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GRAMMYs
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Who Ruled Music Streaming In 2019? who-ruled-music-streaming-2019

Who Ruled Music Streaming In 2019?

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With Spotify Wrapped, Pandora's Top Thumb Hundred, the new Apple Music Awards, as well as Shazam and YouTube's most popular songs of 2019, there's a lot of new streaming data to explore
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Dec 9, 2019 - 10:24 am

December is not only the perfect time for slowing down, sipping hot chocolate and spending time with loved ones, it's also a great opportunity to look back on which artists broke new records in streaming numbers. From Spotify to Pandora, Apple Music—and Shazam, which Apple owns—and YouTube, let's see who dominated the streaming game in 2019.

If you're active on Twitter or Instagram, you may have noticed various versions of Spotify Wrapped being shared over the past few days, after the streaming giant launched their annual microsite, which allows Spotify users to dive into their personal top artists and songs of the year. They also released the data for the platform as a whole, which named current 2020 GRAMMY nominee Post Malone as their most streamed artist globally, with over 6.5 billion streams this year.

The rest of Spotify's top artist list is made up of current GRAMMY nominees, with Billie Eilish taking the No. 2 spot with over six billion streams, followed by Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran and Bad Bunny, respectively. Eilish's GRAMMY-nominated debut album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, is the platform's top-streamed album of 2019, making the 17-year-old the first female artist to have a No. 1 spot in that category. The highly anticipated project was also the top-streamed album on Apple Music this year.

Read: "WE ARE ALL WINNERS": 2020 GRAMMY Award Nominees React On Social Media

And that's not all for the L.A. pop giant: Eilish's GRAMMY-nominated hit "bad guy" ranks as the second-most-streamed song of the year on Spotify, surpassed only by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello's hit "Señorita," which saw more than one billion streams and is also up for a 2020 GRAMMY. Spotify's other top three global tracks of 2019 are also currently in the running for a GRAMMY: Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower," Grande's "7 rings" and Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus' "Old Town Road – Remix."  

Meanwhile, Apple Music broke out their top-streamed artists by genre instead of listing top overall, but with their new Apple Music Awards, they named Eilish their Artist of the Year. The other two awards were given to Lizzo, as the Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Lil Nas X, for Apple Music's Song of the Year with "Old Town Road." The ubiquitous Cyrus-assisted remix of the song took the No. 1 spot on Apple's global most-streamed song list, followed by "Sunflower," Grande's "thank u, next," "7 rings" and Eilish's "bad guy." Spotify named Lizzo, Lil Nas X and Puerto Rican reggaetonero Lunay as their Top Breakout Artists.

Poll: Who Will Win Best Pop Vocal Album At The 2020 GRAMMYs?

As for the top tracks on Pandora—which is measured by the numbers of "thumbs up" it gets from listeners—"Old Town Road" and "7 rings" also won over Pandora listeners, earning the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, respectively. J. Cole's Best Rap Performance GRAMMY-nominated "Middle Child" took the No. 2 spot, Malone's "WOW" snagged No. 4 and Cardi B's and Bruno Mars' "Please Me" earned the fifth highest number of likes. Pandora named Malone and Cardi as the most popular artist on their platform this year, as both artists had five songs each on this top 100 list.

Finally, YouTube also shared its platform numbers last week, with Daddy Yankee and Snow's reggaetón hit "Con Calma" earning the title of most-streamed music video globally in 2019. Rosalía, J Balvin and El Guincho's Latin GRAMMY-winning bop "Con Altura" earning the second spot on the global list, with all top five spots going to Latin urban songs.

"Con Calma" also made the U.S. version of the list at No. 10., the only Spanish song on it. Lil Nas X made this U.S. list twice; in the No. 1 spot for the audio version of the Cyrus remix and the No. 5 spot for the cameo-filled visual.

According to Apple, Spanish-language bops were also popular with Shazam users across the globe this year. "Con Calma" was the sixth-most-Shazamed song, not to be confused with Pedro Capó's Latin GRAMMY-winning "Calma," whose Farruko-supported remix earned the No. 4 spot. Not surprisingly, Eilish's "bad guy" was the most-Shazamed track globally this year.

