Top music trends in 2020

Despite a trying year for the world, many of us chased away the pandemic blues by listening to music. With top artists still releasing songs and albums, and with the meteoric rise of streaming services like Spotify, the music industry kept rolling despite the pandemic. But who were the biggest music trends of 2020?

Artists

According to Spotify’s metrics, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Boy was the most streamed artist in 2020 with over 8.3 billion streams, despite never having a UK Top 100 song or album. Drake, who has finished in the top two spots in five of the last six years, took second place. Colombian singer J Balvin came third, and was also named as one of Time magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year.

The most streamed female artist in 2020 was Billie Eilish, building off the success of 2020 Grammy Song of the Year “Bad Boy”. Eilish was also named Top New Artist and Top Female Artist at 2020’s Billboard Music Awards. Taylor Swift, who surprised fans by releasing two unexpected albums this year (Folklore and Evermore), came second ahead of Ariana Grande.

Albums

Bad Bunny took top spot for 2020’s most streamed album with “YHLQMDLG”, which has been streamed over 3.3 billion times and was also named Favourite Latin Album at the 2020 American Music Awards.

The Weeknd’s “After Hours”, signalling a new direction for the Canadian singer-songwriter, took second place. “After Hours” was also named Favourite Soul/R&B Album at 2020’s American Music Awards.

“Hollywood’s Bleeding” by American rapper Post Malone was the third most streamed album, and won Top Rap Album at 2020’s Billboard Music Awards.

Songs

With 1.6 billion streams, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” took top spot in 2020, and won MTV’s Music Video of the Year award, adding yet another accolade to his impressive collection. The track peaked at number one in 34 countries.

2019 viral indie/electropop hit “Dance Monkey”, the breakout single for Australian artist Tones & I, followed in second, with American rapper Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” in third.

If you like listening to music while having a pint, there are a lot of very good live music bars in London like The Rocksteady.