2012 in American music

Updated on Dec 17, 2024

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The following is a list of notable events and releases that happened in 2012 in music in the United States.

January

January 7 – Katy Perry's single "The One That Got Away" reaches #1 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, making her album, Teenage Dream, the first album in history to have seven songs from the same album reach #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. It is also only the third album in history to have six singles from the same album reach the top five on the Billboard Hot 100.

January 20 - Etta James dies of leukemia at age 73.

February

February 4 - Adele's single "Set Fire to the Rain" reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her album, 21, the first album in history to have three #1 songs from the same album by a British female artist.

February 5 - During Super Bowl XLVI Kelly Clarkson performs the "National Anthem" and artists Madonna, LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A., and Cee Lo Green perform at the halftime show. The twelve-minute performance becomes the most watched television event of all time, gathering a record 118 million viewers, six more than the game itself. Subsequently, "Give Me All Your Luvin'" becomes Madonna's 38th top ten hit and her 41st #1 hit on the dance charts.

February 11 - Pop icon Whitney Houston is found dead at the age of 48 in her Los Angeles hotel room hours before a pre-Grammy party hosted by Clive Davis. Further investigations reveal cocaine in her system, but the cause of death is ruled as heart disease and drowning. Sales of her albums spike, and "I Will Always Love You" re-enters the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.

February 12 - Adele wins six Grammy awards for her album 21, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. Bon Iver wins Best New Artist. Kanye West and the Foo Fighters swept in their respective categories, with Kanye winning 4 Grammys and the Foo Fighters taking 5.

February 29 - Davy Jones of the band The Monkees dies in Florida after suffering a severe heart attack at the age of 66.

March

March 3

Adele becomes the first female artist to have three singles in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, and the first female artist to have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.

Katy Perry's single "Part of Me" debuts at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming only the 20th song in history to debut atop the chart. It is her seventh consecutive top five single on the chart.

March 26 - Madonna releases her twelfth studio album MDNA, which becomes her eighth #1 album on the Billboard 200, debuting with 359,000 copies sold in the second week.

April

April 4 - Justin Bieber's single, "Boyfriend", has the second-highest first week sales of a new single, debuting at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, later on surpassed by Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" with 623,000 sales making Bieber the third highest first week sale.

April 26 - Chiodos' original lead singer, Craig Owens, rejoins the band after being let go in September 2009, replacing Brandon Bolmer, who departed Chiodos in March.

April 28 - Gotye became the first Belgian-Australian solo artist to hit #1 on Billboard with Somebody That I Used To Know.

April 29 - Kevin Richardson rejoined the Backstreet Boys permanently, after roughly six years of departure.

May

May 1 - Pennywise releases All or Nothing, their first album to feature Ignite singer Zoli Téglás on lead vocals, following the August 2009 departure of original lead singer Jim Lindberg.

May 4 - Rapper Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys dies of cancer at the age of 47.

May 17 - Donna Summer dies of cancer at age 63.

May 20 - Bee Gees member Robin Gibb dies at the age of 62 after losing his battle with cancer. As a result, his brother Barry Gibb became the last Bee Gee.

May 23 - Phillip Phillips is crowned winner of American Idol (season 11) while Jessica Sanchez is named the runner-up.

May 29 - Doc Watson dies after complications from abdominal surgery at age 89.

June

June 15 - Justin Bieber tops the charts and goes platinum for the fourth time after the release of his third studio album Believe.

June 29 - Chris Brown goes to number 1 on the charts a second time after the release of his fifth studio album Fortune.

August

August 1

No Use for a Name frontman Tony Sly dies at the age of 41 of a drug overdose.

Snoop Dogg officially changes his name to Snoop Lion.

August 2 - Blink-182 celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band with a worldwide tour simply called 20th Anniversary Tour.

August 4 - Ministry reunited at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany.

August 9 - The Monkees announce that Michael Nesmith will rejoin the band for a 12 city tour of the U.S.

August 12 - Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" peaks at No. 2, becoming her ninth and final Top 10 single from the Teenage Dream era.

August 28 - TobyMac debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with his sixth full-length studio album Eye on It. The album was the first Christian release since 1997 to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

September

September 21 - Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day gets angry at the iHeartRadio Festival for the tour promoters cutting their performance short to extend time for Usher's performance, then says lots of F Bombs, then smashes guitar and enters rehab the next day.

October

October 22 - Taylor Swift released her anticipated album, Red. The album sold 1,208,000 copies in its first week in the U.S, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, the second highest debut for a female artist.