The contents of the top ten remain unchanged, while former two-time chart-topper Lianne La Havas moves into the top twenty with “Unstoppable.” New Warner Bros. signing PHASES scores the highest entry with debut single “I’m In Love With My Life,” along with another debut, “Cooler,” further down the list. Allen Stone is the greatest gainer, reaching #51 with “Freedom” ahead of additional debuts that include new singles from Maroon 5, Tori Kelly, and American Authors. New cuts from Adam Lambert, Rachel Platten, and Kendrick Lamar also log their first week, along with American Idol coronation songs from winner Nick Fradiani and runner-up Clark Beckham.
Tori Kelly
Carly Rae Jepsen and Tori Kelly each move up one spot in an otherwise-unchanged top ten, led once again by Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up And Dance.” The week’s biggest movers include Alabama Shakes’s “Sound & Color,” Bleachers’s “Like A River Runs,” R5’s “Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight,” and Adam Lambert’s “Ghost Town,” each moving at least 15 places upward. Tori Kelly also lands the greatest debut on the chart with the title track of upcoming album Unbreakable Smile, ahead of debuts from Clean Bandit, Alabama Shakes, and newcomers Good Old War.
Walk The Moon notches a second week at #1 with “Shut Up And Dance,” while Ellie Goulding moves into the top three with “Love Me Like You Do.” Two songs also enter the top ten: Taylor Swift’s “Style” moves 11-5 and Tori Kelly’s “Nobody Love” climbs 25-9 in its second week. Fancy makes a big thirty-position jump to #23 with “Goodbye,” dwarfed only by Max Frost’s jump of 34 positions as “Let Me Down Easy” leaps to #60. Emily Hearn makes the week’s highest debut, with “Volcano” exploding in at #36. Additional new entrants are Imagine Dragons, COIN, Tor Miller, Leon Bridges, Youth Club, and Mikky Ekko.
After a fourteen-week run at the top, Martin Luke Brown slips out of the pole position as Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up And Dance” ascends to #1 in its 21st week on the chart. The rest of the top ten gets a slight shake-up as well, with Walk The Moon’s “Aquaman” also moving into the top three, Ellie Goulding continuing her upward momentum as “Love Me Like You Do” goes from #6 to #4, and Carrie Underwood’s newly-announced single “Little Toy Guns” moving 12-10. Tori Kelly scores the week’s highest debut, with new single “Nobody Love” entering at a lofty #25. Toward the bottom of the chart, XOV, Max Frost, and Sam Smith re-enter the chart, while new songs come in from Train, Coasts, Justin Mauriello, and Lee Ann Womack.
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”