A Review of 2018
Another season of #PopIndustry comes to a close as we begin to look into this year in review. Many features returned; the charts, the no-elimination rule, Christina Aguilera's nonsensical tweets, and the new PI Awards format. Many aspects were lost; useless restrictions, Troye Sivan's internet and Interscope Records's status as Best Label. Finally, many things were new; the Billboard website, various last-minute additions, Tove Lo's success (only on the results, not the charts) and Rihanna's Twitter-spam... oh wait, nevermind, that's not new. Now, we look back at 2018 and see what moments and releases really stood out on the charts!
One breakthrough artist of this season is none other than country artist, Carrie Underwood. Having been around all season, Underwood released her first single in Week 5; 'Drunk in Heels' (#5, #274 All-Time Chart). This week, Underwood's collaboration with Kylie Minogue ('Does He Love You') surges to the top of the Hot Singles Chart after a last-minute streaming boost (#401 ATC), as her debut studio effort 'Classic Country' obliterated this week's Top Albums Chart (#1, #94 ATC). Underwood intends to bore the other industry artists futher next year when she releases her own original music.
Resident serial-tweeter and database browsing non-legend, Rihanna was perched to be the first artist listed here tonight; but like her new single 'Strawberry Kisses' (and collaborator Troye Sivan's releases last season) ends up at #2 (#408 ATC). Rihanna's other singles this season include; 'Glitch' (#1, #12 ATC), 'I Need You Here' (#1, #29 ATC) and 'King Ghidorah' (#6, #303 ATC), as her award-winning number-one album 'Digital Disturbance' ends at #7 on the All-Time Chart.
Another big hitter at the #PI Awards this year was RCA Records executive, P!nk. Her singles include: three-time winning collaboration 'Delicious' (#1, #6 ATC), 'Betcha Didn't Know' (#1, #117 ATC), 'Full Throttle' (#4, 252 ATC) and 'Personal' (#4, #225 ATC). Meanwhile, her new album 'Forever Personal' (#1) ends at #25 on the All-Time Chart. P!nk prepares to punch out the competition next year with a Greatest Hits record like she does her husband on a bi-weekly basis.
The third artist nominated for Artist of the Season at the #PI Awards this season was Troye Sivan. Almost stripped of his nomination (he didn't have a chance of winning anyway), Sivan's award-winning internet stopped him from releasing many times this season. Awarded Best Remix, 'The Storm' (#3) ends at #49 on the All-Time Chart. His collaborations with Karen Smith - 'Mamma Mia' (#2, #172 ATC) & 'SOS' (#4, #317 ATC) - along with solo-track 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' (#6, #462 ATC) spawn from ABBA-cover record 'One of Us' (#1, #31 ATC).
From one executive and representative duo to the next, we look into Lana Del Rey (Interscope Records) and New York (Atlantic Records). Del Rey's album 'MELANCHOLIA' became her second number-one album and sits at #39 on the all-time chart, spawning singles 'Melancholia' (#3, 210 ATC) and 'Summer We Never Had' (#5, #47 ATC); the latter of which became her biggest hit to date (until New York shot their collaboration with the Weeknd ('Wait For Me') to the number-one spot).
The final label executive of the season is Christina Aguilera. Her newest record 'Legend X' becomes her newest in an infinite line of non-number one albums (#2, #69 ATC) as she drops the singles 'Something About You' (#5, #160 ATC), 'Raindrops' (#3, #171 ATC), 'Open My Heart' (#2, #191 ATC) and 'Hallow Eyes'... sorry, 'Hollow Eyes' (#4, #456 ATC) - Aguilera misspelled this track on her album's back cover. Some sources say that she also released two tracks 'Blue Waves' (#13, #313 ATC) and 'Tropical Dancer' (#11, #370 ATC) from the album 'Velvet Dreaming' (#4, #86 ATC), but on second inspection, these were released by label representative Marina (without her fans, The Diamonds). They're just so similar!
Aguilera's position as leader of the Wine Squad was well publicised as she continuously fired other artists from the group. The next artist tipped to be removed is Erika Jayne as she's all but disappeared in the final three weeks of the season. Her newest record 'Erika Jayne: Unfiltered' (#3, #95 ATC) started strong but fell by the wayside like Jayne's computer power supply. Her singles this season included; 'Cherish' (#4, #251 ATC), 'Moments' (#6, #304 ATC) and 'I'll Be Alright' (#7, #145 ATC).
Another artist who all but disappeared this season is Kylie Minogue. One of the oldest artists in the industry, Minogue released two singles; 'Melody' (#5, #153 ATC) and 'Hypnotic' (#14, #429 ATC) from her newest album 'Echoed Silence' (#3, #84 ATC). Collaborator, feuder and fellow nursing home resident, Madonna returned to the industry with her album 'Snap!' (#2, #35 ATC); spawning singles 'Snapped' (#10, #314 ATC), 'One Night in China' (#8, #168 ATC), 'Not Your Wife' (#8, #281 ATC), and 'Sea Green 'Eyes (#7, #474 ATC).
The above women are veterans in the industry. Other established acts include Ariana Grande, Ariana Grande's grandmother (Mariah Carey) and Taylor Swift. Grande returned to the industry for one single - 'La Vie En Rose' (#6, #267 ATC) - and then (thankfully) disappeared again while Carey followed this trajectory after singles 'New Love' (#12, #340 ATC), 'Good Thing' (#8, #348 ATC) and album 'Diamond' (#5, #101 ATC). Finally, Swift released three singles this season; 'Bittersweet Love' (#11, #312 ATC), 'Supreme' (#10, #378 ATC) and 'Defying Gravity' (#7, #346 ATC). We wish Swift the best in following these other girls into disappearing forever. Fuck off already.
The final new artist in the industry this season is the top-14 enigma known as Tove Lo. Releasing two singles; 'Crisco Disco' (#15, #299 ATC) and 'Disco Biscuits' (#14, #444 ATC), the issues with Tove Lo are clear. Not only is she obsessed with out-dated ideals but worst of all she's nothing short of a flop. Whatever. Her album; 'Something Retro This Way Comes' made the top-five this season (#5, #96 ATC).
Finally, we'll look into some artists who haven't released any music. The likes of Amelia Lily, Hyuna and The Weeknd have (unfortunately) spawned on Twitter over the last week. Wait. The Weeknd has music? Oh shit. Apparently, he's known for album 'Trouble in Paradise' (#1, #29 ATC) and included singles 'Alone' (#7, #135 ATC), 'Over You' (#1, #11 ATC), 'Wait for Me' (#1, #46 ATC) and 'I Don't Wanna Feel' (#3, #443 ATC). We say allegedly because we don't know him at all. Like what the fuck?
Another season has now come to a close. This week's Billboard Charts have now been published alongside the first ever Legacy Chart, the updated All-Time Charts and Chart Database (as part of the Chart Archives) and a full-list of the first-ever certified releases.