Xposition - March, 2017

Attention!!!

Although we may be just recovering from the hangover of the Grammys, award season is still not over. March kicked off with the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards where Justin Timberlake won the coveted Song of the Year for Can’t Stop The Feeling! The Innovator Award was bestowed on Bruno Mars while the Male and Female Artists of the Year were won by Drake and Adele respectively. Katy Perry and Skip Marley performed their newest hit Chained to the Rhythm for the third award show in a row. Ed Sheeran performed a medley of Castle on the Hill and Shape of You and Bruno Mars performed a medley of Treasure and That’s What I Like. Other big winners of the night include:

·         Best New Artist: The Chainsmokers

·         Best Duo/Group of the Year: Twenty One Pilots

·         Rock Song of the Year: Green Day – Bang bang

·         Country Song of the Year: Dierks Bentley – Somewhere on a beach

·         Dance Song of the Year: The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – Closer

·         Hip-Hop Song of the Year: Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla – One dance

·         R&B Song of the Year: Rihanna ft. Drake – Work

·         Latin Song of the Year: Enrique Iglesias ft. Wisin – Duele el corazón

·         Best Lyrics: Justin Bieber – Love yourself

·         Best Producer: Benny Blanco

·         Best Tour: Coldplay – A Head Full of Dreams Tour

·         Best Video: Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign – Work from home

Next up we have the 2017 Kids’ Choice Awards. There were only two performances during the show – Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello with Bad Things and a medley of Touch and Shout Out To My Ex by the Little Mix. Favorite Song was won by Work From Home by Fifth Harmony featuring Ty Dolla $ign. Favorite Group went to Fifth Harmony while Favorite Male and Female Artists went to Shawn Mendes and Selena Gomez respectively. The other winners of the night for music were:

·         Favorite New Artist: Twenty One Pilots

·         Favorite Music Video: Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall – Juju On The Beat

·         Favorite DJ/EDM Artist: Calvin Harris

·         Favorite Soundtrack: Suicide Squad

·         Favorite Global Music Star: Little Mix

Rock n’ roll legend Chuck Berry died at the age of 90 from cardiac arrest. On March 18, 2017, police in St. Charles County, Missouri, were called to Berry's house, where he was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene. Berry was set to release “Chuck”, his first studio album in more than 35 years. More on musician deaths, the remaining members of Sister Sledge confirmed that their sister Joni passed away at the age of 60 from natural causes which arose from complications from a preexisting condition. They also vowed to continue touring as a duo.

Moving onto chart news, in the US Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You reigned supreme throughout the month accumulating 7 non-consecutive weeks at the top. Meanwhile, Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley’s Chained to the Rhythm debuted at No.4 and The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk’s I Feel It Coming, Rihanna’s Love On The Brain, The Chainsmokers & Coldplay’s Something Just Like This and Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne Marie’s Rockabye entered the top 10.

In the UK too Shape of You continued the apparent global dominance alongside the debut of Sheeran’s latest album ÷ which topped album charts worldwide and the singles therein peaking within the singles charts. During the week of the debut nine of the top 10 were by Ed Sheeran. The most notable out of these singles are Galway Girl, Perfect and How Would You Feel (Paean). Other than this Martin Jenson’s Solo Dance, Kygo & Selena Gomez’s It Ain’t Me, Drake’s Passionfruit and Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson’s Symphony all entered the top 10.

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

1.       Jason Derulo ft. Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign – Swalla

2.       Kodak Black – Tunnel vision

3.       Calvin Harris ft. Frank Ocean & Migos – Slide

4.       Anne Marie – Ciao Adios

5.       Ed Sheeran – New man

6.    Lana Del Rey – Love

7.       Inna – Gimme gimme

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Xposition - March, 2016

Attention!!!

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:

1. Justin Bieber
2. Adele
3. One Direction
4. Rihanna
5. Coldplay
6. Taylor Swift
7. The Weeknd
8. ZAYN
9. Little Mix
10. 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!!!