How was 2017 in music?

[Harx]

We're still more than a month away from 2018, but the 2017 Billboard year has just ended, so I figured out I can make this thread now

What's your opinion on this year in music? How does it compare to 2016 and previous years?

My opinion: Maybe 2017 wasn't my favorite year in music of this decade or anything, but it definetely was very interesting and eventful, both from charts perspective (we had both 5 different #1s, 5 weeks in a row this spring and a song that tied the record for longest run at #1), and from the perspective of new releases - it feels like every relevant artist has either released new music or had music released in 2016 still charting early this year. Seriously. Everyone. You can make a very, very long list. Quality-wise, I think it was a decent year. I liked the majority of hits, I only really disliked two. On the other hand there were very few songs I loved, much less than in previous years. I'd say that this year was 7/10 for me most of the time.

[SPRΞΞ]

it's been terrible. I rarely listen to the CHR station these days. Would much rather listen to classic rock or HAC/AC stations.

[MilesW1998]

Terrible, I'd say it was worse than 2016. Too much awful rap from artists like Kodak Black, Quavo, Post Malone, Tay-K, and so on. And it's not like the pop was any better, when people like Katy Perry released her worst album to date, and when we gave people like Julia Michaels a singing career. Selena has been terrible on her own songs like Fetish and Bad Liar, and yet she does much better as a generic EDM vocalist for the likes of Kygo and Marshmello. And JB gets his overexposure year, and Drake finally fades out this year after 8 years of him dominating, thank God.

There were some upsides though. Lorde, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, and Harry Styles all got their dues by releasing some of the best work of the entire year, and yet 2 of them had lead off singles that basically flopped. And yes, we got the return of Kesha, as well, releasing yet another fantastic album this year, and a great lead-off that may be my #1 song of 2017.

But overall, the bad outweighs the good in my opinion. Can't wait to see what the year end has in story, but I can say this, it's not gonna look good I bet.

[Deleted]

Way better than 2016.

[Glove Slap]

Pretty good, definitely keeping with how strong this decade has been. Not sure where it was in relation to last year, but it's better than some of the other years.

Lotta superstars and past sure shots (but definitely not all) underwhelmed in one way or another, but newer acts really stepped up this year. Migos, SZA, Post, Niall, Kendrick, Lana, Dua, Calvin, ID (+I was still playing Abel's under-managed album) ...fantastic collective right there for me.

[kacpe3]

Good.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

My general opinion without thinking too much about it is that 2017 was a step up from 2016 for music. At least for pop music. I won't be able to make that conclusion indefinitely until I start getting into my own yearend mode. I know I've been listening more to older music than current music moreso in the last year as well so maybe this isn't even a question I can answer.

[Ling-Ling]

2017 has been pretty good so far! So many good albums released.

That being said, if you're listening to radio or going based off of the charts, you're doing it wrong and will probably be disappointed.

[irice22]

It just keeps getting worse. Hoping for someone to come around and make it exciting again. There was nothing quite like 2009-2012.

[Spidey]

My least favorite year of music since I began following the industry in the mid-00s.

[Sherane Lamar]

I believe it will absolutely go down as a pivotal moment in the history of popular music.

As a Hip-Hop fan, I love it. It's a year when Hip-Hop eclipsed all other genres, to be the most prevalent and relevant cultural force in music. While I haven't looked at 2002-2004 in full, week by week, or artist by artist, I can say with some degree of certainty that 2017 is Hip-Hop's biggest year.

On top of that, the two biggest Hip-Hop acts of this year are widely acclaimed artists on the opposite side of the spectrum: Kendrick Lamar and the Migos. Both artists have spent several years taking somewhat of a backseat, so it feels like 2017 is a year when culture won.

The genre's three biggest artists will all have dropped a major project by the end of this year. All three of those legends are dropping projects pivotal to their careers. Jay-Z and Eminem are likely dropping their final albums. Drake's "More Life" signals the inevitable start to the downhill half of his career trajectory.

Feels like a big year of change. A year of firsts and a year of lasts. There isn't really any sign of Hip-Hop's growth slowing down, so it's not wild to believe that 2018 will be even bigger than 2017. I believe that far into the future, 2015-2019 will be seen as Hip-Hop's most frantic and important years, in terms of overlapping forces and subgenres.

