason Sudeikis started this year by pissing some people off after he dared to wear while accepting his Golden Globe for Best Actor In A Musical Or Comedy Series for Ted Lasso. He spent the rest of year collecting a lot more awards, but leaving the hoodies behind. In addition to that Golden Globes win, also racked up four Primetime Emmys and three Creative Arts Emmys. Sudeikis also finally returned to , thankfully bringing back characters like Vance, the track-suit-wearing “What Up With That?” backup dancer, and the devil on “Weekend Update.” [Shanicka Anderson]

Is there a better, more shiny-domed figurehead for 2021 than Spotify’s , a living symbol of the increasing mutability of the common fact? Rogan’s endless quest for ignorance was a sort of leitmotif for the entire year: Joe Rogan . Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan expresses vaccine skepticism, , treats it with ivermectin, then gets mad when people refer to it as “horse medicine.” Joe Rogan . Rogan is somehow the soil in which so much of the chaos of this information-agnostic year seemed to grow: You’d be reading , and then, BAM, there’s Joe Rogan, intruding into the narrative once again. [William Hughes]

Kathryn Hahn started 2021 with a top-tier MCU performance as Agatha Harkness on Disney+’s WandaVision—which led to and the great She didn’t win the Emmy, but the buzz got her into and even helped her get cast as Joan Rivers in a Showtime series—but, in a bizarre twist, when it turned out that the producers didn’t have the rights to Rivers’ story. Don’t worry about Hahn, though: [Sam Barsanti]

With a rock solid album promo plan and a whole lotta guts, Lil Nas X moved from a potential one-hitter to one of the biggest names in the pop and rap game. Starting his year off with a bang, he spurred plenty of internet controversy with his devilish music video for “” featuring a racy lap dance on Satan himself. The video was followed by the of Satan shoes and a wardrobe malfunction on , and was topped off with the release of a . Lil Nas X made the internet his wonderland, taking joy in shutting down the haters. [Gabrielle Sanchez]

Machine Gun Kelly is the kind of celebrity who has been around for a long time but, until this year, you would have been reasonably forgiven for having never heard of him or. Part of the reason that changed is that he started dating Megan Fox and the two have been …. But also his music career really took off thanks to and [Sam Barsanti]

Few people failed upward harder in 2021 than country music’s Morgan Wallen, who managed to top a 2020 that saw him behave in a fashion that was too unruly for even a Kid Rock-owned bar (imagine it) by . Wallen’s label, the country stations, and the CMAs all responded by expressing public censure. while Michael Strahan grilled him (by morning TV standards, at least). And the fans? The fans , leading to the paradoxical situation where Wallen is now nominated for at least one music award he’s [William Hughes]

“My friend’s cousin’s swollen balls” became the phrase of the week when took to Twitter to explain the far-reaching reasoning behind her absence at this year’s Met Gala. What started as an outlandish online rant eventually turned into “Ballgate,” catching the attention of . Around the same time, Minaj caught more headlines for regarding a previous rape case against her husband . [Gabrielle Sanchez]

For someone who didn’t have any new movies to promote this year, Quentin Tarantino sure made headlines a lot. He always seemed to have something attention-grabbing to say—like when he mentioned that , or. And that’s without even getting into his incendiary conversations with and . Tarantino has also spent the year constantly giving us updates—and immediately changing his mind—about what he wants to do in his career. One day; another he’s . [Tatiana Tenreyro]

The year 2020 was huge for Taylor Swift. She released two critically acclaimed albums—and —and announced that she’d be re-recording her previous albums after her . And 2021 turned out to be just as major for the artist. Swift first , followed by. The latter was widely celebrated and discussed by her fervent fanbase, as it includes the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” which tells the story of a turbulent romance with an older love (rumored to be Jake Gyllenhaal, who Swift briefly dated in 2011). The uncut lyrics are delightfully scathing. Swift, who knows her fanbase all too well (heh), also that her followers quickly fell in love with, starring Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink and Teen Wolf’s Dylan O’Brien. [Tatiana Tenreyro]

This wasn’t Timothée Chalamet’s breakout year (that would be 2017, with Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird), but he certainly made a sizable impact on 2021. Chalamet starred in Wes Anderson’s and Denis Villeneuve’s (which, thankfully, is); he’s going to appear in Adam McKay’s timely apocalypse movie; and he even played Edward Scissorhands’ son in a weird car commercial. On top of all of that, he for an upcoming prequel. Chalamet is here, and he’s definitely not going anywhere. [Sam Barsanti]

Rapper Travis Scott had a fairly quiet 2021, at least for the first 10 months: A few collaborations, a track on Kanye West’s Donda, . That relative peace , the first night of the Scott-produced-and-fronted Astroworld festival in Houston. Details of the causes of the lethal crowd crush that began during Scott’s set that night remain unclear—and are likely to continue to be the subject of . The grim results are all too obvious, though: 10 dead, including a 9-year-old child, and hundreds injured. Meanwhile, Scott faces not only legal threats, but an ongoing examination of the ways his behavior, past and present, may or may not have influenced a thoroughly avoidable tragedy. [William Hughes]