Billboard Year-End List Review: Pt. I
It's already the end of the year and the year-end Hot 100 list was released by Billboard recently. It's been a pretty slow year for pop music, with good songs rarely hitting the charts and mediocre songs all around the pop charts, and even some really bad songs. It was a bad year to start doing these reviews I guess, because this year feels a lot worse than recent years in the year end list. Last year had some great surprises like Uptown Funk, Shut Up and Dance, Blank Space, Can't Feel My Face, Lean On as some of the great songs that popped out. 2014 wasn't so bad either with Counting Stars, Pompeii, Royals, Boom Clap, Ain't It Fun to name a few great pop songs. This year wasn't as memorable overall, and there were a few good songs and possibly a great one or two as i'll talk about in my Top 10 Best songs later on in part 2.
So not surprisingly Justin Bieber had the most popular song of the year, which makes sense since his album came out late last year and had all year to get streaming and sales numbers. The surprising part though, is that not only did he have the most popular song, but he has the top 2 spots with "Love Yourself" and "Sorry". Kind of a bummer, since I liked "Sorry" a lot more than what actually took the top spot. Honestly the only single I really liked from the album was "Sorry" as it was the only song I felt like listening to more than once. "What Do You Mean?" also hit the charts at the 31 spot, so overall I think Bieber won the year in terms of singles (also including his guest vocals on Major Lazer and DJ Snake singles). There were a few contenders who had more hits on the charts at lower positions, but I think overall Bieber was the most popular in 2016. Thankfully that means that he's probably going to have a lighter 2017, and i'm hoping something better comes along and surprises me in a good way.
If Adele releases an album you already know it's going to be a huge deal that year. No difference this time as she had the best selling album of the year with "25", hitting the number one spot when it first came out and sticking around the charts for 54 weeks so far in album sells. In terms of singles though this is another strong year for Adele, with three hits on the year end (Hello, Send My Love and When We Were Young). Focusing on the Hot 100 songs, Bieber still wins this year over Adele. Decent songs from Adele, though I didn't find them as memorable as the ones from 21 or even 19.
The sad part of the year end list is of course my favorite artist Drake (I write as I vomit). With SIX (Why God) SIX singles (not including guests vocals) on the year end chart. Honestly that probably means that the real winner of 2016 is Drake, but I would never actually admit that. Drake's album "Views" was a very weak album, and yet it was the second highest selling album this year because for some reason the world likes to give lazy, boring music money. Seriously, why did so many people buy this album and continue to listen to it after hearing it? I tried to listen to it, and it just feels so boring and lifeless and it's 20 tracks long. 20. Tracks. Long. 20 Tracks of Drake trying to make music but not doing a good job. I can only hope that Drake doesn't make an appearance next year or release new music. 2017 will automatically be a better year without Drake, so please stay away.
Out of nowhere comes Twenty One Pilots in 2016. An artist I've been listening to for quite a while now, and I really like the album Blurryface when it was first released. Never did I think this could actually make the charts, let alone get 2 songs in the top 20 of the year, and a third song with "Heathens". To be honest, Blurryface hasn't aged well since I first got it. It's a great album, but around the time it was starting to get big was when I was growing tired of listening to it and I put it down for the rest of the year. Still, I am so happy to see something like this on the charts. A very unique artist, who feels very different than all the other artists on the end of the year list. I'm hoping that they stick around the pop charts when they release new music, and also that there next album is as interesting as Blurryface. Overall I like all the songs that charted this year from these guys.
Now for an artist who's dominating the current pop charts and has a good amount of songs on the end of year list, The Weeknd. His current album recently released, so it really had no effect on this year end list, and half of the songs on the list are from his last album. I guess people haven't grown tired of songs like "The Hills" and "Can't feel my face" after all this time, which shows people really like this artist and continue to keep these songs on the charts after all this time. His biggest hit this year was of course "Starboy" which can't seem to make it past the number 2 spot, being beaten by two weaker songs in "Closer" and "Black Beatles". There's still time for that song to make it there though, and maybe it will have enough staying power to make it to next year's list.
Moving straight past Rihanna's forgettable songs this year to talk about the last big artist of 2016 that i'm going to talk about. Chainsmokers released a lot of big (not good) singles this year. "Closer" was one of the biggest singles this year, staying at the number one spot for several months too long. Though "Don't let me Down" actually did better numbers since it was out longer, I don't think it was actually bigger than "Closer". Still all the songs that charted weren't special in any way, and got old after a few listens. Just another artist I hope stays away from next year, but sadly will probably release more singles to make more money from people.
The rest of the chart this year was mostly filled with more forgettable songs. Beyonce strangely only got one song with "Sorry" all the way down at the 71 spot. Lots of songs that I will forget in a couple of weeks, by artist I've never hear of and will probably never see on the charts again (Silento, Kent Jones, DNCE). Not every song was terrible, but most were just boring and standard and there was only really one song that I really liked (i'll say what song in the next part).
OVERALL GRADE: D
Lots of boring songs this year, and not enough good or memorable songs that stood out above the rest. Most of the songs this year I won't be coming back to anytime soon, with a few exceptions. Lots of disappointing or just bad releases by big artists like Drake, Rihanna, Chainsmokers, Meghan Trainor, Charlie Puth, Shawn Mendes, Sia and more releasing bad albums alongside bad singles. It was hard to find some good songs and pretty impossible to find great songs. Here's hoping next year is a lot better, and with some albums to look forward to (Eminem, Major Lazer, U2, Charli XCX, Gorillaz, and The Killers) maybe things will be different. Thankfully outside of the pop music world, it was a really great year for music with lots of fantastic albums by lots of great bands. Here are some artists that released some really great albums:
Tribe Called Quest (Hip-hop)
Bad Suns (Indie Pop)
Paper Route (Indie Rock)
Halfnoise (Indie Pop)
Jeff Buckley (Rock)
Panic! at the Disco (Pop)
Weezer (Rock)
Lumineers (Folk Rock)
Chance the Rapper (Yodeling)
Catfish and the Bottlemen (Indie Rock)
Beartooth (Metal)
Ladyhawke (Indie Pop)
Jimmy Eat World (Rock)
Descendents (Punk)
Thrice (Rock)
Young the Giant (Indie Rock)
Bastille (Pop Rock)
Kings of Leon (Rock)
Just some ideas for artists you should check out, there's a lot more great ones that released music this year, but those are a few memorable ones. Also, if you liked a lot of the music from this year's pop charts that's great and i'm glad you can enjoy it. I understand what pop music is supposed to be and I know it's not always going to be high quality, meaningful or even highly creative. Still, I know there's a way to make great pop music, as artists like Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, Adele and others have shown me. There's a need for more creative, passionate people that have a love of music and have fun with it in the pop music world. There needs to be more energy and more risks from these artists, not just the same old repetitive lazy music (Drake). Look forward to seeing what 2017 has to offer... there's no way it can be this bad again right?
(Juju on that beat didn't make the list though, so for that reason i'll change the grade to a D+)
(Wait no, Watch me by Silento made the list... that deserves an automatic F, which i'm sure he's used to seeing.)
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