Laura Mvula is steady at #1, with Lissie’s “Daughters” up a spot to #4 and Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Run Away With Me” back into the top ten. Rihanna scores a third top-twenty single from ANTI as lead, Drake-featuring single “Work” moves 25-19, joining “Kiss It Better” and “Close To You.” Dua Lipa makes it a second week with a pair of big leaps for “Be The One” (#20) and “Last Dance” (#31), the latter just ahead of the second re-entry for Kelly Clarkson’s “Piece By Piece” and the week’s highest debut, “Love Me Like That” by The Knocks featuring Carly Rae Jepsen. Jepsen’s Fuller House theme rendition, “Everywhere You Look,” debuts as well, as do new selections by The 1975, Yuna featuring Usher, Tove Lo, Javier Colon, Kris Allen, Miike Snow, and Miguel.

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Cam holds off Adele for another week, while Laura Mvula and Nile Rodgers rise to #3 with “Overcome.” Montaigne makes it a second week in a row with a top-ten debut, as her new single “In The Dark” enters at #9. Lissie and Birdy each jump ten places into the top twenty. The 1975 score their first song to chart with “The Sound,” in at #45. Also leading the pack among this week’s debuts are songs by Joel Adams, another from Lissie, Chairlift, Alex Newell, and Charles Kelley.

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As the music industry wakes up from its holiday slumber and begins the new year, attention shifts to developing new artists whose careers are beginning to build. Below are forty hand-picked artists of varying genres and current levels of success. Some are completely independent, while others have already topped charts. Regardless, all of them show potential to be even bigger names, particularly in America, in the coming year. Listen to the artists through this SoundCloud playlist, and check back later in the year to see how these predictions turned out. Continue reading “Class Of 2015: 40 promising artists to watch this year”