We hope you have fun revisiting your favorite songs, music videos and albums of 2019. Find out which ones will take home a golden gramophone at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards, airing live on Jan. 26, 2020 on CBS.

Find Out Who Just Made History With Their GRAMMY Nominations: 2020 GRAMMYs By The Numbers

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2020 GRAMMYs By The Numbers: Who Made History? find-out-who-just-made-history-their-grammy-nominations-2020-grammys-numbers

Find Out Who Just Made History With Their GRAMMY Nominations: 2020 GRAMMYs By The Numbers

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Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Ariana Grande, H.E.R. and FINNEAS are the top-nominated artists this year, and the first three are all first-timers
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Nov 22, 2019 - 3:20 pm

Let's be real—the 2020 GRAMMYs have been on our mind lately, especially with all the excitement that came with artists finding out about their nominations on Wednesday. Let's take a look at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards by the numbers to find out who made history and other big takeaways from the expansive nominee list.

This year's top-nominated artists, in order of most nods, are Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Ariana Grande, H.E.R. and FINNEAS. As a first-time nominee, Lizzo leads the pack with eight total nominations—her fellow top-three artists, who both earned six nods, are also first-timers and all Best New Artist nominees.

Related: Record Of The Year Nominees Revealed | 2020 GRAMMY Awards

Eilish and Lizzo make history as the first time two artists have been nominated in all four General Field categories (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist). At just 17, the "bad guy" singer is the youngest nominee to ever receive nominations in these four all-genre categories. Last year, these four categories were expanded to include eight nominees.

Another Best New Artist contender, Barcelonan nu-flamenco queen Rosalía, also makes history as the first nominee in the category that performs completely in Spanish. The "Malamente" singer also has a nomination in Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album, for her Latin GRAMMY-Album-Of-The-Year-winning LP, El Mal Querer.

One of her fellow category contenders, Puerto Rican Latin trap king Bad Bunny, is competing against himself; his Latin GRAMMY-winning debut album, X 100PRE, and his 2019 J Balvin-collab project, Oasis, are both nominated.

Read More: Find Out Who's Nominated For Best New Artist | 2020 GRAMMY Awards

FINNEAS, Eilish's older brother and producer, is also being nominated for the first time, and earned five nods. He shares three with her (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year) and also is in the running for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical.

Grande and H.E.R. snagged five more nods each this year, following both of their first-ever GRAMMY wins at the 61st GRAMMY Awards. This past show was H.E.R.'s debut year—she was a Best New Artist contender and took home wins for Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance, the latter of which she is nominated for again.

Watch: H.E.R. Wins Best R&B Album

As for Ari, she won Best Pop Vocal Album for Sweetener last year and is in the running for this award again for her follow up, thank u, next. Her prior two albums, 2014's My Everything and 2016's Dangerous Woman, were also nominated for the same pop award. The 62nd GRAMMY Awards is the first time the "7 rings" singer is contending for Record Of The Year and Album Of The Year.

To decide who is nominated and, in the second round, take home the golden gramophones, approximately 11,000 Recording Academy voting members—music professionals across genres and disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, producers and engineers—participate in the voting process.

2020 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominees List

This year, over 20,000 submissions were entered for GRAMMY consideration this year. Eligible music was released between Oct. 1, 2018 and Aug. 31, 2019.

In just 64 days, ton Jan. 26, 2020, the nominees will walk the red carpet into Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles! Stay tuned to GRAMMY.com, our YouTube page, our newsletter (sign up below) and our social channels (follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) for all things 2020 GRAMMYs, and make sure to catch the show live on CBS.

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Poll: Who Will Win Best Pop Vocal Album At The 2020 GRAMMYs?

