The showbiz adage may be that you should always leave people wanting more, but some artists seem to want to test it more thoroughly than others, particularly when leaving people waiting for their next album to come out.
But the good news for fans of these ten artists is that their patience is (probably) about to be rewarded. Here - barring a last minute change of heart (again) - is what 2019 is going to sound like.
The 1975 - Notes on a Conditional Form
You may believe that The 1975 have released enough music for now - the band's third album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, was only out in November - but there's already another one on the way, putting fans in the unique position of being delightfully satiated and yearning for more at the same time. Band manager Jamie Oborne has confirmed that there's a second set of songs called Notes on a Conditional Form and it's due to to be out in the summer. When asked on what it'll be like, he replied "Matty [Healy] keeps talking about a nighttime record. X"
Conceptually, the album completes a trilogy known as the "Music for Cars era", named after their EP of the same name. There was supposed to be an album of that name in 2017, then a follow-up entitled Drive Like I Do (which had been the band's name for a while). In any case, there is a single on the way early next year, with the album following around the end of May/early June. There are even song titles: The Birthday Party and Frail State of Mind. At this rate, there'll be another one out by Christmas.
Release date: June 2019
Rihanna - TBC
Remember when Rihanna used to release new singles and albums so often it was hard to keep up? Been a while hasn't it? In fact it's been nearly three years since she last put an album out, so her ninth is surely due any minute. In an interview with Graham Norton six months ago (above), she revealed that she was working on new songs, and the grapevine suggests she may even release two albums.
There'll be an album of pop bangers - British producer Shakka has already said that he's involved - and one of experimental tracks. That said, in a 2018 Vogue interview she claimed to be making a reggae album. If that's true, that would explain why two songs have reportedly been registered with songwriting society ASCAP. One called Only One Who Knows and the other - supposedly a duet with Buju Banton - called Phatty.
Release date: TBC
Madonna - Magic
Madonna has strong words about the current state of pop, telling Vogue Italia: "Everything’s so formulaic, and every song has 20 guest artists on it, and everyone sounds the same." But she does appear to be doing something about it. A recent Instagram post appeared to suggest a future release will be called Beautiful Game, and if we're going by the hashtags alone, it is "#music", it was recorded with French producer "#mirwais" and it's coming from an album called "#magic", which will be her 14th. And it's due soon.
"I'm finishing my record, which I'm going to release next year," she told WWD, in an October interview exclusively about her new beauty products. "Yep, in between rose mist spray and serums, I'm actually making music. Can't quit my day job."
Release Date: TBC
Liam Payne - TBC
Liam Payne's debut album has been so long in coming it's tempting to conclude he released it and we all just collectively forgot. As the clip above - from May 2017 - proves, he has been having consistent hit singles for the past 18 months. He first promised his album would be out in January 2018, then September 2018. However, as he'd written a good deal of the songs - with help from Ed Sheeran and Charlie Puth, among others - while still in a relationship with former Girls Aloud star Cheryl, their breakup forced him to reconsider what should or shouldn't be included.
He told tmrw magazine: "I think my main problem, and what was holding me back was writers block when it came to writing by myself. I didn't really know what sound I was going for. You shouldn't be thinking 'is this a single?' or 'is that a single?' - you should just write songs because every song has a unique code to crack."
All of which means, if he doesn't hurry up, he could become a modern rarity, someone whose debut album is a greatest hits.
Release date: TBC
Rudimental - Toast to Our Differences
During the three years that have elapsed since their last album, Rudimental have been happily spending their time creating colossal hit singles such as Let Me Live, and the chart-topping These Days - with Jess Glynne, Macklemore and Dan Caplen, which has to have been one of the biggest songs of the year. They also assisted Anne-Marie, whose album has gone on to be one of 2019's biggest-selling debut albums.
So it's fair to assume that there is going to be more of the same on Toast to Our Differences, which will be released at the end of January. Expect an expert collision of pop and dance with lots of guest singers, including (deep breath): Tom Walker, James Arthur, Stefflon Don, Rita Ora, Kojey Radical, Jess Glynne (again), Chronixx and Maverick Sabre. But perhaps the most intriguing name on the list is that of the South African a capella choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who appear on a song called Thula Ungakhlai.
