2016 in Review

In my mind, 2016 is one of the most notable years in music, and is easily the best of the 2010s. 

David Bowie died January 10, 2016, two days after the release of his 26th album. The album had been receiving hype for a few weeks ahead of the release, and love and adoration for the album only grew in the weeks and months following his death.   

Bowie wasn’t the only artist to put out an album close to his death.You Want It Darker by Leonard Cohen was released October 21, 17 days before the legendary songwriter’s passing. And on November 11, A Tribe Called Quest’s last release came out, eight months after the death of Phife Dawg. The double album brought together by Q-Tip and a giant cast of high-profile collaborators, who paid their respects, felt just as authentic as any of Tribe’s classic records of the 90s. And while his final albums technically came out late in 2015, Prince passed away in April of 2016, another legend lost. 

Another early-year development, Kanye West’s endless tinkering and delays to The Life of Pablo, his first release in three years. It resulted in Kanye’s first (and one of many to come in the future) clear musical missteps. For every brilliant production note, there was another song that felt incomplete. The lyrics were simple and childish, and subjects not that interesting, and the features lacked their usual punch. 

That is, except for Chance the Rapper on “Ultralight Beam,” a feature that shot him to the front of the hip-hop world. Chance rode the hype into his summer release, Coloring Book, which led to songs on the radio, headlining summer and fall music festivals, and plenty of award nominations. The “Artist of the Year” debate was pretty squarely between him and Beyoncé for her performance at the Super Bowl and work on Lemonade. Drake’s Views and Rihanna’s Anti got their fair shares of attention, too (Rihana’s much more deservingly so). 

It’s hard to quantify the number of noteworthy and long lasting albums that came out in 2016. Those listed above clearly have a place in history. Frank Ocean’s Blonde was probably the best release of the year and has a cult-like following as fans have waited years for a follow up. Despite Beyoncé’s commercial success, Solange actually bettered her sister with A Seat At The Table. Car Seat Headrest established themselves as an indie rock force, while ScHoolboy Q, Danny Brown and Childish Gambino proved that they could hang in Kendrick Lamar’s class of highly skilled, highly unpredictable hip-hop artists. You also had long-awaited returns from Radiohead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, American Football, even Iggy Pop and Paul Simon. And just when you thought the year was over, RTJ3 dropped on Christmas. 

That doesn’t even touch on the individual songs that came out and made an impact. I’ll let you look through the playlists for that. 

Songs of the year

Rock

Hip-Hop

Pop