This Day in Music: October 7, 2026

• 2025: The real-life singers of Huntr/x perform on The Tonight Show.
  Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, the voices of the animated group in the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters, sang “Golden” for Jimmy Fallon's audience. The song was in its eighth week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
• 2024: Gospel singer Cissy Houston dies at 91.
  The mother of Whitney Houston led the Sweet Inspirations, who sang backup for Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, and later won two Grammys for her own gospel albums.
• 2017: Cardi B tops the Hot 100 with “Bodak Yellow.”
  The Bronx rapper became the first woman to reach number one with a solo rap single and no featured guest since Lauryn Hill did it with “Doo Wop (That Thing)” in 1998.
• 2017: Jason Aldean opens Saturday Night Live with a Tom Petty song.
  The country star had been on stage when a gunman opened fire at a Las Vegas festival six days earlier. He sang “I Won't Back Down” in honor of the victims and of Petty, who had died that week.
• 2016: The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan open the Desert Trip festival.
  The two-weekend event in Indio, California, also featured Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters and The Who, and took in about $160 million, a record for a music festival. Dylan, born in Duluth and raised in Hibbing, gave opening night a Minnesota connection.
• 2008: Streaming service Spotify launches.
  The Swedish company founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon started out in a handful of European countries and reached the United States in 2011. It grew into the world's largest music streaming service.
• 2005: Gwen Stefani's “Hollaback Girl” becomes the first song certified for a million downloads.
  The single from her solo debut Love. Angel. Music. Baby. had already topped the Hot 100 that spring, and its download milestone showed how quickly music buying was moving online.
• 1999: Garth Brooks' Chris Gaines album falls short of number one.
  Recorded in character as a fictional rock star, the album opened behind Creed's Human Clay and was his first since 1995 not to debut on top. It still produced a top-five pop hit, “Lost in You.”
• 1995: Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill reaches number one.
  The album took 15 weeks to climb to the top of the Billboard chart and gave Madonna's Maverick label its first number one. Driven by “You Oughta Know” and “Ironic,” it later won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
• 1989: Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl hits number one after 64 weeks.
  No album had taken longer to climb to the top of the Billboard chart at that point. The debut produced four number-one singles, including “Straight Up” and “Opposites Attract.”
• 1978: The Rolling Stones play Saturday Night Live.
  The band performed “Beast of Burden” along with other songs from the album Some Girls on the show's fourth-season opener.
• 1971: Michael Jackson releases his first solo single, “Got to Be There.”
  Jackson was 13 and still fronting the Jackson 5 when Motown issued the ballad, which climbed to number four on the Hot 100.
• 1968: Jose Feliciano sings a slow, jazzy national anthem at the World Series.
  His acoustic version before Game 5 between the Tigers and Cardinals in Detroit drew complaints at the time. It is now remembered as the performance that opened the door to personal interpretations of the anthem.
• 1952: Bandstand debuts on Philadelphia television.
  The afternoon dance show started on WFIL-TV with host Bob Horn. Dick Clark took over in 1956, and the next year it went national on ABC as American Bandstand.
• 1938: Judy Garland records “Over the Rainbow.”
  Garland was 16 when she sang the song on an MGM soundstage for The Wizard of Oz. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became her signature number.

Born on This Day

• 1996: Lewis Capaldi, Scottish singer-songwriter
  Turns 30. Topped the American charts with the ballad “Someone You Loved” and followed it with “Before You Go.”
• 1976: Taylor Hicks, American singer
  Turns 50. The gray-haired soul singer from Alabama won the fifth season of American Idol in 2006.
• 1975: Damian Kulash, American singer and guitarist (OK Go)
  Turns 51. Fronts the band known for inventive music videos, including the treadmill routine for “Here It Goes Again.”
• 1968: Thom Yorke, English singer (Radiohead)
  Turns 58. The voice of “Creep” and of landmark albums such as OK Computer and Kid A.
• 1967: Toni Braxton, American R&B singer
  Turns 59. Her 1990s hits include “Un-Break My Heart,” “Breathe Again” and “You're Makin' Me High.”
• 1959: Simon Cowell, English record executive and producer
  Turns 67. Became a household name as the blunt judge on American Idol and later created The X Factor.
• 1957: Michael W. Smith, American Christian singer-songwriter
  Turns 69. One of contemporary Christian music's biggest stars, he crossed over to pop radio with “Place in This World.”
• 1955: Yo-Yo Ma, French-born American cellist
  Turns 71. The best-known classical cellist of his generation and a winner of many Grammy Awards.
• 1953: Tico Torres, American drummer (Bon Jovi)
  Turns 73. Has kept the beat on “Livin' on a Prayer,” “You Give Love a Bad Name” and the rest of the band's hits.
• 1951: John Mellencamp, American singer-songwriter
  Turns 75. The Seymour, Indiana, native wrote heartland rock staples such as “Jack & Diane,” “Pink Houses” and “Small Town,” and helped start Farm Aid.
• 1949: Dave Hope, American bassist (Kansas)
  Turns 77. Played on the band's 1970s classics “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.”
• 1945: Kevin Godley, English drummer and singer (10cc)
  Turns 81. Co-founded the band behind “I'm Not in Love,” then became a noted music video director as half of Godley & Creme.
• 1941: Tony Silvester, Panamanian-born American singer (The Main Ingredient)
  A founding member of the vocal trio that scored with “Everybody Plays the Fool” in 1972.
• 1927: Al Martino, American singer and actor
  The crooner behind “Spanish Eyes” also played singer Johnny Fontane in The Godfather. He died in 2009.
• 1911: Vaughn Monroe, American singer and bandleader
  The deep-voiced big band star had number-one hits with “Riders in the Sky” and “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” He died in 1973.
• 1911: Jo Jones, American jazz drummer
  Powered the Count Basie Orchestra's rhythm section during the swing era and influenced generations of drummers.
• 1870: Uncle Dave Macon, American banjo player and singer
  One of the first stars of the Grand Ole Opry and a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He died in 1952.