1998 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.
Specific locations
Specific genres
- 1998 in classical music
- 1998 in country music
- 1998 in heavy metal music
- 1998 in hip-hop
- 1998 in jazz
- 1998 in Latin music
- 1998 in progressive rock
Events
January
- January 28
- *Interscope Records pays a radio station in Portland, Oregon, USA, $5000 to play the Limp Bizkit single "Counterfeit" fifty times. The business move is widely criticized in the media as "payola", but the controversy serves to further increase publicity for the band.
- *"Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia. At the same time, he grows out his hair and shaves off his moustache, radically changing his signature look.
February
- February 5
- *Carnatic vocalist M. S. Subbulakshmi becomes the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.
- *Former Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford publicly reveals his homosexuality for the first time in an interview with MTV.
- February 15 – Sir Edward Elgar's unfinished Third Symphony, completed by Anthony Payne, is performed for the first time at the Royal Festival Hall, London, UK.
- February 19 – The Stray Cats reunite for a benefit show for the Carl Perkins Foundation at House of Blues in Los Angeles, USA.
- February 21 – Misia makes her official CD debut with the single "Tsutsumikomu Yō ni...".
- February 23 – "Frozen", the first single from Madonna's eighth studio album, Ray of Light, is released. The single is a worldwide hit, peaking at #2 on US Billboard Hot 100 and becoming her first single to enter the charts at #1 in the UK.
- February 24 – Elton John is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom at Buckingham Palace, London, UK. He was mistakenly introduced as "Sir John Elton", but was renamed "Sir Elton John".
- February 25 – The 40th Annual Grammy Awards are presented in New York, hosted by Kelsey Grammer. Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss and R. Kelly all win three awards each, with Dylan winning Album of the Year for Time Out of Mind. Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home" wins both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Paula Cole wins Best New Artist.
- February 28 – Haitian group RAM survive an assassination attempt while performing at a carnival, after a disagreement with the newly elected mayor of Port-au-Prince.
March
- March 3 – Madonna releases her seventh studio album Ray of Light. The album marks a completely new lyric and musical approach for Madonna, and gains her numerous awards, including four Grammy Awards out of a total of six nominations.
- March 10 – The South Korean-made MPMan, the first mass-produced digital audio player, is launched at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, Germany.
- March 13 – The Smashing Pumpkins file a US$1 million lawsuit against UK-based Sound And Media Ltd, alleging that the company has released a book and CD about the band without permission.
April
- April 3 – Dave Navarro is fired by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- April 6 – Organizers announce that Lollapalooza will not be staged in 1998 following unsuccessful attempts to sign a major headlining act. The festival would return in 2003.
- April 7 – George Michael is arrested in a public restroom in Beverly Hills, California, USA for lewd conduct. He is subsequently sentenced to community service, and later describes it as a "subconsciously deliberate act".
- April 8 – Ayumi Hamasaki makes her debut under Avex Trax with the single "Poker Face".
- April 14 – The first VH1 Divas Live concert is broadcast on VH1, starring Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Céline Dion, Shania Twain and Mariah Carey.
- April 17–19 – The second Terrastock festival takes place in San Francisco, USA.
May
- May 8
- *The third European Festival of Youth Choirs is held in Basel, Switzerland.
- *A British court rules in favor of the Beatles and John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, stopping the release of another Live at the Star Club recording. All copies of the recording and the original tape are awarded to the Beatles, as well as damages and legal costs.
- May 9 – The 43rd Eurovision Song Contest, held in Birmingham, United Kingdom, is won by Israel's transgender performer Dana International with the song "Diva".
- May 26 – Anggun releases her debut album, Snow on the Sahara in North America, which would go on to sell 1 million copies across Europe and America and becoming the best-selling album by Asian artist outside Asia.
- May 27 – Ringo Sheena releases her debut single "Kōfukuron".
- May 31 – Geri Halliwell goes into hiding as her public relations representative, Julian Torton, confirms that she has left the Spice Girls permanently.
June–July
- July 3 – Irish boy band Westlife is created and signed to the record label BMG.
- July 5 – Teen singer Billie Piper becomes the youngest British solo artist to enter the UK singles charts at #1, with "Because We Want To".
- July 17 – Aiko makes her major label debut with the song "Ashita".
August
- August 1 – VH1 Smooth is launched. The first music video played is a cover of "Makin' Whoopee" by Branford Marsalis.
