Top 5 artists of 2016

 

2. Ariana Grande

 

2016 charting songs:

01 Be Alright

01 Dangerous Woman

01 Focus (also peaked at 01 in 2015)

01 Into You

01 Let Me Love You (ft Lil Wayne)

02 Bad Decisions

02 Side To Side (ft Nicki Minaj)

03 Greedy

06 Sometimes

09 Everyday (ft Future)

10 Leave Me Lonely (ft Macy Gray)

11 I Don't Care

12 Touch It

13 Thinking Bout You

14 Moonlight

15 Knew Better / Forever Boy

19 The Way (ft Mac Miller) (peaked at 06 in 2014)

 

 

Video

 

 

COMMENTARY: Massive shock as Ariana Grande does not finish top. :o There has been no doubt that she has had a great year. 5 number ones and managed to get her whole album to be my top 15 on release week but she just loses out in the war with my other favourite artist. She has won the battle of most songs off an album to chart with her full 15, the artist beating her only managed 8 out of 18.

Ariana and 5H in your artists countdown :wub: Surprised Ari isn't #1 though! :o

Ariana and 5H in your artists countdown :wub: Surprised Ari isn't #1 though! :o

 

Any other year Ariana would have easily been number one the fact I got to see my number one artist live just put him out on top.

Top 5 artists of 2016

 

1. Watsky

 

2016 charting songs:

01 Brave New World

01 Don't Be Nice

01 Midnight Heart (Ft Mal Devisa)

01 Talking To Myself

01 Tiny Glowing Screens Part 3 (ft Camila Recchio & Danny McClain)

03 Whoa Whoa Whoa (01 in 2013)

04 Stick To Your Guns (ft Julia Nunes)

06 Pink Lemonade (Watsky & Invisible Inc.)

11 Going Down

16 Hand Over Hand (ft Anderson .Paak)

17 Moral Of The Story (03 in 2013)

18 Sloppy Seconds (01 in 2014)

 

Video

 

 

COMMENTARY: After finishing 4th in 2013 & 2nd behind Ariana in 2014 Watsky finally gets his first win in my EOY charts. He hasn't managed to get his full album to chart, unlike Ariana, but I do prefer a lot of the uncharted tracks on his album to those on Ariana's. When I first heard Watsky's newest album I felt it wasn't as good as his previous but it has turned out to be a slow burner and now it has overtaken his 2014 effort, All You Can Do. What cemented his victory here was the fact that I managed to go to his gig in September, something I couldn't manage to do last time he was in the U.K. His performance of Whoa Whoa Whoa was absolute crazy and probably my highlight of the year.

 

The question that remains now is Can Watsky do the double and topple Ariana in the album countdown after finishing 2nd to her in 2014?

Edited December 15, 20168 yr by RobinJuanPersie

Hi Lewis

 

Never even heard of Watsky so just going to imagine Ariana is your #1 :P

 

So many top 10 hits in your chart and never peaked outside of the top 15 *-* Side to Side was her defining tune this year for me and will be very high up in my EOY countdown but the whole album is full of amazing tracks. My non-single highlights being Leave Me Lonely and Be Alright. Would love for some more singles to get released though before she moves onto the next era, so many potential smashes!

:D

Hi Lewis

 

Never even heard of Watsky so just going to imagine Ariana is your #1 :P

 

So many top 10 hits in your chart and never peaked outside of the top 15 *-* Side to Side was her defining tune this year for me and will be very high up in my EOY countdown but the whole album is full of amazing tracks. My non-single highlights being Leave Me Lonely and Be Alright. Would love for some more singles to get released though before she moves onto the next era, so many potential smashes!

:D

 

She has peaked outside of the top 15, just not this year. :P Side To Side is great and I have to agree that the album is great. Bad Decisions & Greedy are the tracks I would love to see be singles. :D

Albums Chart

 

This year I've listened to 15 albums which means that last years top 10 can now be stretched into a top 15. Here's 11-15.

