Top 2022 Songs (Most Streamed Globally)
1. As It Was - Harry Styles
2. Heat Waves - Glass Animals
3. Stay (With Justin Bieber)- The Kid LAROI
4. Me Porto Bonito - Bad Bunny Feat. Chencho Corleone
5. Tità Me Preguntó - Bad Bunny
Not speaking spanish, I did not see Bad Bunny being up here on top of the charts, but it is incredibly telling when the top songs are also the top music artists. He obviously has made a huge impact in the music industry this year, through seeing him on awards shows, such as the Latin Grammys and The VMAs, as well as trending on social media as well, as well as his incredibly popular tour this year.
Speaking of Tours, Harry Styles has to have broken some award with how many shows he has done this year along with his acting career to juggle as well. He has paused some shows but for example one venue (MSG) he has done 15 shows here alone, constantly singing. His tour alone is huge in pop culture with his many celebs attending his shows, to teenage girls being reported camping out for the shows for hours, as well as drama with Olivia Wilde and the movie Don't Worry Darlin'.
Justin Bieber another artist with a top 2022 song, has been making up his postponed Justice tour from 2020. In the end he postponed his last half of his tour due to health concerns. In the past there have been cancellations of his shows as well, probably for his long and demanding tour. The kid LAROI on the other hand has been touring as well but mainly amphitheaters and midsize venues. I am not as familiar with the Glass animals but they had been all over the radio this whole years so I am looking forward to hearing more of their stuff in the new year.
Top 2022 Music Artists (Most Streamed Globally)
1. Bad Bunny
2. Taylor Swift
3. Drake
4. The Weeknd
5. BTS
Bad Bunny has been killing this year with his sold out stadium tour as is BTS. The weekend launched his stadium tour as well after postponing then canceling his arena show then changing to stadiums following his 2021 Super Bowl Performance. Drake put out two albums on to catch the summer season and one a couple weeks ago which have flooded social media with memes on his songs.
And everyone knows an has heard about the Taylor Swift controversy with her tickets sales with Ticketmaster for her upcoming 2023 tour involving server errors, ticket pricings and other issues. My personal favorite artists this year were all throwback 90's artists like Papa Roach, Third Eye Blind, Jesse McCartney, and Michelle Branch. I am excited to see which artists are going to dominate this coming year!
Top Throwback Songs
1. Running Up a Hill - Kate Bush
2. Yellow - Coldplay
3. The Real Slim Shady - Eminem
4. Gangsta's' Paradise - Coolio
5. Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
With Coolio's death, this was a perfect homage to his disk track. Kate Bush has gotten popular from Tik Tok trends and Stranger Things. Eminem and Nirvana are timeless and universally loved as well as Coldplay, also touring helps popularity for this year as well!
I am not complaining about the nostalgia. This trend has brought back a lot of bands and artists whole I loved an have forgotten and even got them to tour and preform live now and be recognized all over again. The When We Were Young festival lineup announcement spurned lots of other throwback pop punk shows with artist like Third Eye Blind, Paramore, My Chemical Romance, All American Rejects and more. The new 2023 lineup is insane as well.
Top 2022 Concerts/Festivals
1. When We Were Young Festival
2. The Weekend
3. Gorillaz
4 Harry Styles
5. Billie Eilish
6. Elton John Fair Well Tour
7. My Chemical Romance Reunion Tour
8. Post Malone
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. Coldplay
Top anticipated concerts and festivals this year were a mix of throwback artists and songs as well as postponed artists tours from 2020. Coldplay, Gorillaz, Elton John, Red Hot Chili Peppers and My Chemical Romance all sing dozens of chart toppers so of course their tours were in high demand. Post Malone, The Weeknd, Harry Styles, and Billie Eilish have all produced 2022 albums but mainly seem to be catching up on their postponed tours from their massive 2020 stardom. I am looking forward to seeing more albums and more arena tours/stadium tours outside of the pop star or throwback icons.
Top Music Popculture
1. Taylor Swift and Ticketmaster
2. Superbowl Performance
3. Harry Styles Touring and Don't Worry Darlin'
4 When We Were Young
5. Elvis Movie
Taylor swifts Ticketmaster incident is still relatively fresh but it does not look like anything will come of it. Harry styles has been all over the news of his acting projects this year as well as his longggg world tour, doing 52 dates in 22 countries, crazy...When We were Young was well anticipated and despite the cancellation due to wind for the firstay, it sounded like a huge success, maybe the next warped tour 2.0 event.
The Elvis Movie was huge with not too many 2022 blockbusters this year, alot of movies and series are now streaming. Maybe more documentary style movies like Tom and Pammy will come out as well. The Superbowl like every year was huge and had a nostalgic feel with its artists. Rihanna this coming year will be no different, I am excited! I want to see different and unique ways that music will be integrated into pop culture for the new year.
Top Music Trends
Tik Tok Tik Tok Tik Tok. 1-5 of course. Songs are becoming shorter to fit the trends and more social media sharing friendly with both up and coming artists as well as those who have been around a while. During 2020, lots of new popular artist came from social media and although it is starting to dwiddle, it still has staying power. I wonder what the next trend will be. Live music is coming back so I wonder which artists will last and stand the test of time.
