Year-End Review 2017 - Artists

In my private life I’ve to make a tough decision, but in the meanwhile it is time to review the music year 2017. Over the last two years German singer Leslie Clio reached the year-end #1 with her songs “My heart ain’t that broken” (2015) and “Damage done” (2016). This year she released the follow up album “Purple” which isn’t as good as “Eureka”. On the other hand she still reached #1 with a single from this album. “And I’m leaving” has been #1 on my chart back in June for a single week. In general there’ve been 28 # 1’s this year and so there is still a chance for “And I’m leaving” reaching the year-end #1 position. So far it happened once back in 2011 (it has been a short year, because I re-started charting in March) when Adele has the year-end #1 with “Turning tables” which only spent one week at the top. Last year’s Top 3 was completed with “Bis es weh tut” (“Until it hurts”) by Luxuslärm feat. Max Mutzke and “Hands to myself” by Selena Gomez. While “Bis es weh tut” had been the last single by Luxuslärm, Max Mutzke didn’t chart this year there is an outside chance for Selena Gomez to reach my Top 10 again. Top candidates for a Top 10 notch are others and we will see which song I prefered in 2017.

The structure of this review is equal as in the years before. So I’m starting with some statistic information. For the first time since several years I’ve charted more songs than in the previous year. This year I charted 666 songs; thank god I’m not really superstitiously. These are 17 songs more than in 2016 and 5 songs more than in 2015. The number of artists I charted also increased. This year I charted 510 artists from 38 countries. Of three artists I didn’t found out where they are from. As always songs from the US dominate my chart and after 2016 has been a big year for K-Pop this year only three (!) artists from this particular genre reached my Top 100. So let’s see this year’ national rank:

National ranking 2017:

1. (1.) USA
2. (3.) Germany
3. (2.) England
4. (5.) Canada
5. (6.) Austria
6. (--) Australia

Over the last years there has always been been a fight between Germany and England for the runner’s up spot. This year the winner of this fight is Germany. The other climbers are Canada and Austria. They profited from the South Korean loss.

The 2nd part of the start of my review is to look over the artists I charted back in 2017. Back in 2016 Anouk reached #1 for the first time in history. And because of the fact that I charted several songs from “Queen for a day” in the first half of the year she could do it again. Early in 2017 she topped the chart with songs as “Right on time” (for three weeks), “Keeps getting better” (for two weeks), “Castles in the air” (for one week) or “We are” (for one week). On the other hand there are more than a handful of young male artists who tried to change my mind about music from male singers. Ed Sheeran had been the most successful singer in 2017, but he had only one #1 on my chart with “Shape of you” (for one week). German Wincent Weiss had his breakthrough on my chart with “Nur ein Herzschlag entfernt” (Only a heartbeat away, #1 for four weeks). Shawn Mendes had also a chart topping hit with “There’s nothing holdin’ me back” (for two weeks). And not to forget about British singer Luke Sital-Singh who had two #1’s from his 2014 album “The fire inside”. So let’s start with a closer look over my Top 10 artists of 2017.

TY	LY		Artist	Info
10.	(9.)		MisterWives	With the bands 2nd album “Connect the dots” they are continuing their way. “Machine” had been the first single out of this album and it reached a Top 10 spot very easily. At the moment I’m still charting songs from this album and of course the non album single “Never give up on me” which just recently reached my Top 5. All that they are missing is still a #1 hit on my chart, but I’m sure that the time will come.
9.	(---)		Ed Sheeran	I’m sure that Ed Sheeran is the male artist of the year. #1 and #2 debuts in the UK and in Germany with “Shape of you” and “Castle on the hill”. No one had done this before. Also no one had two Top 10 debuts in the USA or ten Top 10 hits at the same time in the UK. So it had only been a matter of time when these songs reached my charts. But as I’m not really much into male singers he had “only” one #1 hit with “Shape of you” and he has three singles in my year-end of 2017 which is much more than the most male singers had before.
8.	(7.)		Kelly Clarkson	3 – 7 – 8 are the year-end positions by Kelly Clarkson over the last years. If you interpreting this you could say that there is a continuous trend, but her new album has been released very late this year and so the new songs failed to give her the push to get a better spot. I believe that she could reach a better spot next year, but we will see.
7.	(4.)		Selena Gomez	Down three spots is Selena Gomez although I’m still charting songs from her solo debut album “Revival”. Most of these songs failed to impress me very much so that “Nobody” and “Perfect” (no it is definitely not the Ed Sheeran song) are her biggest success on my chart this year. I hope that she will release better songs than her latest singles “Bad liar” or “Fetish” in 2018 to see her in my Top 10 again.
6.	(2.)		Leslie Clio	Two years ago Leslie Clio had been my #1 artist of the year. Now she dropped four spots to #6. It’s possible that her reign is over, because of the fact that her new album “Purple” is somehow mediocre. Sure she had a #1 hit with “And I’m leaving”, but the rest of the album I’ve charted so fare hasn’t reached notable spots. I think that the other songs won’t stop the downwards trend and so 2018 won’t be her year.
5.	(re)		Kate Voegele	Ups and downs are characterizing Kate Voegeles appearances on my year-end artist list. Last year she failed to enter my Top 10. Two years ago she re-entered at #8 and this year she is re-entering at #5. The new album “Canyonlands” absolutely helped her reaching this list spot. Among her big hits this year are the chart topping hits “Don’t count me out” (for two weeks) and “Catch me on fire” (for one week).
4.	(---)		Luke Sital-Singh	What a debut for British singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh. He first released songs back in 2012/13. 2014 had been the year when  “Nothing stays the same” reached the UK charts. But in 2014 I’ve not heard anything from him and I absolutely missed his chart debut. Three years later I discovered his album “The fire inside” and his 2017 album “Time is a riddle” via Spotify. The rest is history with two #1’s which are reaching really good spots during this countdown.
3.	(---)		Cold War Kids	I started charting US band Cold War Kids back in 2015, but the big breakthrough happened in 2017 with the release of their album “LA Devine” and songs such as “Can we hang on?”. “Can we hang on?” had been the bands first #1 on my chart and was later topped with their single “So tied up” where they featured British singer Bishop Briggs. This song is definitely one of the best songs of 2017 and the chance is good that this chart topping song (for four weeks) is my year-end #1.
2.	(re)		Tagtraeumer	Over the years Austrian band Tagtraeumer had several #1 hits. In July 2017 they had been the first act I’ve seen live. It had been an open air concert in Wels and been a great show. Shortly after that they debuted their single and eventually #1 “Straßenlaternen” (“Street lights”). Since this good start they had much more Top 10 hits including their catchy song “Pfeile” (“Arrows”) which later reached #1 for three weeks.
1.	(1.)		Anouk	Anouk defended her title with a strong first half in 2017. Later I charted only songs from her album “Fake it til we die”. These songs are struggling most of the time and so she couldn't continue her success which she had with “Queen for a day”. Every song from this album, except one, reach my #1 and so this “Queen for a day” is definitely the best album I’ve charted since 2011.