While February was quite eventful, March was relatively quiet with only a few movements on the charts. In early March, Sir George Martin, the legendary record producer who propelled The Beatles to fame also referred to as the fifth Beatle passed away at the age of 90. It was in 1962 that he signed on the Fab Four and thereafter made them a worldwide phenomenon with 30 No.1 hits in UK alone.
The 29th Annual Kids' Choice Awards was also held in March with Blake Shelton hosting the event. Out of the three performances only DNCE's Cake By The Ocean stood apart as being good. The Favorite Music Group was awarded to Fifth Harmony while Adele took away the coveted Favorite Song of the Year for Hello. The other awards for music included:
- Favorite Male Singer: Justin Bieber
- Favorite Female Singer: Ariana Grande
- Favorite New Artist: Shawn Mendes
- Favorite Collaboration: Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth - See You Again
The Box Plus Network have released the Pop Powerlist for 2016 wherein Justin Bieber unsurprisingly has been ranked 1. No doubt the current Prince of Pop is No.1 as he managed to score three back to back No.1 hits in the UK from his latest album Purpose. Closely behind Bieber we have Adele whose album 25 and worldwide smash Hello was enough for her to make that titanic comeback. The top 10 are:
- Justin Bieber
- Adele
- One Direction
- Rihanna
- Coldplay
- Taylor Swift
- The Weeknd
- ZAYN
- Little Mix
- Ed Sheeran
Fall Out Boy and Biffy Clyro have been announced as the final headliners for the Reading and Leeds Festivals 2016. Disclosure and Foals were already announced as headliners with the fifth and final headliner being Red Hot Chili Peppers who return to the festival after nine years. Also confirmed to perform are HAIM, Chvrches and The Vaccines.
Moving onto chart news, in the US, Rihanna ft. Drake's Work took over the crown from Justin Bieber's Love Yourself on the first week of March itself and continued her reign throughout the month. Work is Rihanna's 14th No.1 and now she moves up the ladder passing Michael Jackson as the artist with the third highest number of chart toppers behind The Beatles with 20 and Mariah Carey with 18. Work is also the ninth Hot 100 No.1 by a non-US born act with the final week of March witnessing 36 straight weeks of non-US born acts ruling the roost. During the month DNCE's Cake By The Ocean, Flo Rida's My House, Lukas Graham's 7 Years, Mike Posner's I Took A Pill In Ibiza (SeeB Remix) all entered the top 10 along with Kelly Clarkson's Piece By Piece which soared into the top 10 after an emotional performance during an episode of the final season of the American Idol.
In the UK, Lukas Graham's 7 Years had a strong presence at the top with the global hit remaining on at the summit for the first three weeks and completing 5 consecutive weeks atop the UK Charts and surpassing Whigfield and Aqua as the most successful Danish act in the UK in terms of chart position. This reign came to an end as Mike Posner's I Took A Pill In Ibiza (SeeB Remix) overthrew 7 Years and stayed at the top for the final two weeks of the month. During the month Zara Larsson's Lush Life achieved a peak of No.3 and Rihanna ft. Drake's Work crept up to No.2 while Major Lazer ft. Fuse ODG and Nyla's Light It Up reached No.7.
Some of the hits that became popular during the month are:
- Coldplay - Hymn for the weekend
- Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dollar $ign - Work from home
- Sigala ft. Imani & DJ Fresh - Say you do
- Sia ft. Sean Paul - Cheap thrills
- Tinie Tempah ft. Zara Larsson - Girls like
- Meghan Trainor - No
- Alan Walker - Faded
Till the next beat...
At Ease!!!
