But as we set off into the new year, there are also things we can safely look forward to – and some big questions that should be answered in the next 12 months. Here are a few to keep in mind.

Will Kanye continue his bromance with Trump?

Looks like yes. After pledging in October to distance himself from politics – “My eyes are now wide open and now realise I’ve been used to spread messages I don’t believe in,” he tweeted – the rapper embraced the president again recently. “Trump all day,” he wrote on Twitter, before adding that “from now on” he plans to perform while wearing his Trump hat, which he said represents the idea that “people can’t tell me what to do because I’m black”.

How this will affect his music remains to be seen. West has said he’s at work on a new album, possibly titled “Yandhi”, that was due to be released in September before being bumped to November and again to an unspecified date.

Backstreet might be back

It’s been years since the Backstreet Boys mattered – which isn’t to say that the veteran boy band haven’t been out there trying, as anyone who has seen the group’s recent awards-show appearances (or their painfully eager Las Vegas gig) can attest.

But with their latest single, the throbbing and sensual Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, the Backstreets have raised hopes for “DNA”, their comeback album due on January 25. Set to feature songs written by Shawn Mendes and Ryan Tedder, as well as folks who have worked with Charli XCX and J Balvin, “DNA” promises more than shameless nostalgia at a moment when BTS have raised the bar for boys of any age.

Say it ain’t so

Speaking of nostalgia, Weezer returned last year to the upper reaches of the pop charts (and spawned a viral Saturday Night Live sketch) with their stunt cover of Toto’s indelible ’80s hit Africa.

Now the long-running Los Angeles alt-rock combo are using that renewed attention to unleash an experiment they have been threatening forever: a self-titled effort known as the “Black Album”, which frontman Rivers Cuomo was saying as far back as 2016 would represent a striking about-face from their crunchy guitar-pop sound.

Judging by a couple of synthed-up advance tracks, including one titled Zombie Bastards, Weezer have followed through on that idea, and not because Cuomo is confident his audience will like it.

Indeed, if that SNL sketch made anything clear, it’s that the “Black Album” (due March 1) is precisely the kind of record most Weezer diehards don’t want from this band – as good a reason as any I can think of to listen up.

Whither Justin Bieber?

Thanks to his breathlessly documented relationship with Hailey Baldwin – that’s Mrs Bieber, if you please – the one-time teen pop idol was seen more than he was heard in 2018.

True, there was No Brainer, his appropriately by-the-numbers reunion with DJ Khaled, Chance the Rapper and Quavo (with whom he hit No 1 in 2017 with I’m the One).

But for the most part Bieber spent the year “just living life”, as his frequent producer Diplo put it not long ago. “Michael Jackson was a guy that never had a life, really, and then tried to live it when he was older,” Diplo said. “Justin, maybe he’s self-aware enough so that he’s like, ‘I’m a human being and I love a person – let me do that for a minute.’”

That said, the singer’s long-awaited follow-up to 2015’s “Purpose” may be on the way. Diplo said he has been trading songs with Bieber for what he reckons is shaping up as “a Christian album”.

Taylor might be Swift

The three years Taylor Swift put into 2017’s “Reputation” represented the longest stretch of time she’d ever taken to make a record – and then the thing went on to earn lukewarm reviews and no major nominations at next month’s Grammy Awards.

So although she’s said nothing about when we should expect her next album, perhaps it’s reasonable to think that Swift will work faster this time, either to avoid bogging down or simply to keep up with an industry that’s accelerated immeasurably over her decade-plus in the biz.

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Also, releasing her Reputation Stadium Tour Netflix special on New Year’s Eve felt an awful lot like a chapter-ending move from this most story-minded of pop stars.