- August 18 – Korn's third studio album, Follow the Leader, enters Billboard 200 at number 1, with 268,000 copies sold in its first week. It goes on to be certified 5× Platinum by the RIAA and sell over 14 million copies worldwide, thus launching nu metal into the mainstream.
- August 25 – Lauryn Hill releases her breakthrough debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The album goes on to be certified 7× Platinum by the RIAA and sell over 19 million copies worldwide.
- August 29 – The Bee Gees open their One Night Only tour in Dublin, Ireland
September
- September 14 – US TV show Total Request Live is broadcast for the first time on MTV.
- September 16 – Lou Reed performs for President of the Czech Republic Václav Havel at the White House.
- September 28 – Britney Spears' debut single, "...Baby One More Time", is released. It would become the top-selling single of 1999, selling over ten million units worldwide. It was also the biggest hit single of 1999. The "...Baby One More Time" music video was ranked as number three on Billboard's 2010 list of "Best Music Videos of All Time".
October
- October 5 – MuchMoreMusic is launched in Canada.
- October 6 – Kurupt's debut studio album, Kuruption!, is released by Antra Records. It peaks at #8 on the Billboard 200 on October 24, 1998.
- October 8 – The Recording Industry Association of America files in court against Diamond Multimedia in an attempt to block the release of the new Rio PMP300, arguing that the MP3 digital audio player is a music piracy device. The RIAA's application is denied on October 26, clearing the way for the PMP300 to become the first commercially successful MP3 player.
- October 19 – "Believe", the first single of Cher's twenty-second studio album of the same name is released, becoming a smash hit. After seven consecutive weeks atop the UK official singles chart, it becomes the UK's bestselling single of the year, and also the bestselling single by a female artist in UK history. On March 13, 1999, Believe becomes Cher's 5th number-one single in the US, spending four consecutive weeks at #1 and becoming the bestselling single of that year.
- October 22 – Cher releases her twenty-second studio album Believe, which becomes the most successful of her career: It peaks at number one in seven countries, #4 in the US, and #7 in the UK. The album goes on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide and is certified platinum in at least sixteen countries, becoming one of the bestselling albums of all time.
- October 27 – The Copyright Term Extension Act is signed into law, giving the entertainment industry 20 more years of exclusive rights to all works created since 1923.
November
- November 14 – The 27th OTI Festival, held at the National Theatre of Costa Rica in San José, Costa Rica, is won by the song "Fin de siglo, éste es el tiempo de inflamarse, deprimirse o transformarse", written and performed by Florcita Motuda representing Chile.
- November 17 – The Offspring release Americana to massive mainstream success. It goes on to be certified 5× platinum by the RIAA and sells over 11 million copies worldwide. The hit single "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" becomes one of the best charting worldwide punk songs of all time, topping charts in 9 countries.
December
- December 5
- *Young violinists Nicola Benedetti and Alina Ibragimova play Bach's double violin concerto under the baton of Yehudi Menuhin at the opening ceremony of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at UNESCO in Paris.
- *Billboard changes its policy for its Hot 100 chart to allow airplay-only singles or album cuts to be accounted in the chart.
- December 9 – Hikaru Utada makes their debut with the double A-side single "Automatic " / "Time Will Tell".
- December 29 – India issues a set of postage stamps on the subject of Indian musical instruments.
Also in 1998
- The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra launches its own recording label, RLPO Live.
- Singers Brandy and Monica dominate the Billboard charts with the duet, "The Boy Is Mine", holding the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 spot for 13 weeks.
- Composer John Harbison was awarded a Heinz Award for the Arts and Humanities.
- The Goo Goo Dolls single, "Iris", set a new Billboard Hot 100 Airplay record in the U.S. by achieving 18 weeks at number one.
Bands formed
- ''See Musical groups established in 1998''
Bands reformed
Bands disbanded
- ''See Musical groups disestablished in 1998''
Albums released
Release date unknown
Biggest hit singles
The following singles achieved the highest aggregated chart positions in 1998, according to TsorT.| # | Artist | Title | Year | Country | Chart entries |
| 1 | Celine Dion | My Heart Will Go On | 1997 |  Classical music
Opera
Musical theater
Musical films
Births
Deaths
Awards
Mercury Music Prize
Charts
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