Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for. It’s time to say goodbye to 2018. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, and no tears will be left to cry for the past year. It’s a no brainer that it was a fantastic year for music. According to God’s plan all the stars aligned for Rap & Hip-Hop, as if I’m taken back to 2002. I like it how the Spanglish resurgence incorporated Rap and EDM into its fold. I've told you one, two, three, four, five, six thousand times that the recap is always under seven segments: genres, albums, singles, milestones, shockers, talent and obituaries. While we will never be the same after 2018, we have high hopes for 2019; thank u, next:
1. Genres
The most conspicuous changes in the mainstream genres were:
- Continuing their reign from last year Rap and Hip-Hop ruled the first half of the year with Cloud Rap being the main subgenre on the charts.
- Pop which took a backseat to the new trends in fusion music resurfaced in the latter half of the year.
- The next phase of the Latin resurgence was the fusion of the genre with EDM and Rap with some hits and a few epic fails.
- Mega collaborations was the order of the day be it any genre.
- K-Pop conquered the world with BTS and BLACKPINK leading the fray.
- The age of Hard Rock and Metal is definitely over with the few hits from the genre being produced only by mainstream artists.
- Country music had a big year with the genre doing well on the charts particularly due to crossover artists.
- It was a great year for movie musicals with their soundtracks performing extremely well.
2. Albums
Some of the best albums released in 2018 were:
- Migos – Culture II (3rd studio album)
- Justin Timberlake – Man of the Woods (5th studio album)
- George Ezra – Staying at Tamara’s (2nd studio album)
- Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour (4th studio album)
- CNCO – CNCO (2nd studio album)
- Kylie Minogue – Golden (14th studio album)
- Charlie Puth – Voicenotes (2nd studio album)
- Maluma – F.A.M.E. (3rd studio album)
- Shawn Mendes – Shawn Mendes (3rd studio album)
- J Balvin – Vibras (5th studio album)
- Marshmello – Joytime II (2nd studio album)
- Panic! At the Disco – Pray for the Wicked (6th studio album)
- Ariana Grande – Sweetener (4th studio album)
- Post Malone – Beerbongs & Bentleys (2nd studio album)
- Lily Allen – No Shame (4th studio album)
- Jess Glynne – Always in Between (2nd studio album)
- Christina Aguilera – Liberation (8th studio album)
- Drake – Scorpion (5th studio album)
- 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (3rd studio album)
- Eminem – Kamikaze (10th studio album)
- BTS – Love Yourself: Tear (3rd Korean studio album)
- XXXTentacion – ? (2nd studio album)
- Nicki Minaj – Queen (4th studio album)
- Clean Bandit – What is Love? (2nd studio album)
- Rita Ora – Phoenix (2nd studio album)
- Little Mix – LM5 (5th studio album)
- Camila Cabello – Camila
- Sigala – Brighter Days
- Bebe Rexha – Expectations
- Alan Walker – Different World
- Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy
- Anne-Marie – Speak Your Mind
- Calum Scott – Only Human
- Jorja Smith – Lost & Found
- Mike Shinoda – Post Traumatic
3. Singles
- Drake’s God’s Plan topped the charts in 14 countries and entered the top ten in 9 others and ended the year as the most successful single of the year.
- Camila Cabello who left the girl band Fifth Harmony in 2016 achieved monumental global fame with her summer smash hit Havana featuring Young Thug.
- Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B’s Girls Like You was the most watched music video of 2018 with over 1.5 billion views. Due to this being her third chart topper, Cardi B extended her record in the US for most number ones by a female rapper.
- BTS’ Fake Love became the highest charting K-Pop single by a group in the US while BLACKPINK became the highest charting K-Pop female act with Ddu Du Ddu Du.
- Ariana Grande revisited the noughties in her Thank U, Next video which became her most successful hit to date and broke the record for most-watched video on YouTube within 24 hours by achieving 55.4 million views passing BTS’ Idol.
- With the success of Drake’s In My Feelings boosted by the Kiki Challenge, biggest viral sensation on social media made the artist the rapper with the most number ones in the US.
- Little Mix left Simon Cowell’s record label Syco Music over creative differences particularly their hit Woman Like Me featuring Nicki Minaj.
- Lady Gaga returned to the top of the charts with Shallow a duet with Bradley Cooper from the soundtrack of their box office hit movie musical A Star is Born.
- Lauryn Hill’s 1998-hit Ex-Factor was sampled by Drake and Cardi B in their hits Nice for What and Be Careful respectively.
- Panic! At the Disco scored their biggest hit to date with High Hopes surpassing the success of I Write Sins Not Tragedies way back in 2006.
- Dad blogger LadBaby claimed the coveted Christmas No.1 with his cover of Starship's We Built This City beating stiff competition from Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next and Ava Max's Sweet But Psycho.
- Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You became the first Christmas song in 60 years to enter the top 5 in the US reaching a peak of No.3.
- Pinkfong's Baby Shark became a viral hit with over 2 billion views on YouTube and several artists such as BLACKPINK and Girls Generation covering the song and parodies being done on talk shows such as Ellen Degeneres and James Corden and a performance at the X Factor final.