 

 

15. Craig David - Following My Intuition

 

This was easily the biggest disappointment of 2016. After the amazing When The Bassline Drops I was expecting Craig's album to be huge but instead it was full of boring, not-so urban tracks. :(

 

14. Frank Ocean - Blonde

 

I'd never actually heard much of Frank Ocean before listening to this album when they played it in full on Radio 1. Blonde is very nice to listen to but I wouldn't sit down and listen to it specifically. This is the perfect choice for music to have in the background when you're doing something. I did like the skit 'Facebook Story' though.

 

13. Kendrick Lamar - Untitled Unmastered

 

This is another solid album from Kendrick. On the whole I think it's probably better than To Pimp A Butterfly, but it misses a standout track like King Kunta.

 

12. Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love!

 

I liked Me And Your Mama & Redbone from this when they were released before the album. But it turns out that the rest of the album sounds the exact same. I am a huge fan of Donald Glover as an actor and a musician so I know he could do better than this. Still a decent album though.

 

11. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service

 

If this is their final album, like Q-Tip suggests, then it's a brilliant way to end. There are loads of cool features (Busta Rhymes, Anderson .Paak, Kanye West, Elton John, Kendrick Lamar). It's very sad that Phife Dawg died before it was released.

Hi Lewis

 

Not listened to any of those albums although I did listen to a bit of Following My Intuition but got a bit bored and switched it off. All of his stuff is a bit samey even though it's all catchy. Hope his DJ Fresh collab can be huge in the new year though, loving that!!

 

:D

Craig David's album is the only one out of those I've paid much attention to, I actually thought it was quite good!

Hi Lewis

 

Not listened to any of those albums although I did listen to a bit of Following My Intuition but got a bit bored and switched it off. All of his stuff is a bit samey even though it's all catchy. Hope his DJ Fresh collab can be huge in the new year though, loving that!!

 

:D

I haven't heard the DJ Fresh collab yet. I hope it's good as he has made some good songs in the past. :D

 

Craig David's album is the only one out of those I've paid much attention to, I actually thought it was quite good!

 

A lot of people seemed to have enjoyed it but it just wasn't for me. :D

Albums Chart

 

10. Viola Beach - Viola Beach

 

It was so sad in February when we learned the news that the whole band had past away. Like most I was not aware of Viola Beach before the incident but have since listened to their music and realised what a talent they were. Swings & Waterslides in particular is a marvelous song and well deserved to reach the charts. It's horrible to see such a young and local band go before getting to live their dream. It was fitting that this posthumous album reached number one. It's a very strong and polished album, especially since it was never completely finished. R.I.P. to Viola Beach & their manager.

 

9. Drake - Views

 

So the man who topped last years album chart with "If You're Reading This, It's Too Late" falls out at 9th. I think, apart from the singles, nothing really stands out on this album. They mainly just blur into each other. The singles were all brilliant though and move it from an good to a great album. It probably should be a little shorter though.

 

 

Edited December 19, 20168 yr by RobinJuanPersie

Albums Chart

 

8. J. Cole - 4 Your Eyez Only

 

Although only released 11 days ago. this album has already done enough to become my 8th favourite of the year. This albums flows together incredibly well. Unlike most albums, this album tells a story apparently about a friend of Cole which makes it feel just that little more personal. As a whole, this is easily one of the strongest albums of the year, but I can't place it any higher than 8th as it's too recent and none of individual tracks have hit me fully yet.

 

7. The Weeknd - Starboy

 

This is the point where every album from now on would have topped my countdown last year. After the somewhat underwhelming Beauty Behind The Madness album and the good but not as brilliant as the previous's pre-album tracks, I wasn't incredibly hyped going into this album. But, this is unbelievably, exceptionally better than Beauty... Although it may have possibly been improved by cutting the album by one or two tracks, this album actually had highlights among the non-singles. Party Monster, Reminder and Secrets are all brilliant. I've had the hardest time debating which out of this and 6th should be higher, I like both these albums near enough the same amount.