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Record Of The Year Nominees | 2020 GRAMMY Awards record-year-nominees-revealed-2020-grammy-awards

Record Of The Year Nominees Revealed | 2020 GRAMMY Awards

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Bon Iver, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, H.E.R., Khalid, Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lizzo, Post Malone and Swae Lee are the artists in consideration for the momentous award
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Nov 20, 2019 - 5:38 am

The 2020 GRAMMYs are just around the corner, and now the nominations are in for the coveted honor of Record Of The Year. While we'll have to wait until the 62nd GRAMMY Awards air on CBS on Jan. 26 to find out who will win, let's take a look at which records have been nominated for one of the most anticipated GRAMMY Awards each year.

Following last year's expansion of eight nominees to the first four categories (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist), eight songs are in the running for Record Of The Year—"Hey, Ma" by Bon Iver, "bad guy" by Billie Eilish, "7 rings" by Ariana Grande, "Hard Place" by H.E.R., "Talk" by Khalid, "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X, featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, "Truth Hurts" Lizzo and "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee.

Record Of The Year is a cross-genre award given to the song's recording artist, the producer(s), recording engineer(s) and/or mixer(s) and mastering engineer(s). We've included all of these nominees below, along with more info and music video embeds to help you dive a little deeper into the tracks.

"Hey, Ma" - Bon Iver

GRAMMY-winning Wisconsin-bred alt-rock group Bon Iver—consisting of Justin Vernon, Sean Carey, Matthew McCaughan, Michael Lewis, Andrew Fitzpatrick and Jenn Wasner—released their fourth studio album, i,i, on Aug. 9, three years since their last, the GRAMMY-nominated 22, A Million. Ahead of the LP, the group dropped two singles on June 3, "Hey, Ma" and "U (Man Like)." 

The fellow nominees for "Hey, Ma" are BJ Burton, Brad Cook, Chris Messina and Vernon, as producers, Burton, Zach Hansen and Messina as engineers/mixers and Greg Calbi as the mastering engineer.

Bon Iver is also nominated for Album Of The Year and Best Alternative Music Album for i,i. The album is also nominated for Best Recording Package, an award for the art directors of the physical LP. Back at the 54th GRAMMY Awards, the group won the coveted Best New Artist gramophone, as well as Best Alternative Music Album for their self-titled sophomore effort.

"bad guy" - Billie Eilish

Following a massive rise to fame in 2018, first-time nominee Billie Eilish released her highly-anticipated debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? on March 29, along with its fifth single, "bad guy." As with all of her music released so far, the dark-electropop artist's older brother, a fellow first-time nominee FINNEAS produced the hit single, which later spawned a Justin Bieber remix. 

"bad guy" is nominated for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance and WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? is up for Album Of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (an engineers' award). 

Eilish is also up for the coveted Best New Artist award, bringing her to six total nominations and FINNEAS is up for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical. Rob Kinelski, who assisted FINNEAS with engineering/mixing and John Greenham, who served as the mastering engineer are nominated for their work on "bad guy." 

Check out the complete 62nd GRAMMYs Awards Nominees List

"7 rings" - Ariana Grande

Earlier this year, at the 61st GRAMMY Awards, pop princess Ariana Grande won her first-ever GRAMMY, for Best Pop Vocal Album for her 2018 No. 1 album Sweetener. 2019 also saw the release of its follow up, her fifth studio album, thank u, next, on Feb. 8, which was preceded with is second viral lead single, "7 rings," on Jan. 18. 

"7 rings" is up for Record Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, while thank u, next is in the running for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Grande, along with featured artist Social House, is also up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for the non-album single "boyfriend," bringing her to five total nominations this year.

The producers, engineers and mixers of "7 rings" are also nominated for Record Of The Year their work on it: Charles Anderson, Tommy Brown, Michael Foster and Victoria Monet, as the producers, Serban Ghenea, John Hanes, Billy Hickey and Brendan Morawski, as the engineers/mixers and Randy Merrill as the mastering engineer.

"Hard Place" - H.E.R.