For Pop fans however...

[Sherane Lamar]

Pop, and especially female led Pop, seems to be quickly loosing relevancy under combined pressures of cultural and industry changes.

**The top 29 artists of this year so far are ALL male**. Let that sink in. All Top 29 are male. No females until #30 (Alessia Cara).

Now I'm sure that will probably change before the end of the year as Taylor Swift starts to rack up points. I'm sure she'll end up in the Top 20. But it's still an insane statistic to think about. Has there ever been a more male dominated year in the history of the charts? Has there ever been a year in which 19 of the 20 top artists are male?

Rihanna took the year off. Taylor didn't show up until the last few months.

There's no Adele, there's no Meghan Trainor. There's no Beyonce.

Katy Perry, somebody I would have described as the biggest artist of the decade in 2014, flopped. In all likelihood, she'll now enter the phase of her career that Fergie, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, and Jenifer Lopez have found themselves in.

We are impressed by Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and P!nk songs that can't crack the Top 10. Miley Cyrus is dead on arrival. Five years ago, these were some of our most relevant artists period.

Our brightest stars are fading fast, and there's nobody there to replace them. Alessia Cara just isn't doing it all by herself.

Pop music seems to be headed towards WGWAG territory, with Charlie Puth, Maroon 5, Shawn Mendes, and all five One Direction members being more relevant than female Pop in 2017. Pop also seems to be getting pushed into Hot AC territory, as young people abandon the radio.

So do I think this means the end of female Pop? Of course not. From Connie Francis to Katy Perry, Pop music has always been a place for female talent to shine. But I do think it's going to be a very big **change** in these coming years. Much like the changes that took place in 2008 when Gaga and Katy Perry emerged to become some of the new faces of Pop music.

[Heart Shaped Box]

I didn't really like this year in music... the only real album that I enjoyed was Tennis' Yours Conditionally.

[dbhmr]

Yeah, outside of the CHR chart I've enjoyed a lot of this year's output. We got great albums from Kelly, SZA, Lana, Lorde, and pop radio's dedication to churning out numbing midtempo EDM snores has effectively severed my relationship with keeping up with those artists and exploring others.

Nov 16, 2017 12:22:42 GMT -5 Sherane Lamar said:

There's no Adele, there's no Meghan Trainor. There's no Beyonce.

[Envoirment]

Pretty meh. Haven't really been that invested in music as much this year though. My least favourite year since tracking music and such (back in 2008).

[g8erboi]

This was probably my favorite year in music this decade since 2012.

[.It'sGriffin]

Really enjoyed the year. Aside of the bland pop, though even in that genre we had some real quality (Lana, Lorde, I personally really loved Halsey's project, Selena gave us some quality music). The Urban music was way, way better than in 2016, surely. Well, although Abel and Donald released their albums last year, they had their impact this year. Khalid blowing up was wonderful, so was seeing Symere have hits, together with Kyle. Well, the latter one had, well, one, but his position is better now.
Overall, albeit the number of shitty SoundCloud rappers crossing over, it did give us X.
In conclusion, if the pop wouldn't be so bland, like Despacito, it would be a much better year, but still, it was very decent and strong.
We had the sudden turns of tides, records being broken, new staple stars being born (Post, Khalid, Lil Uzi), older ones dying (Katy Perry, Gaga).
The chaos with which we'll enter 2018 will be magnificent...
14/20

[Bwol]

Taylor saved it for me.

[NeRD]

Despacito ruined everything.

[Troublemaker]

Dear 2017,
You have been underwhelming musically. Rap/Hip-hop won streaming while its sales are embarrassing, R&B literally DIED; R&B/Hip-Hop chart component of billboard is comprised of mostly hip-hop.
2018, hope you are better

[Bwol]

Nov 16, 2017 10:23:34 GMT -5 MilesW1998 said:

Terrible, I'd say it was worse than 2016. Too much awful rap from artists like Kodak Black, Quavo, Post Malone, Tay-K, and so on. And it's not like the pop was any better, when people like Katy Perry released her worst album to date, and when we gave people like Julia Michaels a singing career. Selena has been terrible on her own songs like Fetish and Bad Liar, and yet she does much better as a generic EDM vocalist for the likes of Kygo and Marshmello. And JB gets his overexposure year, and Drake finally fades out this year after 8 years of him dominating, thank God.