 

 

 

Nice to see Viola Beach here, I believe they could have gone on to do really well :cry:

Nice to see Viola Beach here, I believe they could have gone on to do really well :cry:

 

Yeah, their album is very good. I think they easily could have had a similar type of success as Blossoms.

Albums Chart

 

6. Fifth Harmony - 7/27

 

So this is their last album before it becomes Fourth Harmony. :lol: I did enjoy the Reflection album but this one is so much stronger and more mature. I would have liked Write On Me to get a push as the final single but I don't think that's going to happen now. I don't really listen to this album as much as I ought to. This feels quite some distance away from my top 5.

 

5. Skepta - Konnichiwa

 

I could have made a case for any of these top 5 albums coming out top but unfortunately for Skepta he ends in 5th. It's been a great year for him, with this album reaching number 2 in the the charts (after the annoying midweek release of Radiohead) and of course won the Mercury Prize. It did seem like this album was never going to come out but when it finally arrived it was certainly worth the wait. He mixes up the genre's perfectly on this record, showing he can make grime tunes like Man & Shutdown and more Hip Hop tunes like Ladies Hit Squad & Numbers. Before this album, I've always preferred his brother, JME but this album is grime at it's finest.

 

 

Hi Lewis

 

Been listening to the new J. Cole album quite a bit this past week and really been enjoying it but not quite as good as his last album (and nothing comes close to Apparently in terms of being a choon!!). My highlights are Deja Vu, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Change, I think.

 

Starboy is another album I've been enjoy a lot at the moment. The first two singles have been 10/10 songs and there's definitely some tracks on there that will make great future singles too. I also prefer it to BBTM.

 

:D

Konnichiwa is a decent album, glad some of his music made the UK Top 40

Hi Lewis

 

Been listening to the new J. Cole album quite a bit this past week and really been enjoying it but not quite as good as his last album (and nothing comes close to Apparently in terms of being a choon!!). My highlights are Deja Vu, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Change, I think.

 

Starboy is another album I've been enjoy a lot at the moment. The first two singles have been 10/10 songs and there's definitely some tracks on there that will make great future singles too. I also prefer it to BBTM.

 

:D

 

I have to agree that none of the tracks are anywhere near as good as Apparently. That and Wet Dreamz are by far his best. The title track is my standout from his new album.

 

Konnichiwa is a decent album, glad some of his music made the UK Top 40

 

Same, although I wish That's Not Me could have peaked a place higher and reached the top 20.

Albums Chart

 

4. Little Mix - Glory Days

 

I've always been a fan of Little Mix since they were on the X Factor but they are certainly at their peak right now. I only got around to listening to Get Weird this year but I rushed to listen to this the day it was released. There are so many potential singles on this album, this era could last for ages. Shout Out To My Ex has became my favourite song of theirs of all time and the album is still getting better with every listen.

 

3. Kanye West - The Life Of Pablo

 

I didn't think it would be possible for Kanye to top My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy but with this he has done it. Very unorthodox release strategy where he was still editing the album after its release, but it was worth it. This album is almost more gospel than hip hop, with tracks like Low Lights showing a completely different side to his music. It's a shame that his reluctance to allowing it to be purchased has ruined it's chances of doing anything chart-wise in the UK. This album would have been an easy number one and FML, No More Parties In LA & Ultralight Beam sound like they could have done well. I don't think he should have added Saint Pablo to the album, it's easily the worst song and Fade worked better as an ending.

 

 

 

Hi again Lewis

 

Totally agree with you that Apparently and Wet Dreamz are J. Cole's best tracks yet! We have must have good taste :lol:

 

Yay at Glory Days making it so high in yet another EOY countdown, everyone seems to be loving them this era. It's a fantastic pure pop album and hardly any duds (I'm only not huge on Down & Dirty)! I hope we get a five single era from the girls this time around, there are so many highlights! No More Sad Songs pls :wub: