2008 in music

This topic covers notable events and articles related to 2008 in music. This year was the peak of record sales in the United States, with sales declining year on year since then.

Specific locations

Specific genres

Events

January

January 1 – Julia Fischer makes her début as a concert pianist, performing Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie at the Alte Oper, Frankfurt. The concert was conducted by Matthias Pintscher, who replaced Sir Neville Marriner. On the same occasion she also performed the Violin Concerto no. 3 in B minor by Camille Saint-Saëns.
January 5 – The Salzburg Festival launches the "Herbert von Karajan Jubilee Year" with a concert in Salzburg's Grosses Festspielhaus.
January 19–February 3 – Rage Against the Machine headline the Big Day Out festivals in Australia and New Zealand, their first shows outside the United States since reforming, and their first Australian shows in 12 years. They join co-headliners Björk, who pulled out of the Sydney festival under doctor's orders, and Arcade Fire.
January 29 – Face to Face announce that they will reunite for select shows in the US and internationally.
January 31 – Laura Attwood of the King Edward VI School in Morpeth wins the second Eileen Bowler Award.

February

February 8 – Michael Jackson's Thriller album, the world's best-selling album of all time, is reissued as Thriller 25 to celebrate its 25th anniversary, with Jackson himself as executive producer.
February 10 – The 50th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony takes place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, US. Amy Winehouse wins five awards, including both Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Rehab", along with Best New Artist. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters wins Album of the Year.
February 11 – After pleading no contest to a felony weapons charge, The Game was sentenced to 60 days in jail, 150 hours of community service, and three years of probation in connection with an incident where he was alleged to have brandished a gun at a basketball game in South Los Angeles in February 2007.
February 19 – System of a Down guitarist, Daron Malakian, tells MTV.com that the band is not likely to reform as he will be concentrating on his new project Scars on Broadway.
February 20–25 – Viña del Mar International Song Festival is held in Chile.
February 23 – March 3 – The second annual Soundwave festival is held in Australia.
February 26 – The Return of the Spice Girls tour comes to a close in Toronto.

March

March 6–9 – The 2008 Langerado Music Festival is held on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in southern Florida.
March 7 – The Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2008 takes place in Indonesia.
March 7–16 – The 2008 South by Southwest Conference and Festival is held in Austin, Texas, US.
March 11
*Jazz musician and broadcaster Humphrey Lyttelton announces his retirement from presenting BBC Radio 2's jazz programme after forty years.
*Rick Ross releases his second studio album, Trilla, to mixed reviews.
March 25–29 – Miami Winter Music Conference.
March 31 – theJazz radio station stops broadcasting.

April

April 1 – Scott Weiland's departure from rock band Velvet Revolver becomes official. His reunion with his former band, Stone Temple Pilots, and tensions between him and the rest of Velvet Revolver, led to his departure.
April 5
*The reunited Face to Face perform together for the first time in four-and-a-half-years at The Bamboozle Left in Irvine, California, US.
*Leona Lewis single "Bleeding Love" reached number 1 in 35 countries and became the first song to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart by a female British solo artist in 20 years since Kim Wilde did with "You Keep Me Hangin On" back in 1987. Her single was later proclaimed as the best selling single of 2008 worldwide and Lewis was named Top New Artist by Billboard.
April 12 – "Touch My Body" becomes Mariah Carey's 18th number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, putting her into second place among artists with the most number 1 singles in the rock era, and first place as a solo artist, surpassing Elvis Presley.
April 15 – Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa officially proclaims Mariah Carey Day in Los Angeles, California, US. On this day, Mariah Carey also releases E=MC², her eleventh studio album. It debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the highest first-week sales of her career.
April 22 – Andrey Baranov of Russia wins First Prize in the Second Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition in London.

May

May 3 – The sixth annual The Bamboozle festival opens at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, East Rutherford, New Jersey, US.
May 10–11 – Garth Brooks inducted Carrie Underwood on Grand Ole Opry.
* The Give It A Name 2008 festival is held at Earls Court, London, UK.
May 14 – The "Spirit of Change" Gospel Choir celebrates its tenth anniversary with the 20th Zündorfer Gospelnacht concert in the Catholic Parish Church of St. Mariae Geburt, in Zündorf.
May 21 – David Cook defeats David Archuleta to win season 7 of American Idol, in a contest decided by 97.5 million votes, a record for the show.
May 24 – 43 countries compete in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest final in Belgrade, Serbia, including newcomers San Marino and Azerbaijan. The contest is won by Russia, with Believe by Dima Bilan.
May 24–26 – The Sasquatch! Music Festival is held over Memorial Day weekend at The Gorge Amphitheatre in central Washington, US.
May 25 – The Slovak preliminary round of the first Bluegrass competition is held in Hviezdoslavovo námestie, Bratislava.

June

June 1
* Westlife play their 10th anniversary concert at Europe's fourth biggest stadium, Croke Park, in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
* A fire at Universal Studios in Universal City, California, destroys as many as 175,000 master tapes containing as many as half a million songs by 20th and 21st century artists, some of which had never been released or digitized. The full extent of the damage was not made public until 2019.
June 6-8 – The 2008 Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival is held at Clinton State Park near Lawrence, Kansas, US.
June 10 – Lil Wayne's sixth album Tha Carter III sells 1 million copies in its first week of release.
June 12–15 – The 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival is held in Manchester, Tennessee, US.
June 13–15
* The seventh Isle of Wight Festival takes place in Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK.
* The annual Download Festival takes place at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England. The main stage was headlined by Kiss, The Offspring and Lostprophets, the Tuborg stage by Simple Plan, HIM and Cavalera Conspiracy, and the Gibson stage by The Dillinger Escape Plan, Testament and Jonathan Davis and the SFA.
June 15 – E. Kallai from Hungary wins First Prize in the 11th Carl Fleisch International Violin Competition in Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary.
June 20 – My Bloody Valentine play their first reunion show at the Roundhouse, London, UK.
June 27–29 – The Eidgenössiches Jodlerfest is held in Lucerne.
June 29 – Release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the first video game in the Guitar Hero series to be based around a single music group.

July

July 3 – Opening of the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London, UK.
July 5 – Staatsminister Rainer Robra and Halberstadt Oberbürgermeister Andreas Henke preside as the notes A and C are added in the sixth sound change of the performance of John Cage's Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) that began on 5 September 2001 and is to conclude on 5 September 2640, in Halberstadt, Germany.
July 23–26 – The 2008 10,000 Lakes Festival is held.
July 24–25 – The Splendour in the Grass music festival is held in Byron Bay, Australia, headlined by Devo and Wolfmother.
July 24–28 – The Fifth International Symposium of throat-singing, "Khoomei—Cultural Phenomenon of the Peoples of Central Asia" is held in Tuva.

August

August 8 – Chen Qigang is director of music for the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing. A minor scandal ensues when it is revealed that Lin Miaoke, the performer of "Ode to the Motherland", was miming to a recording by another girl, Yang Peiyi.
August 12–18 – Sziget Festival 2008 takes place in Budapest, Hungary.
August 13 – Jeff Singer quits Paradise Lost.
August 16 - Madonna celebrates her 50th birthday.
August 19 – LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, dies from complications from an ATV accident suffered earlier in the summer.
August 30
* Filipino rock band Eraserheads hold their one-night-only reunion concert in the Fort open field, their first concert since 2001. After the 20-minute break, vocalist Ely Buendia is rushed to the hospital because of chest pain due to emotional stress.
* American Idol Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta's debut single "Crush" scores the highest debut of a song on the Billboard Hot 100 by an American Idol finalist not performed on the show. The track opened at No. 2 after selling 166,000 downloads in its first week of release.

September

September 6 – Six members of The Specials re-unite at the Bestival as a 'Surprise Act'. They use the name "Terry Hall and Friends", because Jerry Dammers, who owns the band's name, did not participate.
September 7 – The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards are presented at Paramount Studios, Hollywood. Britney Spears' wins Video of the Year, Best Pop Video, and Best Female Video for "Piece of Me". Christina Aguilera also made her return to music since giving birth to her first child with the debut of her single Keeps Gettin' Better.
September 10 – The 22nd Annual ARIA Music Awards are held in Sydney, Australia, recognizing Australian music in 2008. Dance-punk group The Presets win Album of the Year.
September 11 – Christian Älvestam leaves Scar Symmetry.
September 18
*Soilwork hires former member, Peter Wichers, to replace Daniel Antonsson, who is fired.
* Ben Folds Five play a sold out reunion show in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, performing the entirety of their 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, that was filmed for DVD and web release by MySpace in benefit for Operation Smile
* Crystal Castles play their biggest headline show to date, at Electric Ballroom in Camden, London.
September 19 – "Only by the Night" the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Kings of Leon, released worldwide in September 2008. – Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein survive a plane crash that claims four lives.
September 20 – P!nk scores her first solo number-one hit in her native US, with "So What".
September 21
*At the Gates play their final show.
*The Eric Burdon show in Oklahoma is cancelled due to his health problems.
September 24 – Within Temptation release the Black Symphony DVD, featuring the Metropole Orchestra and guest musicians.
September 25 – Paul McCartney performs at Tel Aviv park, his first performance in Israel since The Beatles were banned from the country in 1965.