Release date: January 25, 2019
Zara Larsson - TBC
Since Zara Larsson released her second album So Good in 2017, she appears to have suffered something of a loss of confidence about following it up. So much so, in fact, she put up an Instagram Story in which she revealed why the release date has been delayed, and it appears to have more to do with an eagerness to get everything just so - songs have been recorded, stuff is definitely happening - than a fit of pop star pique:
"I'm really anxious about my music because I want it to be perfect for you... the production just isn't there 100 percent and I don't want to release anything half-assed... The more I wait, the more pressure I put on myself and it's making it harder to release something because now my expectations of myself are so high and I know the other expectations of me are high, too. My worst nightmare isn't that the radio wont pick it up or that it won't sell like a million pure copies, it's the fact that I'm so scared about you guys, my fans, not liking it."
Thankfully, the first single Ruin My Life has been received very well, which bodes well for the album coming pretty soon. Details are pretty sketchy, but she did confirm back in June that there are no special guests (as yet), but she does appear on a song called Now You're Gone by Tom Walker, on his debut album What a Time to Be Alive, which comes out on January 25.
Release date: TBC
Kanye West - Yandhi
Have no fear, this one is definitely going to happen. Probably. Yandhi is Kanye West's ninth album, and has already been thought of as a follow up to his sixth, what with the MiniDisc cover art aping the blank CD cover for Yeezus. It's possible the album features some Yeezus offcuts, and there's some talk of collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Migos, Chance the Rapper, Lauryn Hill, Rihanna, Ty Dolla $ign and 6ix9ine, as well as a contribution from XXXTENTACION. But since announcing the album back in September, Kanye has been cagey about its release
Album sessions took place in Chicago and Uganda earlier this year. So far all we've heard is the song I Love It, with Lil Pump, but there's seems to be a song called We Got Love and another called Ghost Town. Unfortunately Kanye called off the album's release - first delaying it from September to November, then putting it off indefinitely. He told in October: "I didn't finish it... I started incorporating sounds that you never heard before and pushing it, and having like, concepts that people don't, you know, talk about."
He continued: "I felt this energy when I was in Chicago, I felt the roots. But we have to go to what is known as Africa. I need to go, I need to find out what it's really called. Just grab the soil and be and cook food, five meals a day so the metabolism stays up, have my kids in the studio, have the mic out in the open so you can hear nature while we're recording."
Release date: TBC
Selena Gomez - TBC
Some performers take a nice long break between albums to try and channel their muse. Selena Gomez has had a far rougher time of it, having had to weather multiple hospital visits following a kidney transplant and a bout of Lupus and within the last couple of months, a short stay in a mental health facility.
It therefore seems entirely impolite to wonder when her next album - the follow up to 2015's Revival - might come out. That said, in August she took part in a live stream on Connar Franklin's Instagram account, and casually said, "My album's coming out later. I'm done with it." And in September she shared the clip above, in which she's seen larking about in the studio. So there are definitely new songs on the way - which she had claimed to be base on "personal things" .
Health permitting, it seems more than likely that the album will come out at some point in 2019. Whether it contains the songs she has released as singles over the past couple of years - including Back to You, Fetish, Wolves (her collaboration with Marshmello) and the wondrous Bad Liar - remains to be seen.
Release date: TBC
Lana Del Rey - Norman Chuffing Rockwell
OK, so she didn't say "chuffing". The reason Lana Del Rey's latest has such a provocative name is rooted in the working relationship she developed with producer Jack Antonoff. She told : "Working with Jack, I was in a little bit of a lighter mood because he was so funny. So the title track is called Norman F* Rockwell and it's kind of about this guy who is such a genius artist... and he like won’t shut up talking about it.
"So often I ended up with these creative types or whatever, and you know, they just go on and on about themselves, and I’m like, 'Yeah, yeah.' But there’s a little bit of merit to it also. They are so good."
So that's the vibe; being a tremendous (in both senses of the word) narcissist. Three songs have already been presented to the public, the 10-minute long acoustic meditation Venice B****; the softer, orchestral Mariners Apartment Complex; and How to Disappear.
Release date: March 2019
Adele - Adele
We are long overdue the next installment of Adele's music, given that her albums thus far have been called 19, 21 and 25 and she is currently 30. But actual hard facts about her next album are tricky to pin down. There was a news report in in June suggesting that she had started work, with a source giving what must be the least definite series of facts in all of gossip: "She's back in the UK and intends to write here. A number of studio musicians have been approached to work with her and she's already penned some of the songs."
They did also claim that she would spend the summer writing and that the album will be released at Christmas. Oh it's unlikely she'll call it 30 anyway, as she explained to James Corden in her back in 2017: "This is the last album after my age. I believe in trilogies, yeah. The next one is just gonna be Adele."
Release date: Christmas 2019