Following her first-ever nominations and two wins at the 61st GRAMMYs in February, R&B songstress/guitarist H.E.R. dropped another emotive track, "Hard Place," on April 26. The I Used To Know Her mixtape/compilation LP followed on Aug. 30, which combined the two EPs sharing the same name into a cohesive album, along with a handful of new songs, including "Hard Place."

The mysterious vocal powerhouse is up for five more GRAMMYs this year: Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year for "Hard Place," Album Of The Year for I Used To Know Her, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Could've Been" featuring Bryson Tiller.

GRAMMY-winning hit-maker Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins shares the Record Of The Year nomination as the producer on "Hard Place;" Joseph Hurtado, Jaycen Joshua, Derek Keota and Miki Tsutsumi, as the engineers/mixers and Colin Leonard, as the mastering engineer, are also nominated for their work on the track.

"Talk" - Khalid

Past Best New Artist nominee Khalid released the sophomore follow up to his critically acclaimed, GRAMMY-nominated 2017 debut, American Teen, on April 7. The album, Free Spirit, was led by the hit single "Talk," on Feb. 7, which is currently nominated for Record Of The Year. 

The catchy electro-R&B track was produced by electronic wunderkinds Disclosure and Denis Kosiak, who thus share the Record Of The Year nod. Ingmar Carlson, Jon Castelli, Josh Deguzman, John Kercy, Kosiak, Guy Lawrence (half of sibling duo Disclosure) and Michael Romero, who engineered/mixed the track, and Dale Becker, who was the mastering engineer, are also nominated for their work on "Talk."

"Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X Ft. Billy Ray Cyrus

Rising genre-nonconformist rapper/cowboy Lil Nas X wraps up a monumental debut year with his first-ever GRAMMY nominations, earning six total. His breakout hit, "Old Town Road," featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, is up for Record Of The Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video. 

The record-breaking viral hit served as the first official "remix" of the young star's self-released track, in which he reached out to the "Achy Breaky Heart" singer to add a dose of OG country twang, after the original version infamously got pulled from Billboard's country charts. It was produced by Andrew "VoxGod" Bolooki and YoungKio, with Bolooki and Cinco serving as engineers/mixers and Eric Lagg, as mastering engineer—all of whom share the Record Of The Year nod.

Galloping forth with the smash success of "Old Town Road," Lil Nas X dropped his debut EP, 7—featuring the original and Cyrus versions of the hit—on June 21. The EP is up for Album Of The Year, and one of its other hit singles, "Panini" is up for Best Rap/Sung Performance. Lil Nas X is among the eight bright contenders for Best New Artist. 

"Truth Hurts" - Lizzo

Rapper/singer/flautist/twerk queen Lizzo has earned her first-ever GRAMMY nominations this year, rounding up eight total nods. The self-love-affirming bop maker is up for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for 2017's "Truth Hurts" alone, as well as the prestigious Best New Artist award. 

As the producers of "Truth Hurts," Ricky Reed and Tele also share the Record Of The Year nod, along with Chris Galland, Manny Marroquin and Ethan Shumaker, the engineers/mixers, and Chris Gehringer, the mastering engineer.

Additionally, her 2019 major label debut (and third LP overall), Cuz I Love You, is up for Album Of The Year and Best Urban Contemporary Album. Two of its singles, "Exactly How I Feel," featuring Gucci Mane, and "Jerome" are nominated as well—for Best R&B Performance and Best Traditional R&B Performance, respectively. 

"Sunflower" - Post Malone & Swae Lee

Finally, the eighth song in the running is the hit down-tempo track from Post Malone and Swae Lee, "Sunflower," from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack. The two versatile young rap stars add two more nominations to their belt for the 62nd GRAMMYs; "Sunflower" is also up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

Louis Bell and Carter Lang share the Record Of The Year nomination as producers, as well as Manny Marroquin, who engineered/mixed the album with Bell.

Stay tuned to GRAMMY.com, our YouTube page and our social channels (follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) for the latest on all things 62nd GRAMMY Awards. 

