Since the beginning of time or, at least, pop music, only a few have earned the designation of "song of the summer."

These are the earworms that lodge deep into the brain, pushing past genre preferences and reminding listeners: A hit is a hit. With so much variety, though, it's getting harder to crown a single song of the summer. So The Associated Press is offering 2024 predictions across categories — with past winners for reference.

A comet must have landed at the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The members of R.E.M. had joked only hours before it would take "a comet" to get the band to perform together one last time. Yet there they were, reunited during the gala at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City Thursday night.

The annual event celebrated a talented group of songwriters that included R.E.M., Steely Dan and Timbaland, who conducted a medley of his massive hits.

Pope Francis on Friday clowned around with over 100 top global comedians including Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock and Jimmy Fallon before leaving to address a summit of G7 leaders in Italy.

"Instead of reading my speech, I'll just do this", the grinning 87-year-old said, as he stuck his thumb in his ear and wiggled his fingers at a room full of humorists.

Death has taken many forms in cinema. It's been Bengt Ekerot. Ian McKellen. John Cleese. Even Brad Pitt with blonde highlights. But in " Tuesday," filmmaker Daina O. Pusić's bold, fantastical and affecting debut, death looks like a lot like a macaw that's seen better days.

Covered in a thick layer of grime and oil with patches of feathers missing, "Tuesday's" Death can be as big as a room or as small as an ear canal. Its booming, gravelly voice (that of actor Arinzé Kene) sounds ancient and otherworldly. And it all adds up to something profoundly unsettling. Not exactly a comforting welcome into the afterlife, or whatever comes next.

Françoise Hardy, a French singing legend and pop icon since the 1960s, has died. She was 80.

Her son, musician Thomas Dutronc, announced her death on social media, sharing a poignant photo of himself as a child with his mother. Hardy had lymphatic cancer since 2004 and died Tuesday.