Fall music preview: Your required listening list

Elysa Gardner, Brian Mansfield, Jerry Shriver and Patrick Ryan, USA Today

As album sales continue to tumble, music's biggest artists keep trying harder to make a big impression when they unveil new titles. Last December, Beyoncé put out a surprise album. Garth Brooks launched his own digital-music service to hawk his upcoming release. U2 introduced Songs of Innocence by giving it to a half-billion iTunes users. Still, album sales are down 15 percent this year compared with the same point in 2013, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Only the Frozen soundtrack sold more than a million copies. Can the sales year be saved? Our music team examines the fall albums that could put up big numbers and boost the recording industry's bottom line.

Chris Brown, (Sept 16)

The tabloid staple frequently finds himself on the wrong side of the law, but he's managed to do right by fans, who snatched up 135,000 copies of fifth album Fortune the week it debuted in 2012. Brown could very well score another No. 1 effort with X, bolstered by smash collaboration Loyal with Lil Wayne and Tyga, which peaked at No. 9 on Billboard's Hot 100. First set for a July 2013 release, the R&B singer's latest has repeatedly been pushed back amid legal woes (including anger management rehabilitation and a prison sentence), but will finally see the light of day this month. And with Kendrick Lamar, Trey Songz and Jhené Aiko heading the guest list, his train back to the top of the charts could be an easy ticket.

Prince

Art Official Age and Plectrumelectrum (Sept. 30)

The Purple One celebrates his return to original label Warner Bros. with a pair of albums in decidedly different shades. Solo outing Art Official Age is billed as "a classic Prince album" (which, given his vast and eclectic output, means nothing and everything) produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince and Joshua Welton. The Breakfast Can Wait video portends an album full of sexy, slippery slices of soul-funk. Prince fronts the band 3rdEyeGirl on Plectrumelectrum and rocks the funk harder on songs honed during their European Hit & Run tour earlier this year. The track Funknroll shows up on both albums, though likely in different versions. The albums will be sold separately and mark his first studio works since 2010's 20Ten, a free add-on in several European publications that distributed 2.5 million copies.

Jason Aldean

Old Boots, New Dirt (Oct. 7)

The country singer's 2012 Night Train sold 409,000 copies in its first week, that year's fourth-best opening week. His steamy single Burnin' It Down, indicative of the album title's "new dirt," already has sold 658,000 downloads. Aldean worked with longtime producer Michael Knox on the 15 tracks of his sixth album, which streamed for an hour on BuzzFeed shortly after the announcement of its release.

Jessie J

Sweet Talker (Oct. 14)

The U.S. has been in a bit of a Jessie J dry spell since the British pop singer released debut album Who We Are in 2011, selling more than 350,000 copies stateside and catapulting earworms Domino and Price Tag into the top 40. After sophomore record Alive failed to land an American release, Jessie launched an all-out assault on the charts this summer: Her powerhouse collaboration Bang Bang, with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot 100. Sweet Talker enlists top-shelf producers Max Martin and Diplo and dynamite collaborators such as rapper 2 Chainz and violinist Lindsey Stirling for new songs.

U2

Songs of Innocence (Oct. 14)

Yes, the band's long-awaited new album already made a surprise arrival as a free download on iTunes, but it won't get the chance to become U2's eighth No. 1 album until this official release date -- meaning it won't be eligible for a Grammy Award next year, either. But given enthusiastic early notices for Songs -- and that the Irish rockers haven't sold less than a million-plus since their '80s breakthrough -- giving away a few albums, or a few million, shouldn't hurt the album's overall commercial performance, particularly with all the cross-promotional opportunities their arrangement with Apple should offer.

Taylor Swift

1989 (Oct. 27)

Talking trash about ex-boyfriends? That's so 2010. But Swift's first full-on pop set already has generated speculation that one song, Bad Blood, might have Katy Perry as its inspiration. Late-'80s pop provided the musical cues for Swift's fifth album, which has already yielded the hit Shake It Off, a masterstroke of passive-aggressive pop. Swift has the capability of giving 2014 a new million-seller in just one week: That's just what Red did in 2012. -- Mansfield

Foo Fighters(AT)

Sonic Highways (Nov. 10)

Dave Grohl and his rocker mates scoured the country and delved into cultural anthropology for inspiration for the band's eighth studio album, the follow-up to 2011's Wasting Light, which sold 235,000 copies in its debut week and won four Grammys. Light producer Butch Vig is handling this project, which shares its name and theme with the eight-part, Grohl-directed HBO series celebrating American music (premieres Oct. 17, 11 p.m. ET/PT). The band, marking its 20th anniversary, wrote and recorded one song in each of eight cities (Austin, Chicago, L.A., Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle and Washington) with local legends performing and lyrics shaped by the band's visit and the musical vibe. -- Shriver

One Direction

Four (Nov. 17)

Details remain sketchy about the British vocal group's fourth album in as many years, but some big-name contributors have been attached to the project, including Ed Sheeran and Good Charlotte's Joel and Benji Madden. If preview track Fireproof is an indication, the group that had the world's top-selling album in 2013 may have another winner on its hands -- and that song may not even be the radio single.

Garth Brooks(AT)

(Nov. 28)

The country superstar's first album of new material since 2001 will be an event, especially if single People Loving People continues to light up country radio. Ever the maverick, Brooks will sell the as-yet-untitled album exclusively through his website and his newly launched GhostTunes digital-music service. He's offering a deal, though: Order a download of the new album for $14.99, or pre-order the new album, a second album coming in 2015 and nine titles from his catalog for a combined $29.99. If nothing else, it's a sure way to boost his platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Mary J. Blige

The London Sessions (Dec. 2)

The queen of hip-hop soul returns with her first non-Christmas, non-soundtrack album since 2011's My Life II …The Journey Continues (Act 1), which sold 708,000 copies. Here, as the title suggests, Blige teams with acclaimed rising artists from across the Atlantic, among them Sam Smith, Emile Sande, Jimmy Napes, Eg White, Naughty Boy, Disclosure and Sam Romans. First single Therapy, which Blige co-wrote with Smith and White, will be available Sept. 23 as an instant grat track, part of an iTunes pre-order to entice fans.