From Taylor Swift to Charli XCX, women had a record-breaking year on the British charts, according to new figures from the British Phonographic Institute (BPI).
Female pop artists topped the singles chart for an unprecedented 34 weeks – the highest ever figure.
Twenty-one of those weeks belonged to Sabrina Carpenter, whose hit singles Espresso, Taste and Please, Please, Please dominated the second half of the year.
Women were also responsible for half of the year’s biggest-selling albums, with Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department leading the pack.

It may be an archaeologist’s job to unearth astounding discoveries, but every year some people just have an extraordinarily lucky — or strange — day. That was no different in 2024, with a construction worker turning up a nude marble deity hidden some 1,600 years ago, an art historian spotting a missing painting on his social media feed, and an amateur excavator digging up a confounding ancient Roman object. The experts made plenty of headlines, too, locating the earliest known cave paintings in South America, as well as what may be the oldest lipstick scientifically documented (in a daring red, no less).

Below are some of the most important art historical and archaeological discoveries of the year.

In a dark corner of a mansion in mid-century Pennsylvania, Erzsébet, a Hungarian immigrant rebuilding her life in America, pores over the contents of a desk. Scattered across it are sketches and technical drawings for a civic building, a grand folly designed by her husband László, for the wealthy patron whose home they now share. “What are you doing?” László says, walking in. “I’m looking at you,” his wife replies.

Years later that building is incomplete, though stands tall in its creator’s mind. A second chance to finish the job presents itself. “Promise me you won’t let it drive you mad?” Erzsébet pleads. Even as László promises he won’t, his voice betrays him. The madness — the obsession — is already there, deep within his marrow.