Xposition - December 2014

Attention!!!

December is course that time of the year where you analyze the sales, the streams and the radio plays to compile those much awaited year end lists of the best hits of the year. The most significant among these is the Billboard Year-End Hot 100. This year the list calculated data from December 7, 2013 to November 29, 2014 and therefore Taylor Swift's Blank Space will not be part of the list. So the top 10 of this year are:
  1. Pharrell Williams - Happy
  2. Katy Perry ft. Juicy J - Dark Horse
  3. John Legend - All of Me
  4. Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX - Fancy
  5. OneRepublic - Counting Stars
  6. Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz - Talk Dirty
  7. MAGIC! - Rude
  8. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass
  9. Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea - Problem
  10. Sam Smith - Stay With Me
From last year we have top hits still on the list such as:
  • Avicii - Wake Me Up
  • Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball
  • Katy Perry - Roar
  • Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
  • Robin Thicke ft. Pharell & T.I. - Blurred Lines
  • Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith - La La La
  • Lorde - Royals
In the UK the Official Top 100 Biggest Songs of 2014 were also released. And the top 10 are:
  1. Pharrell Williams - Happy
  2. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne - Rather Be
  3. John Legend - All of Me
  4. Mr.Probz - Waves
  5. Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud
  6. Ella Henderson - Ghost
  7. Sam Smith - Stay With Me
  8. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass
  9. Pitbull ft. Kesha - Timber 
  10. George Ezra - Budapest
It is interesting to note that Happy topped both the charts in UK and US and that All of Me and All About That Bass is No.3 and No.8 respectively. However, it is clear that both year-end chart top tens are heavily influenced by mainstream pop. 

The nominations for the Grammy Awards 2015 were also announced in December, altogether 83 awards, one more than in 2014. Iggy Azalea's Fancy, Sia' Chandelier, Sam Smith's Stay With Me, Taylor Swift's Shake It Off and Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass are all nominated for the Record of Year. With the exclusion of Fancy the other four are competing alongside Hozier's Take Me To Church for Song of the Year. Iggy Azalea, Bastille, Brandy Clark, HAIM and Sam Smith are all vying for Best New Artist. 

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2014 was held in December and the coveted spots to perform went to Taylor Swift, Hozier, Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran. Taylor Swift performed her chart topping Blank Space and her new single Style. Ariana Grande performed a medley of her hits Problem, Break Free, Bang Bang and Love Me Harder. Ed Sheeran performed Thinking Out Loud and Hozier performed Take Me To Church. 

The charts during December did not have many changes as Taylor Swift's Blank Space continued its reign at the top spot in the US throughout the month and will probably continue for some time in January 2015 as well. Selena Gomez's The Heart Wants What It Wants entered the top 10 at No.6 gaining a boost by her heartrending performance at the American Music Awards and Meghan Trainor's second hit Lips Are Movin' also climbed to No.4. We will just have to wait and see whether singer is capable of producing two consecutive top hits. Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk entered the top 10 and also Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud which had already topped the charts in the UK.

In the UK Take That's These Days claimed the top spot for the first week of December and in the second week Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud returned to number one after a lapse of four weeks.  Ronson's Uptown Funk was at the top for the third week only to be replaced by Ben Haenow's cover of Something I Need which was the Christmas Number One. This is not a big surprise as last year too the X-Factor winner's crowning song claimed the Christmas Number One. Union J's You Got It All, One Direction's Night Changes and Olly Murs ft. Demi Lovato's Up also entered the top 10 during the month. 

Other songs which became popular during the month were:
  • James Newton Howard ft. Jennifer Lawrence - The Hanging Tree
  • Tove Lo - Over 
  • Alesso ft. Tove Lo - Heroes (We Could Be)
  • Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo - Time of Our Lives
  • Milky Chance - Stolen Dance
  • Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me
  • OneRepublic - I Lived
  • Nicki Minaj ft. Skylar Grey - Bed of Lies
Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!

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