October

October 1 – Tina Turner leaves semi-retirement to embark on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour, which grosses over US $130 million.
October 5 – Stephanie Jeong wins the Second Prize in the Premio Paganini international violin competition in Genoa.
October 7 – Spotify on-demand music streaming service launches in Sweden.
October 10 – The Fourth Waakirchener Zither Festival takes place in Waakirchen, Bavaria.
October 12 – Opening of the VII Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra, in Rome and the Vatican City.
October 16 – Britney Spears sets a new record for the biggest jump to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, rising from number 96 to number one in just one week, with her single "Womanizer". It is Spears' first American number one since her debut single "...Baby One More Time".. It also garners first-week download sales of 286,000, the biggest opening-week tally by a female artist.
October 18 – Rihanna scores her fifth number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the leading solo female artist with the most number ones to have charted in this decade until Beyoncé Knowles breaks her record.
Justin Bieber signed with L.A. Reid Island Records

November

November 1–9 – The Southbank Centre in London, UK presents "Klang: A Tribute to Stockhausen", a festival curated by Oliver Knussen, with a series of concerts focusing on works from the composer's last decade, including the world premieres of Urantia and Zodiac for Orchestra, as well as late-night performances, lectures, and master classes.
November 2 – The Fauxharmonic Orchestra loses in its debut confrontation with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra in a Bargemusic concert.
November 4 – Bhimsen Joshi is selected to receive the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.
November 6 – Michael Tilson Thomas makes his Philadelphia Orchestra subscription-concert conducting debut.
November 17 – Korean violinist Hyun-Su Shin wins First Prize in the Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competition in Paris
November 23 – 13 years after his disappearance, Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards is declared dead in absentia.
* Wes Carr is crowned the winner of the sixth season of Australian Idol, defeating Luke Dickens.
November 24 – The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Pinchas Zukerman as principal guest conductor, to begin in January 2009.

December

December 9 – Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon say that Blur will reunite for a concert at Hyde Park on July 3, 2009. Tickets for the concert sell out within two minutes of release, and Blur announce another date on July 2, 2009.
December 11 – Elliott Carter celebrates his 100th birthday.
December 13 – Beyoncé Knowles scores her fifth number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which followed "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Check on It", and "Irreplaceable", tying with Rihanna as the leading solo female artist with the most number ones to have charted in this decade.
* Alexandra Burke is named winner of the fifth series of The X Factor UK. JLS are named runner-ups, while Eoghan Quigg and Diana Vickers finish in third and fourth place respectively.
December 22 – Live Nation announce that Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour is the highest-grossing tour for a solo artist, with US$280 million in ticket sales and 2,350,282 fans attending the 58 shows during the three-leg tour across Europe and the Americas.

Bands formed

''See :Category:Musical groups established in 2008''

Bands reformed

''See :Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2008''

Returning performers

Bands disbanded

''See Musical groups disestablished in 2008''

Bands on hiatus

Albums released

; Best-selling albums globally & United States
The best-selling records in 2008 according to IFPI:

Position	Album title	Artist
1	Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends	Coldplay
2	Black Ice	AC/DC
3	Thriller 25	Michael Jackson
4	Rockferry	Duffy
5	Death Magnetic	Metallica
6	Spirit	Leona Lewis
7	Back to Black	Amy Winehouse
8	High School Musical 3: Senior Year	Various Artists
9	Tha Carter III	Lil Wayne
10	Good Girl Gone Bad	Rihanna

The best-selling albums in the United States:

Position	Album title	Artist
1	Tha Carter III	Lil' Wayne
2	Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends	Coldplay
3	Fearless	Taylor Swift
4	Rock N Roll Jesus	Kid Rock
5	Black Ice	AC/DC
6	Taylor Swift	Taylor Swift
7	Death Magnetic	Metallica
8	Paper Trail	T.I.
9	Sleep Through the Static	Jack Johnson
10	I Am... Sasha Fierce	Beyoncé

Hit records

United States

Singles which have ranked within Top 10 within the Billboard Hot 100 Hits
'''Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2008'''

United Kingdom

UK Official Top 75 No. 1 Hits

"4 Minutes" – Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland
"All Summer Long" – Kid Rock
"American Boy" – Estelle featuring Kanye West
"Closer" – Ne-Yo
"Dance wiv Me" – Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome
"Greatest Day" – Take That
"Hallelujah" – Alexandra Burke
"Hero" – The X Factor Finalists 2008
"I Kissed a Girl" – Katy Perry
"If I Were a Boy" – Beyoncé
"Mercy" – Duffy
"Now You're Gone" – Basshunter
"The Promise" – Girls Aloud
"Run" – Leona Lewis
"Sex on Fire" – Kings of Leon
"Singin' in the Rain" – Mint Royale
"So What" – Pink
"Take a Bow" – Rihanna
"That's Not My Name" – The Ting Tings
"Viva la Vida" – Coldplay
"When You Believe" – Leon Jackson

Australia

Australia Official Top 50 No. 1 Hits
'''Australia Official Top 50 Hits – Singles which have ranked within Top 20'''

Other international hits

"About You Now" – The Saw Doctors
"Algún día" – Julieta Venegas
"Appelle mon numéro" – Mylène Farmer
"Dégénération" – Mylène Farmer
"Déjame Entrar (Makano song)" – Makano
"Dos Mou Logo Na Sotho" – Mando
"Ein Stern (...der deinen Namen trägt)" – DJ Ötzi and Nik P
"Everything – P-Money
"The Galway Girl" – Sharon Shannon and Mundy
"Gansi" – Edo Maajka
"Hakanaku mo Towa no Kanashi" – Uverworld
"Hot Summer Night (Oh La La La)" – David Tavaré
"Il avait les mots" – Sheryfa Luna
"Jennie Let Me Love You" – E.M.D.
"Kallai Mattum" – Hariharan
"Me Estás Tentando" – Wisin & Yandel
"Nekade Daleku" – Elena Risteska
"Non ti scordar mai di me" – Giusy Ferreri
"Pehli Nazar Mein" – Atif Aslam
"Quédate" – Pee Wee
"Rayon de soleil" – William Baldé
"Scheiss Liebe" – LaFee
"Tired of Being Sorry (Laisse le destin l'emporter)" – Enrique Iglesias & Nâdiya
"Traicionera" – Américo

Classical music

New works

Birke J. Bertelsmeier – Quartettstück for string quartet
Martin Bresnick – Joaquin is Dreaming
Elliott Carter
* Concerto for flute and orchestra
* Duetto for violin and cello
* Tinntinabulation, for percussion sextet
* Wind Rose, for wind ensemble
* On Conversing with Paradise, for baritone and chamber orchestra
* Poems of Louis Zukofsky, for mezzo-soprano and clarinet
Joël-François Durand – Le Tombeau de Rameau, for flute, viola and harp
Lorenzo Ferrero
* Freedom Variations, for trumpet and chamber ensemble
* 2 Agosto. Prima variazione, for organ and orchestra
Jennifer Higdon – Violin Concerto
Mehdi Hosseini – Concerto for String Quartet and Chamber Orchestra
Karl Jenkins
* Stabat Mater
* Te Deum
Wojciech Kilar –
*Paschalis Hymn for mixed choir a cappella
*Te Deum, for 4 solo voices, choir and orchestra
*Veni Creator, for mixed choir and string orchestra
Arvo Pärt – Symphony No. 4
Anno Schreier – Berceuse for violin, clarinet, alto-saxophone and piano
Tan Dun – Piano Concerto The Fire

New operas

Harrison Birtwistle – The Minotaur
Howard Shore – ''The Fly''

Musical films

Musical television

''Beethoven Virus''

Births

January 17 – Notti Osama, American rapper
February 22 - Emme Maribel Muñiz, son of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony
March 8 - Sugarhill Ddot, American rapper
March 12 - Emma Kok, Dutch singer
March 31 – Star Bandz, American rapper
June 10 - Sara James, Polish singer and songwriter, represented Poland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2021
July 22 – BabyChiefDoit, American rapper
October 3 - Karolina Protsenko, Ukrainian-American pop violinist and youTube sensation
October 24 – Liamani Segura, American singer and actress

Deaths