A lot of holiday albums stuck with the classic hits to be used either as a tool at the peak of an artist’s career or to resurge their diminishing popularity. Why does Mariah Carey's Christmas album continue to have a longstanding legacy? “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and timelessness.

Through a career spanning over 50 years, Mercedes Sosa guided a generation of Latin Americans through difficult times. Her music spoke to fearlessness, love, and the complicated political turmoil that held Argentina.

In 1997, Janet Jackson, reeling from personal struggle released her sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope. The album spanned themes of the depression, sexuality and the emotional politics of relationships. Seeking more independence, Janet differed from her earlier releases in what pares down to a simple quality: honesty.

The 1960s saw a significant turn as the Civil Rights Movement continued. Black artists maintained their own cultural real estate, but the emergence of blue-eyed soul labelled white artists of similar sound to the Black soul artists of Motown. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Dusty Springfield remained one of the leading artists in a time where racial integration approached the music industry.

In 1990, the once stateless “Mama Africa” was finally welcomed back to her home country of South Africa after 30 years. Makeba became a symbol in the 1960s for being one of the first South African artists to have a global reach. Miriam brought Afropop, jazz and folk music to the mainstream. Beyond a successful career, Miriam Makeba was at her core attempting to connect with her audiences through expression and experience.

In 1994, Sylvia Rhone became the first womxn chairperson and CEO of a major music label. Through a career that has spanned over 40 years, Sylvia Rhone has changed how we view the music industry.

After becoming the first womxn to win the Grammy for the Best Engineered Album, Emily Lazar deals with the bittersweet nature of setting precedent in the music industry.

Queen Latifah’s career-defining hit “U.N.I.T.Y.” made a huge impact on the music industry by rapping about issues surrounding being a black womxn and set the path for the womxn artists that followed.

In the 1990s, Hip-Hop and R&B were breaking through into the mainstream and commercial space but playing out in different ways, making it hard-pressed to find commonplace between the two. Mary J. Blige’s bridged the growing gap and influenced the state of the modern music industry in her wake.

For Carole King, songwriting was a way to go beyond the range and limits of genre and time. It’s difficult to describe just how infectious Carole King’s writing has been across half a century. This is her story.

Oumou Sangaré, a world-renowned West African singer uses the traditional sound of Wassalou to challenge anti-feminist cultural norms and create spaces for Malian womxn.

Poly Styrene made a huge impression in the UK’s early punk scene and pushed the boundaries in what we thought was possible in the realm of the music business. The question remains “what is punk?” and musicians like Poly have been right here showing us the answer: do it yourself.

Maki Asakawa did not have a sensational story with a sweet or bitter end. She was consistent and deliberate in her music career which can many times be a rarity in this business. Her influence carries forward as Japanese Jazz hasn’t slowed its interest since her beginnings.

Buffy Sainte-Marie used her platform to bring attention to environmental exploitation, Indigenous realities, and greed to audiences worldwide. Here we take a look at her unwavering 50+ year legacy.

Donna Summers’ was given the title “ The Queen of Disco” in the mid-1970s as she began to rise in the height of the disco era. Using her formal training as a basis, Donna, differentiated herself from her peers through her tireless stage performance, musicality, and international appeal to grow the development of disco and pop.