Kendrick Lamar - Grammys 2018

Kendrick Lamar performs at the GRAMMYs in 2018

Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

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10 Moments That Changed Music In The 2010s social-media-streaming-10-moments-changed-landscape-music-2010s

From Social Media To Streaming: 10 Moments That Changed The Landscape Of Music In The 2010s

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From the rise of streaming services to the globalization of pop, the 2010s were a revolutionary decade that disrupted the music industry and forever changed the game
John Ochoa
GRAMMYs
Dec 27, 2019 - 9:32 am

With the final days of 2019 comes the finale to a revolutionary decade that disrupted the music industry.

A bit of cultural context: The decade kicked off in January 2010 with a rising Lady Gaga dominating the global charts with her breakout track, "Bad Romance," Taylor Swift taking home the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year for Fearless and a (very) young Justin Bieber breaking into the mainstream with early single, "Baby." Later in the year, Apple would release its first-ever iPad and Instagram would debut in the world. Other major developments would follow later in the decade: Spotify launches in the U.S. in 2011; and Apple Music and YouTube Music hit the scene, while Jay-Z acquires and rebrands Tidal, the latter three milestones all happening in 2015.

As music and technology evolved in parallel at lightning speed, the music industry paradigm of yesteryear began to shift. Social media, which would soon allow a direct line of communication between artist and fan, broke down walls. Music fans, once fed a top-down stream of culture and content, became the tastemakers. And the music industry as a whole largely pivoted from a sales-based business model to a streaming-heavy consumption model.

As the decade comes to a close and enters a new era, The Recording Academy reflects on 10 moments and developments that forever changed the music landscape for the listener, the artist and the biz itself in the 2010s.

The Rise Of Streaming Services

Spotify on tablet

Nowadays, music fans are accustomed to having complete on-demand access to millions of songs at the convenient touch of a button. That's all thanks to major streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal and Amazon Music, which have collectively helped shift the consumption of music from ownership-focused to access-based via subscription models.

Read: Who Ruled Music Streaming In 2019?

Today, streaming accounts for approximately 80 percent of the music industry's revenue. Culturally, playlists are now a primary source for new-music discovery, becoming powerful launch pads for artists and labels and largely replacing traditional tastemakers and gatekeepers like radio and music blogs. As well, major streaming services have helped discover and proliferate niche genres and global sounds. Chances are you'll still discover your next favorite artist, album and song on a streaming service 10 years from now.

Hip-Hop Reigns Supreme

The 2010s saw hip-hop reach a new level. Trap, a rap subgenre popularized in the early 2000s and rooted in the American South, reached mainstream crossover success when artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry integrated the sound into their pop-centric music. The genre also birthed today's leading rap stars and producers, including Future, Migos, Gucci Mane, Sonny Digital, Metro Boomin and Mike WiLL Made-It.

Most recently, the so-called "SoundCloud rap" explosion has launched the careers of bona fide stars like Post Malone, Lil Pump, Trippie Redd, Lil Tecca and Rico Nasty. By 2018, the scene achieved its first chart-topping album via the late South Florida rapper XXXTentacion, who's second artist album, ?, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. last March. Chicago SoundCloud rapper Juice WRLD, who died earlier this month, continued the streak when his second album, Death Race For Love, topped the Billboard 200 chart this past March.

Read: Find Out Who's Nominated For Best Rap Album | 2020 GRAMMY Awards

Bolstered by the rise of streaming—Chance The Rapper's 2016 mixtape, Coloring Book, became the first streaming-only album to reach the Billboard 200 charts and win a GRAMMY—hip-hop and R&B surpassed rock as the most popular genre in the U.S. for the first time ever in 2017. What lies ahead for the genre is both a mystery and a wide-open opportunity.

The Latin Music Explosion

Where the 2000s popularized regional and niche sounds like bachata and banda, the 2010s saw Latin music skew toward urban and contemporary styles, setting the stage for urbano, the umbrella term encompassing genres like reggaeton, Latin trap, dembow and more, to reach critical mass.

