December kicked-off with the highly
anticipated 2017 Grammy nominations with Beyonce leading the bill with 9 nods
including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best
Music Video. Drake is close behind with 8 nominations. The nominations for the
four big awards are:
1. Record
of the Year
Adele – Hello
Beyonce –
Formation
Lukas Graham
– 7 Years
Rihanna ft.
Drake – Work
Twenty One
Pilots – Stressed out
2. Album
of the Year
Adele – 25
Beyonce –
Lemonade
Justin Bieber
– Purpose
Drake – Views
Sturgill
Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
3. Song
of the Year
Formation
(Beyonce)
Hello (Adele)
I Took a Pill
in Ibiza (Mike Posner)
Love Yourself
(Justin Bieber)
7 Years
(Lukas Graham)
4. Best
New Artist
Kelsea
Ballerini
The
Chainsmokers
Chance the
Rapper
Maren Morris
Anderson
.Paak
The BBC Music Awards had its
second edition this year with the top honours going to Adele. The winners are:
- Song of the Year: Adele – Hello
- BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge Performance of the Year: 1975 – What Makes You Beautiful (One Direction Cover)
- Introducing Artist of the Year: Izzy Bizu
- British Artist of the Year: Coldplay
- BBC Radio 2 Album of the Year: Adele – 25
Meanwhile, Rag N’ Bone Man fended off competition from Dua Lipa and Anne Marie to grab the coveted BRIT’s Critics’ Choice Award for 2017. He is the tenth recipient of this award which includes past winners such as Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith and Emeli Sande.
December is also the time when
the much anticipated year-end charts are revealed. This year Justin Bieber
leads the 2016 Billboard Year-End Hot 100 with his mega hit Love Yourself.
Adele however rules the Billboard Top Artist as well as the Billboard Year-End
200 with her album 25. The top 10 are:
1. Justin
Bieber – Love yourself
2. Justin
Bieber – Sorry
3. Drake
ft. Wizkid & Kyla – One dance
4. Rihanna
ft. Drake – Work
5. Twenty
One Pilots – Stressed out
6. Desiigner
– Panda
7. Adele
– Hello
8. The
Chainsmokers ft. Daya – Don’t let me down
9. Justin
Timberlake – Can’t stop the feeling!
10. The
Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – Closer
The UK also released their
year-end list the Official Top 40 Biggest Songs of 2016 with Drake’s One Dance
which broke multiple chart records during the year including staying at the top
for 15 weeks and tying for the second longest consecutive stay at No.1. The top
10 are:
1. Drake
ft. Wizkid & Kyla – One dance
2. Lukas
Graham – 7 Years
3. Sia
– Cheap thrills
4. Mike
Posner – I took a pill in Ibiza
5. Calvin
Harris ft. Rihanna – This is what you came for
6. Zara
Larsson – Lush life
7. The
Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – Closer
8. Justin
Bieber – Love yourself
9. Rihanna
ft. Drake – Work
10. Justin
Timberlake – Can’t stop the feeling!
The biggest shock of the month
was when Camila Cabello from Fifth Harmony left the group to pursue her solo
career. In an alleged pre-emptive strike Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah
Jane Hansen and Lauren Jauregui informed on twitter that they had been informed
by Camila’s representatives that she had decided to leave the group but that
they would continue as a foursome. Camila via her twitter account announced
that she never meant to leave this way and was unaware of her former bandmates
was going to release the statement. As the saga unfolded it was clear that all
the signs pointed to Camila’s departure as the pleas of the other four fell on
deaf ears as well as her two collaborations as a solo artist with Shawn Mendes
and Machine Gun Kelly both becoming big hits.
The X-Factor 2016 crowned Matt
Terry as its winner in its 13th edition mentored by Nicole
Scherzinger. This year the competition was stiff where Terry beat runner-up
Finnish Saara Alto in an explosive finale. However, the winner’s single When
Christmas Comes Around was released after the results were announced and was
not performed during the competition. The single penned by Ed Sheeran however,
failed to grab the top spot in the UK and only managed to peak at No.3.
Speaking of girl bands, former
Spice Girl Victoria Beckham aka Posh Spice is to be made an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire (OBE) in her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year
Honour’s List. Even in its final days 2016 managed to take away another pop
star from music and this time its George Michael who passed away from heart
failure at the age of 53.
Moving onto chart news, in the
US Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane’s Black Beatles remained at the top during
the whole month fueled by the Mannequin Challenge videos that continued to
flood social media. Other songs which entered the top 10 include Zayn &
Taylor Swift’s I Don’t Wanna Live Forever taken from the Fifty Shades Darker
soundtrack and J.Cole’s De Javu.
In the UK, Clean Bandit
featuring Anne Marie and Sean Paul’s Rockabye reigned supreme during the month
and earned the coveted Christmas No.1. Meanwhile, Little Mix’s Touch peaked at
No.4, Steve Aoki & Louis Tomlinson’s Just Hold On and Rag N’ Bone Man’s
Human peaked at No.2 during the month.
Other songs which became
popular during the month were:
1. Sean
Paul ft. Dua Lipa – No lie
2. Little
Mix ft. Charlie Puth – Oops
3. David
Guetta & Cedric Gervais ft. Chris Willis – Would I lie to you
4. The
Weeknd ft. Daft Punk – I feel it coming
5. Robin Schulz & David Guetta ft. Cheat Codes - Shed a light
Till the next beat...
At Ease!!!