There were some upsides though. Lorde, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, and Harry Styles all got their dues by releasing some of the best work of the entire year, and yet 2 of them had lead off singles that basically flopped. And yes, we got the return of Kesha, as well, releasing yet another fantastic album this year, and a great lead-off that may be my #1 song of 2017.

But overall, the bad outweighs the good in my opinion. Can't wait to see what the year end has in story, but I can say this, it's not gonna look good I bet.

This is word for word my opinion of 2017

[MilesW1998]

Except for the part where I left out the part about Taylor Swift though.  :kii:

[Willow Rinadoobee Breakfast]

Cons: Trap music got worse. I mean, much worse. As in, absolutely soulless and no effort. Also, Katy and Taylor gave pretty bad comebacks.

Pros: A lot more memorable songs here and there, unlike 2016 where I can barely remember anything. Plus, it gave us Ke$ha's amazing comeback, Kendrick kicking everyone's ass in the Rap genre, not to mention artists like Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth improving with their two hits. Also, NO MEGHAN TRAINOR.

Yeah, 2017 kicked 2016's ass in music.

[boysilver400]

🤢👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾😒

[Sherane Lamar]

Nov 16, 2017 14:10:14 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

Yeah, outside of the CHR chart I've enjoyed a lot of this year's output. We got great albums from Kelly, SZA, Lana, Lorde, and pop radio's dedication to churning out numbing midtempo EDM snores has effectively severed my relationship with keeping up with those artists and exploring others.

Nov 16, 2017 12:22:42 GMT -5 Sherane Lamar said:

There's no Adele, there's no Meghan Trainor. There's no Beyonce.

Those are three artists that have had significant impact and presence in previous years and haven't released any of their own music this year. 

I forgot to mention Ariana Grande essentially taking a break this year too. As well as Fifth Harmony being gone. Although it looks as if Camilla could have the ability to replace their influence by herself. 

Demi Lovato's performance is probably the one positive surprise we got this year from a female Pop artist. 

[Red]

That depends on what we're referring to. If we're talking strictly CHR, I mean, it wasn't bad. Better than last year, anyway.

If we're talking about music in general, I've certainly listened to a lot more music this year thanks to Pulse, and I'm still not even close to having listened to every album that I want to listen to from this year. It's been a pretty decent year so far, though I haven't encountered an album that I'd put in the same tier as Blackstar or You Want It Darker just yet.

[janinho]

Despacito and Shape of You topped the charts in...

- the US for 28 weeks
- the UK for 25 weeks
- Germany for 32 weeks!
- Australia for 28 weeks
- New Zealnd for 26 weeks
- France for 33 weeks!
- the Netherlands for 30 weeks
- Austria for 29 weeks
- Switzerland for 34 weeks!
- Canada for 31 weeks
- Spain for 26 weeks (only Despacito)
etc.

[Deleted]

I got my fixes from the Dragons, Ed and Selena + had many pleasant surprises from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Alessia Cara, Logic and Portugal. The Man. But there were some stinkers, too. (re: Despacito)

Overall, I'd say it's part of the trinity of the best years in music this decade so far (2013, 2015 and 2017).

[Sherane Lamar]

If I had to rate them based on my own personal enjoyment of each year:

1. 2017 (the hip-hop year)
2. 2015 (the year spotify album takeovers became a thing, TPAB, IYRTITL, Sremmlife, DSP)
3. 2016 (the Drake, TLOP, year)
4. 2013 (Macklemore, Yeezus, Miley Cyrus, NWTS, Jay-Z)
5. 2010 (Dance-pop)
6. 2011 (Dance-pop)
7. 2014 (The iggy year, at least we had a few nice big songs outside of rap)
8. 2012 (the Flo Rida year, fun., Gotye, Adele)

[irice22]

Worst year of the decade.