Song and Album of the Year named

Billboard Magazine’s year-ending list is out and proudly enumerated are the titles and the names of the artists who created them. Of course, industry people and music lovers all over the world already know who they are but this is the affirmation. These lists bring the news to everybody and make the accomplishments official.

Do not be surprised that Adele’s Hello is not on the list. You will not also find her record-breaking 25. This is because the single and the album were released too late in the year. How can you call Hello the Song of the Year when it was heard only during the last few weeks of 2015? This is the same case with Justin Bieber’s What Do You Mean? and One Direction’s Perfect. Still, these recordings along with the albums Purpose by Bieber and Made In The A.M. by One Direction made history in 2015. They should be regarded as very important releases. Seeing these major products reach the market one after the other was like watching music artists take a fighting stance against an increasingly unresponsive market. 

Together, the impact they made on music users all over the world was truly massive. They made pop music interesting again. This does not refer to the contents, which, by the way, are in their own ways, all very good, but to the way they rallied the industry into one loud cheer by making music in a big way.

“Hey, we’re alive. The music is not dying.” They seemed to say. “We are selling albums even on CDs and in vinyl, too.” And in Adele’s case, even without streaming. Or maybe I should say, because 25 is without streaming, 3.38 million copies sold on its first week out. That is not easy, these days. But she did it. This is a girl with guts and she really showed them what she can do when she thinks she is in the right. 

The single honors go to Mark Ronson’s fun concoction Uptown Funk! featuring Bruno Mars

 

Come to think of it, didn’t Taylor Swift do something similar with her big-selling 1989 last year? “No streaming or selling of my albums if you will deprive songwriters of royalties from your promos,” she told a streaming and downloading giant. It worked. Royalties were paid. Looks like music has already found two very powerful saviors in Taylor and Adele. There is no messing with these girls.

Taylor was named No. 1 Artist of the Year by Billboard while her album 1989 is the top album for 2015. Then deservedly so, the single honors went to Mark Ronson’s fun concoction Uptown Funk! featuring Bruno Mars. And here are the lists:

The Top 20 songs of 2015 are Uptown Funk! by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars; Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran; See You Again by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth; Trap Queen by Fetty Wap; Sugar by Maroon 5; Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon; Blank Space by Taylor Swift; Watch Me by Silento; Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey) by The Weeknd; The Hills also by The Weeknd.

Cheerleader by OMI; Can’t Feel My Face by The Weeknd; Love Me Like You Do Ellie Goulding; Take Me To Church by Hozier; Bad Blood by Taylor Swift; Lean On by Major Lazer & DJ Snake featuring MO; Want To Want Me by Jason Derulo; Shake It Off by Taylor Swift; Where Are U Now by Skrillex & Diplo with Justin Bieber; Fight Song by Rachel Platten.

The Top 20 albums are: 1989 by Taylor Swift; X by Ed Sheeran; In The Lonely Hour by Sam Smith; If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late by Drake; Title by Meghan Trainor; V by Maroon 5; The Pinkprint by Nicki Minaj; 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole; 50 Shades Of Grey, the original motion picture soundtrack by various artists; Four by One Direction.

Montevallo by Sam Hunt; Hozier by Hozier; Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd; That’s Christmas To Me by Pentatonix; American Beauty/ American Psycho by Fall Out Boy; To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar; My Everything by Ariana Grande; Kill The Lights by Luke Bryan; Furious 7, the movie soundtrack by various artists; Dreams Worth More Than Money by Meek Mill.

The Top 20 artists are: Taylor Swift; Ed Sheeran; The Weeknd; Drake; One Direction; Maroon 5; Meghan Trainor; Fetty Wap; Sam Smith; Nicki Minaj; Ariana Grande; Selena Gomez; Mark Ronson; Luke Bryan; Justin Bieber; Wiz Khalifa; Walk The Moon; Hozier; Fall Out Boy; and Ellie Goulding.