- Drake's In My Feelings was the biggest viral sensation of the year with the Kiki Challenge being performed around the world and with its success, Drake became the rapper with the most number one hits in the US.
4. Milestones
- Bruno Mars took home the big 3 at the Grammy Awards with Record of the Year for 24K Magic, Album of the Year for 24K Magic and Song of the Year for That’s What I Like
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for Remember Me from Coco
- US President Donald Trump awarded the late Elvis Presley, the Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Martin Garrix took the No.1 spot on the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs for 2018
- Ariana Grande was named Billboard Woman of the Year
- BTS became the youngest recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit from the South Korean government.
- Jess Glynne broke Cheryl Cole’s record for most number ones by a British female artist in the UK with 7 chart toppers.
- Billboard Hot 100 celebrated its 60th anniversary in August.
- Jennifer Lopez received the prestigious Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards
- Justin Timberlake performed at the Super Bowl LII Halftime Show
- Daddy Yankee was awarded the Icon Award for his contribution to Latin Music and Maluma was awarded the Extraordinary Evolution Award at the Latin American Music Awards
- Janet Jackson received the Icon Awards at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards and Radio Disney Music Awards
- Wolf Alice’s Visions of a Life won the coveted Mercury Prize
- Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was awarded the Member of the Order of Companions of Honour in the Queen’s 2019 Birthday Honours
- Kelly Clarkson was honored with the Icon Award at the Radio Disney Music Awards
- Mary Poppins Returns, the sequel to Walt Disney’s beloved musical-fantasy film was released after a lapse of 54 years starring Emily Blunt in the titular role.
- Cher, Reba McEntire, Philip Glass and Wayne Shorter were the honorees at the Kennedy Center Honors.
- Taylor Swift became the most awarded female winner in American Music Awards history with a total of 23 awards, breaking the record held by Whitney Houston.
5. Shockers
- Spice Girls excluding Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) announced their much anticipated return with the Spice World 2019 Tour with 13 shows.
- Boyzone released their seventh and final album Thank You & Goodnight marking their 25th anniversary and a farewell tour with the same name.
- Tulisa won the legal battle against Will.I.Am and Britney Spears for Scream & Shout ensuring a songwriting credit.
- The remaining members of Fifth Harmony declared a hiatus to pursue solo endeavors.
- The final judgment was delivered in favour of the Marvin Gaye estate in the Blurred Lines copyright suit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams.
- Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso confirmed that Swedish House Mafia have reunited and will tour and release new music in 2019.
- The rap beef between Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly reached a climax with Not Alike released by Eminem with a response by MGK with Rap Devil and the final cannon shot at MGK by Eminem with Killshot.
- In her new memoir, Brutally Honest, Spice Girl Mel B revealed that just before the X Factor UK final in 2014 where she was a judge she had taken 200 aspirin pills in an attempt to end her life due to her difficult marriage to Stephen Belafonte.
- 6ix9ine was arrested by US police for racketeering and conspiracy murder charges and if found guilty, the rapper may face 32 years to life in prison.
- In the Woolsey Fires that burned through California several artists’ homes including that of Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke and Lil Pump were burned to the ground.
6. Talent
Here are the winners of those
talent/reality contests which produce some of the best artists:
- 63rd Eurovision Song Contest – Israel with Netta’s Toy
- The X Factor (15th Season) – Dalton Harris mentored by Louis Tomlinson
- The Voice (14th Season) – Brynn Cartelli coached by Kelly Clarkson
- The Voice UK (7th Season) – Ruti Olajugbagbe coached by Sir Tom Jones
- The Voice (15th Season) – Chevel Shepherd coached by Kelly Clarkson
- The Four: Battle for Stardom (1st Season) – Evvie McKinney
- The Four: Battle for Stardom (2nd Season) – James Graham
7. Obituaries
- Ray Thomas of The Moody Blues (29 December 1941 – 04 January 2018)
- Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries (06 September 1971 – 15 January 2018)
- Mark Salling of former Glee Cast (17 August 1982 – 30 January 2018)
- Dennis Edwards of The Temptations (03 February 1943 – 01 February 2018)
- Barbara Alston of The Crystals (29 December 1943 – 16 February 2018)
- Yvonne Staples of The Staple Singers (23 October 1937 – 10 April 2018)
- Avicii (08 September 1989 – 20 April 2018)
- XXXTentacion (23 January 1998 – 18 June 2018)
- Vinnie Paul of Pantera (11 March 1964 – 22 June 2018)
- Aretha Franklin (25 March 1942 – 16 August 2018)
- Ed King of Lynrd Skynyrd(14 September 1949 – 22 August 2018)
- Mac Miller (19 January 1992 – 07 September 2018)
- Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane/Starship (30 January 1942 – 27 September 2018)
- Freddie Hart (21 December 1926 – 27 October 2018)
- Roy Clark (15 April 1933 – 15 November 2018)
- Devin Lima of LFO (18 March 18 1977 – 21 November 2018)
At Ease!!!
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