Billboard has compiled an ongoing list of major album releases that have been postponed due to and during the outbreak.
Since the coronavirus pandemic broke out at the end of 2019, live concert organizers began postponing and canceling everything from small shows to whole tours to prevent large gatherings where the disease can spread. Now, some major artists have been pushing back their album releases.
Billboard has compiled an ongoing list of major album releases that have been postponed or canceled due to the outbreak.
Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks’ upcoming fifth studio album Gaslighter was originally scheduled to drop on May 1 via Columbia Records but has been postponed, according to a release on Tuesday (April 21). It will now be released on July 17.
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette announced that her Such Pretty Forks in the Road album, set for release on May 1, will be delayed. “more new music will still be coming out (look out for ‘Diagnosis’ on 4/24) as I continue to finish the record, and we find a new release date that feels right. we’ll let you know as soon as we know,” she wrote on Facebook. The album is now set to be released on July 31.
Luke Bryan
Luke Bryan pushed back his seventh studio album Born Here, Live Here, Die Here from April 24 to Aug. 7 in tandem with his postponed Proud To Be Right Here Tour. “I wanted to reach out myself and let you know that we have decided to push back the release of my next album, BORN HERE LIVE HERE DIE HERE to August 7, 2020 as well as the start of my PROUD TO BE RIGHT HERE tour to July 10, 2020,” he wrote in a note he shared on Twitter April 7. “We are choosing to stay home at this time so we can have fun sharing this music and tour with you this summer. I truly believe that music can provide all forms of emotional connections for everyone and I can’t wait to get on the road and share these new songs with you soon.”
Margo Price
Margo Price’s album That’s How Rumors Get Started, originally set to arrive May 8, will now come out on July 10. To accompany the news, Price shared a cover of John Lennon’s “Nobody Told Me.”
“Sometimes circumstances are beyond our control. I would say that’s the case for folks everywhere in the world right now. Life is postponed until further notice,” she wrote on Instagram.
Haim
Haim announced March 23 that they are postponing the release of their upcoming third album, Women in Music Pt. III, from April 24 due to travel complications and quarantine enforcements. “We had so many amazing things planned-trips to europe & australia as well as tour where we would all dance and sing together,” the Los Angeles-based band tweeted. “in the meantime, we are gonna be dropping some new tunes.” The album will now drop on Friday (June 26).
Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys put her eponymous seventh studio album Alicia on hold to a later undefined date, according to her Twitter announcement March 19. “Everyone’s health and safety is the #1 priority!” Keys wrote at the time. “Thank u for ur deep love, I’ll let u know about new dates soon. Stay powerful!” But the R&B singer vowed to stay in touch with fans through her voice in a different way. “I’ll be sending voice notes and maybe even sing u a little song. Text me at +1 (917) 970-2001 so we can chat. Love!” Keys announced to her fans. Alicia has yet to receive a new release date.
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson’s 70th studio album, First Rose of Spring, won’t bloom in the springtime anymore. The outlaw country legend called off the April 24 release date and announced on his Facebook page March 18 that the LP will arrive July 3.
Prince
The Prince Estate and Legacy Recordings rescheduled Prince’s 2001 album The Rainbow Children and 2002 album One Nite Alone … first-ever vinyl reissues from April 17 to May 29.
The 2001-2002 legacy reissues bundle also includes two live albums, the four-LP One Nite Alone … Live! and the double-LP One Nite Alone … The Aftershow: It Ain’t Over!, as well as Up All Nite With Prince: The One Nite Alone Collection, a four-CD/one-DVD set that combines the aforementioned two live albums with the concert film Prince Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas, which documents his Dec. 15, 2002, show.
Lamb of God
Lamb of God announced the push-back of their self-titled album and its third single. “Regrettably, we have to announce that the release date for our upcoming self-titled album is being moved five weeks, to June 19th,” the band said in a statement. “We’re in extraordinary times due to the current global reality and the delay of shipments of all-but essential goods needed in the fight against COVID-19.” (The album was indeed released on June 19.)
The 1975
The 1975 postponed their fourth album Notes on a Conditional Form for a second time, and it was eventually released on May 22. Frontman Matty Healy announced the first delay from Feb. 21 to April 24 on his Instagram Live back in January due to the months-long process of pressing vinyl records. But the alt-rock band’s Twitter announcement on March 30 gave no further explanation as to why Notes was on hold until late May.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga’s sixth studio album, Chromatica, didn’t touch down as soon as she had hoped — she made the “incredibly tough decision” to push back the April 10 debut date. Gaga also postponed her residency shows in Las Vegas scheduled through May 11. “While I believe art is one of the strongest things we have to provide joy and healing to each other during times like this,” she wrote on Instagram March 24, “it just doesn’t feel right to me to release this album with all that is going on with this global pandemic.” Chromatica was eventually released on May 29, and topped the Billboard 200.
Kehlani
Kehlani fans didn’t get her highly anticipated sophomore album as soon as they’d hoped after the R&B crooner temporarily pulled the plug on the project. “To be transparent i HAD a release date,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet on March 15. “We’re unable to complete any of our plans or move forward with the album at the moment due to the pandemic. Not thinking about music at the moment, focused on how to just be a good citizen to society at this time. stay SAFE luv y’all.” It Was Good Until It Wasn’t was eventually released on May 8.