The decade's Latin music victor is the undeniably catchy, omnipresent international breakout hit "Despacito" from Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee. Released in January 2017, the track, which claims the top spot for the most-streamed music video of all time, set off the so-called "Despacito effect," a music industry phenomenon that consequently ushered in an avalanche of Spanish-language hits and mainstream pop crossovers. The international success of the Spanish-language track ultimately helped break down cultural and language barriers across the global pop spectrum.

Read: Los Angeles' First Permanent Latin Music Gallery Launches At GRAMMY Museum

With Latin music ranking as the fifth-most popular genre in America, in terms of album consumption, the future burns bright for the sound.

K-pop, Afrobeats And The Globalization Of Pop

One of the most notable changes in the pop landscape this decade comes in a rainbow array of languages and cultures: the globalization of pop, led by the international sounds of K-pop from Korea and Afrobeats from West Africa and the wider diaspora.

While modern K-pop dates back to the '90s, the genre reached true international scale in 2012 with the arrival of Psy's breakthrough viral hit, "Gangnam Style." The track's official music video would eventually become the first video ever to reach 1 billion views on YouTube, once standing as the most-viewed clip on the video-sharing platform.

Psy and "Gangnam Style" set the stage for the K-Pop explosion in the U.S. and across the globe: BLACKPINK became the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella in 2019 and BTS became the first K-pop act to top the Billboard 200 chart via their 2018 album, Love Yourself: Tear.

Read: Why is K-pop's popularity exploding in the United States?

Currently, Afrobeats is the next international sound sweeping pop music. Major stars like Kanye West and Rick Ross have all collaborated with Afrobeats acts. Drake's 2016 international hit "One Dance," once the most-streamed song on Spotify, featured Nigerian Afrobeats artist Wizkid, who would go on to sign with RCA Records in what became the biggest record deal ever for an African artist. This past July, Beyoncé released The Lion King: The Gift, the soundtrack album to the 2019 Lion King remake, which featured African and Afrobeats artists like Wizkid, Burna Boy, Mr Eazi and many others. With major labels like Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group betting on Afrobeats, all eyes are now on Africa.

Social Media Makes Impact

With nine out of 10 regular social media users partaking in music- or artist-related activities on social apps and 63 percent of users employing social media technology to discover new artists, social media's massive impact on the music industry is virtually immeasurable.

Most notably, social media has broken down the walls once separating artists from listeners. Musicians can now use multiple social media avenues to directly communicate with fans, and vice versa, creating a "bond" between the two parties like never before. On a business front, social media has changed the A&R and music discovery game forever: Shawn Mendes blew up on Vine, Tori Kelly built her career off YouTube videos and Cardi B was an Instagram star before she was a chart-topping rapper.

Read: Lil Nas X's No. 1 Run Began With TikTok, Now The Music Industry Is Taking Notice

Social media marketing, led by memes, social media challenges, viral songs and dance challenges, is the next wave for the music industry. Today, the video-sharing social network TikTok, which introduced Lil Nas X and his viral hit, "Old Town Road," to the world is being touted as the future of the biz. 

Beyoncé And The "Surprise Album" Formula

Nine Inch Nails' immersive marketing campaign for Year Zero and Radiohead's pay-what-you-want model for In Rainbows may have shocked the music industry, but Beyoncé completely subverted the system when she surprise-dropped her self-titled album in December 2013. The 23-time GRAMMY champ dropped Beyoncé, marketed as a "visual album" comprising 17 videos to coincide with the project's 14 tracks, with zero advance notice, skipping the months-long marketing and promotional campaigns that have become the industry standard for artists of pop-star stature.

Read: J Balvin & Bad Bunny Drop Surprise Album 'Oasis,' Release Sensual Single "Que Pretendes

The unconventional formula worked: Beyoncé debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. and once stood as the fastest-selling album ever on the iTunes Store. The success behind the album's surprise-drop approach sparked an industry trend, and newfound marketing tactic, that saw everyone from J Balvin and Bad Bunny to little sister Solange following in Beyoncé's gold-dusted footsteps.

Music Festival Inc.

