With 2015 coming to its end faster than we all expected, there are a couple of things that have helped begin to close out another successful year in the music industry. With handfuls of songs produced, tens of number one hits in all genres, as well as hundreds of top 10 singles dropped in this year, there are a few albums that stick out nationally.
Born in Ontario, Canada, the young heart throb, found through YouTube, debuted his first album “My World” in March 2010, which went platinum in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. After going through years of pressuring media exposure and dealing with the pressure of trying to live up to his first album, Justin Bieber dropped his first ever No. 1 song, “What Do You Mean?” this year. After the crazy success with “What Do You Mean?” Bieber kept his creative juices flowing. On November 13, he released his number one album on the Billboard 200 chart, “Purpose”. This album was solely written to express the fact that he is aware of the mistakes he has made in the past three years, and that he is now stepping into adulthood. The lyrical melodies and flowery beats in every song on the album were inspired partly by EDM. This album has been the show stopper for Justin Bieber, and has easily become one of the most loved albums dropped in 2015.
Released September 18, Lana Del Rey once again dropped another golden album, “Honeymoon” with stunning instrumental and glorious backdrops that blissfully recalled her cinematic second album “Paradise”. Earlier this year in July, she released the title track for the album, “Honeymoon” that is made up of haunting swells of mournful strings that sound like they’d fit right in during a 50’s noir romance epic. Along with this release that marked the beginning of what would become one of her best albums written yet, the track “High By The Beach” was dropped which was the real eye catcher for the fans, showcasing her beloved roots from album “Born To Die”. Lana brought back her husky vocals, leaving a lingering essence of passion, rebellion, and false independence for her fans in each and every poetic song on this album.
Selena Gomez. The stunning, talented, young artist has dropped her biggest album yet, “Revival”. This album is full of upbeat dance songs, inspirational songs, and heart wrenching ballads. Although it’s considered R&B there are Spanish influences in the songs, and honest lyrical content. The track “Same Old Love” has become one of the title songs for the album landing itself in No. 1 seats in Billboard charts. Gomez has mentioned in many interviews that she is proud of what she has created here, and it tells an honest story about her feelings and life; this is one of the most sold albums of 2015 sweeping this nation away.
Luke Bryan is the biggest thing going on in mainstream country this year. With the release of his fifth album “Kill the Lights” he kept the fans happy as he kept the good times rolling in. This album, unlike his others, presents a black and white cover where Bryan isn’t grinning like he usually does, insisting that he is taking this album more seriously than his usual cookie cutter country boy music. As reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, Bryan has come to the realization that he wants to produce music that he believes in and it is now more about pleasing his fans rather than the critics. WIth “Kill the Lights” he does exactly that, leaving his fans with another beautiful, and heartfelt, fun album full of dance songs, and slower deep songs. Luke Bryan is easily the biggest country artists right now and this album is definitely one of the top drops of 2015.
These four worldwide known, and worldwide loved artists, are all focused their own individual styles, which creatively shown through in these top albums. All of them have had many top charting songs, and tons of media coverage, but have been able to keep their cool through it all. Landing themselves the title as some of the top selling albums released, these four are a couple of the outstanding drops of 2015.
