Carly Rae Jepsen holds onto #1 for a second week as the top ten is stagnant save for a switch between Matt Nathanson and Alabama Shakes for #8 and #9. Second-week singles from Robin Thicke and Nicki Minaj, Lianne La Havas, and Jepsen make big moves into the top fifty. In the lower half, Years & Years score the week’s highest debut, as “Desire” enters at #61. They enter over new songs from Emily King, Rob Thomas, and The Band Perry, along with newcomers Felix Cartal (featuring Nikki Yanofsky), Audien (featuring Lady Antebellum), and Shane & Emily.
Years & Years
Walk The Moon scores a ninth week at #1 with the top ten mostly unchanged, save a move into the top five by Nate Ruess and a #10 entry for Morgan Page and Lissie. Rachel Platten makes another big jump, up 27 to #13 in her third week on with “Fight Song.” Once again, Sam Hunt, Olly Murs featuring Demi Lovato, and The Veronicas make double-digit jumps, as do Martin Luke Brown’s “Take Out Of Me” and Greg Holden’s “Hold On Tight.” The biggest chart entry this week is a re-entry, as CAFUNÉ’s debut single “Letting Go” returns at #83 after last charting at #99 at the beginning of February. Florence + The Machine lands another debut from upcoming album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, but the rest of the debuts are all from artists appearing for the first time: Years & Years, Handsome Ghost, Brandon Flowers, The Bros. Landreth, and Cheerleader.
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”
As “Shut Up And Dance” moves up to a new peak of #2 after five weeks of waiting at #3, Walk The Moon also achieves another top-twenty hit as Talking Is Hard album track “Work This Body” vaults from #64 to #11. Carrie Underwood scores the highest of only seven debuts this week, with “Little Toy Guns” coming in at #57. Purity Ring debuts at #66 with “push pull,” the lead track from their upcoming album, while Tourist makes his second chart entry ahead of his upcoming debut album as “Illuminate,” featuring Years & Years, makes it into the chart at #95 after several weeks in waiting below the top 100. Two covers also make debuts: Nikki Yanofsky’s SoundCloud-exclusive cover of Raury’s “Cigarette Song” debuts at #78, while A Great Big World marks the year’s third holiday entry with their cover of Gayla Peevey’s “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas,” part of Epic Records’s holiday compilation EP I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