Music festivals have been a part of American music history since the days of Woodstock and Monterey Pop Festival in the late '60s. Over the past decade, however, the culture and business of music festivals have developed from a DIY approach to a fully fledged industry. In 2017, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which celebrated its 20-year anniversary this past April, became the first reoccurring festival franchise to gross more than $100 million, with a total gross of $114.6 million that year. Goldenvoice, the organizers behind Coachella, also holds the overall record for all-time top festival gross for its 2016 event Desert Trip, which brought in a record-breaking $160 million in 2016.

In addition to big payouts for festival producers and headlining artists alike, festivals have also become a creative playground for ambitious acts. Coachella alone has been the home to many milestone moments and industry-wide trends and developments over the past decade, including multiple band reunions (OutKast, Guns N' Roses, N.W.A); the genesis of the booming hologram concert industry; and Beyoncé's game-changing Homecoming headlining performance in 2018. Today, festivals worldwide serve as a breeding ground for artistic ambition and a launch pad for the new, now and next in music technology.

"Hamilton" And The Mainstreaming of Jukebox Musicals

On paper, "Hamilton" reads like an unlikely premise: a hip-hop Broadway musical based on the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. What unfolded was an even unlikelier run: 11 Tony Awards, a Broadway box office record and a Pulitzer Prize(!). Since its original off-Broadway debut in New York City in 2015, "Hamilton" has been unstoppable. The show's multiplatinum-certified original Broadway cast recording, released by Atlantic Records in September 2015, went on to peak at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart and topped the Top Rap Albums chart. It also took home a GRAMMY for Best Musical Theater Album for 2015, while the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, received the President's Merit Award from the Latin Recording Academy in 2017. Elsewhere, The Hamilton Mixtape, a 2016 follow-up mixtape album featuring original and deleted songs from the musical, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Read: How Hip-Hop & "Hamilton" Are Transforming An 8th Grade History Class

The breakout success of "Hamilton" has since launched Broadway culture and musicals into the global mainstream unlike any other production before it, shining a new light on the art form and introducing a younger generation to the medium. Its lasting legacy has also initiated a wave of jukebox musicals, pop-music-inspired shows and productions, with everyone from The Temptations ("Ain't Too Proud") to Tina Turner ("Tina: The Musical") receiving the Broadway treatment.

EDM Conquers The Global Dance Floor

In the 2010s, EDM went mainstream. Beloved pop icons crossed onto the dance floor via full-on dance-pop collaborations: Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris, Jack Ü (Diplo x Skrillex) with Justin Bieber, Steve Aoki and One Direction's Louis Tomlinson. Even Britney Spears dabbled in dubstep on her 2011 No. 1 pop hit "Hold It Against Me."

This decade also saw EDM fully infiltrating the GRAMMYs. In the same year dubstep wunderkind Skrillex swept the dance/electronic category in 2012, Canadian electronic artist/producer deadmau5 and French dance legend David Guetta joined Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Foo Fighters onstage for a televised cross-genre performance. Two years later, in 2014, French electronic icons Daft Punk would win big at the GRAMMYs for their 2013 album Random Access Memories, which took home major awards, including Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year for lead single "Get Lucky."

Watch: Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams win Album Of The Year

Today, EDM artists are among the highest-paid musicians across the board—Calvin Harris ($38.5 million), Marshmello ($40 million) and The Chainsmokers ($46 million) raked in big bucks in 2019 alone—and continue to headline international festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. What was once an underground subculture is now the soundtrack to the future.

The Convergence Of Gaming And Music

Counting more than 2 billion gamers around the world and with the potential to become a $300 billion industry by 2025, today's video game market is thriving. It's no surprise, then, that the music industry wants in on the action. While video games and music have gone hand in hand since the days of "Super Mario Bros." in the mid-'80s, the convergence of the two worlds hit its peak in the 2010s. These days, the music biz is leaning heavily into the gaming industry to unlock new revenue streams, reach new listeners and bolster marketing campaigns.

