Carly Rae Jepsen and Alessia Cara are the week’s leading ladies: the former sits at every other position in the top ten (including #1 for “Run Away With Me” for a fourth week), while the latter jumps to #2 with “Here” and grabs the two highest debuts in the top thirty with Four Pink Walls EP tracks “Seventeen” and “Outlaws.” Felix Cartal and Nikki Yanofsky’s collaboration “Something To Live For” also makes another nice jump, up eight to #6. Other notable climbs include new Carrie Underwood single “Smoke Break,” Mackenzie Thoms’s “Conviction,” Shane & Emily’s “You’re Mine,” and JoJo’s “Save My Soul.” The latter two artists also add new debuts to the chart, as do Andrew Ripp, Emily King, R5, and Justin Bieber. Finally, Maddie & Tae re-enters with “Downside Of Growing Up” thanks to the release of their debut album, Start Here, as does Taylor Swift with new single “Wildest Dreams.”

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It’s a very E·MO·TION-al week on the chart for Carly Rae Jepsen, who notches a third week at #1 with “Run Away With Me.” With the entire top ten stagnant, the album’s title track and “I Really Like You” continue their hold on three of its ten spots. Most of the album enters the chart this week as well, led by “Let’s Get Lost” at #15. In other news, Felix Cartal’s collaboration with Nikki Yanofsky, “Something To Live For,” vaults from its #86 debut last week to #14. Gavin James, ROMANS, and Emily King score large jumps as well. Other debuts include two tracks from Grace Mitchell’s new Raceday EP, plus new tracks from Brayton Bowman, Carrie Underwood, BØRNS, newcomer Mackenzie Thoms, Céline Dion & Fred Pellerin, The Neighbourhood, Nick Jonas, Gorgon City featuring ROMANS, and JoJo.

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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”