Video games have always provided a healthy income for major artists via licensing deals: Famously, Aerosmith made more money from their 2008 video game, "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," than from any of their albums. Still, the current wave of video game and music crossovers takes the approach to the next level via virtual concerts. This past February, superstar producer/DJ Marshmello performed an exclusive in-game "concert" in "Fortnite," a massively popular online video game, that attracted more than 10.7 million people. A clip of the performance has since garnered +45 million views on YouTube. Following the concert, Marshmello released Marshmello Fortnite Extended Set, a DJ mix album based on the virtual performance, which topped Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the U.S. With video games and music now at the forefront of pop culture, the two industries will continue to push into the future together.

2020 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominees List

Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee in "Despacito"

Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee in "Despacito"

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"Despacito" Is The Most-Viewed Music Video Ever what-was-youtubes-most-streamed-music-video-decade

What Was YouTube's Most-Streamed Music Video Of The Decade?

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"Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee earns the spot of the most-streamed music video of all time with over 6.5 billion views to date
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Dec 12, 2019 - 2:06 pm

YouTube has released data for the most streamed music videos of all time on its platform. Not surprisingly, Luis Fonsi's and Daddy Yankee's huge 2017 Latin GRAMMY-winning hit, "Despacito," earns the spot of the most-streamed music video of all time with over 6.5 billion (!) views to date.

To be clear, this is the original version, not the Justin Bieber-assisted remix, although the pop sensation also makes the top 10 list, at No. 6, for his 2015 bop "Sorry." The Purpose track earns the spot with over 3.2 billion views. In fact, each of the top 10 videos has racked up over two billion views.

Related: Who Ruled Music Streaming In 2019?

The second most-viewed music videos on YouTube is one of the other catchy-as-hell, inescapable hits of 2017: Ed Sheeran's GRAMMY-winning "Shape Of You," which has over 4.5 billion views to date. Another one of the British pop star's GRAMMY-winning songs, 2014's "Thinking Out Loud," also makes the list, at No. 10 with over 2.8 billion video views.

As for the third and fourth spots, we have 2015's "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth, a GRAMMY-nominated song from the Furious 7 Soundtrack, and 2014's GRAMMY-winning bop "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars. These two music videos have over 4.3 billion and over 3.7 views, respectively. Fifth place goes to PSY's 2012 meme-ready viral hit, "GANGNAM STYLE," at over 3.4 billion video views.

The seventh most video of all time goes to the song that allegedly prompted a stranger to throw sugar at Adam Levine's face, Maroon 5's GRAMMY-nominated hit "Sugar." The 2015 track's visual has over three billion views on YouTube and is followed by Katy Perry's 2013 GRAMMY-nominated empowerment anthem, "Roar" at over 2.9 million views. Finally, the number nine spot goes to OneRepublic's 2013 barn-stomping pop hit, "Counting Stars."

Related: Maroon 5 Announce Massive 2020 Tour With Leon Bridges & Meghan Trainor

The data, which YouTube shared via a press release, broke out the top music videos by the last four decades, based on the year they were originally released because, of course, YouTube has only been around since 2004. While the aforementioned top 10 videos of the 2010s were also the top 10 videos of all time, the top music videos of the 2000s, 1990s and 1980s also had some interesting finds.

The No. 1 song of the 2010s is Axel F's "Crazy Frog" at over 1.9 billion views, surpassing Linkin Park's Numb," Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and Taylor Swift's "You Belong To Me," which followed chronologically on that decade chart. Guns N' Roses take the number one spots for both the 1990s and 1980s list, with "November Rain" topping the former and "Sweet Child O' Mine" the latter.

An honorable mention goes to "Baby Shark Dance," the kid's song that was released in 2016 by South Korean company Pinkfong and went viral earlier this year. The original video (not to be confused with the many spinoffs or official EDM remix by JAUZ) has earned more views than "Uptown Funk." Baby Shark's family takes the number five spot of the most viewed videos of all time (music or otherwise) list on YouTube. Don't worry, Fonsi and Yankee are still at the top of this all-content list, so they don't have to worry about any hungry baby sharks—for now, at least.

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.