Akini's Top 25 Artists of 2022: [#1]

[JSparksFan]

Yay for Maren Morris.

The second-best country act of the year for me!

[JSparksFan]

05. Encanto Cast - 1,166 pts.

Already one of my favourite films of all-time, the Encanto soundtrack was the gift that kept on giving - a relatively short tracklist, but one that packed one brilliant track after the next. At one point, the Encanto Cast had three songs in my running year-end top five, and they held on well enough to lodge three in the top 12 by the bitter end.

Last Year's Rank: NE
No. of Plays: 384
Year-end Songs: Surface Pressure [#4]; We Don't Talk About Bruno [#5]; What Else Can I Do? [#12]; All of You [#48]
Year-end Albums: Encanto OST [#6]

04. Rina Sawayama - 1,229 pts.

What stunning consistency Rina has shown! In 2020, she had my second-favourite album of the year, up against an all-time release in 'Future Nostalgia' and in 2022 she finishes second place in the albums countdown to yet another all-time release in 'Renaissance'. Basically, to beat a Rina album the last two times, you had to drop something spectacular to trump whatever awesomeness she had on the table. She's up a healthy amount in spin count versus 2020 and the collective 'Hold the Girl' tracks are +5 from the 'Sawayama' ones on my 2020 YE songs list, which sees her beat her 2020 no. 5 peak with an extra 47 pts this time 'round. I just need her to not cancel her tour stop again when she's in town and she'll be checking all boxes for me!

Last Year's Rank: RE
No. of Plays: 388
Year-end Songs: Frankenstein [#22]; Send My Love to John [#25]; This Hell [#27]; Hold the Girl [#51]; Imagining [#53]
​​​​​​​Year-end Albums: Hold the Girl [#2]

03. Carly Rae Jepsen - 1,237 pts.

After unlucky 11th-place finishes in 2015 and 2019, Carly Rae reaches new heights in 2022! "Beach House" was my clear song of the year and 'The Loneliest Time' my third-favourite LP of 2022 so she hit the mark in several of the major categories. Play count was a bit low in comparison to the top two, but the top two are legacy acts for me so were never gonna be fronted there. Carly Rae did a fine job, though, and her post-pandemic contemplative take on loneliness was one of the most powerful messages of the year, so hopefully more folks find their way to this fantastic album over time.

Last Year's Rank: RE
No. of Plays: 508
Year-end Songs: Beach House [#1]; Joshua Tree [#24]; Surrender My Heart [#49]; Shooting Star [#52]; The Loneliest Time [#54]
​​​​​​​Year-end Albums: The Loneliest Time [#3]

02. Taylor Swift - 1,373 pts.

I'm presently donning a Taylor Swift avatar because I expected T-Swizzle to win this. I calculate my points for AOY in real-time as my countdowns progress and I thought that with the massive play count advantage (800 spins), that would be more than enough for her to offset her songs and album 'deficiencies'. Well, several things happened - the winning act this year got a late resurgence that shifted the maths in the last two weeks of November and Taylor herself was not able to get a single song in my top 20 of the year. 'Midnights' never grew on me enough to move past no. 7 on my best-of albums list and in the end Taylor was beaten resoundingly. Even with this loss, she sets a few records - this year "August" became the longest-running no. 1 on my daily chart of all-time and actually spent more days at no. 1 in 2022 than any other song, Taylor Swift herself unseated Rihanna as the act with the most days at no. 1 on my daily chart, Taylor becomes my most-played artist of the year for a record-breaking third time (she previously shared this record with Mariah Carey), and she breaks her own record for most top five finishes in my artist YEC with her now-ninth top five finish. So, for the most part, seems like I still spent most of the year rooting for the anti-hero (but refusing to put that song or her at no. 1 where it most counted).

Last Year's Rank: 1
No. of Plays: 1,900
Year-end Songs: Maroon [#21]; Karma [#23]; You're on Your Own, Kid [#44]; Anti-Hero [#77]; Dear Reader [#81]
​​​​​​​Year-end Albums: Midnights [#7]

01. Beyoncé - 1,597 pts.

I hesitated giving Beyoncé the crown this year. Yes, she put out the best album (by far) in 2022 and yes, she absolutely ate the songs YE list, where she placed five songs in the top 40 (and if I didn't have a five-song cap per album for that particular list, she would've had more). But I still had some feelings about the zero visuals we got and had to ask myself if it was enough for someone to drop one of the best albums of all-time, then disappear. Was it just the core music that mattered most? A few weeks ago, I ultimately answered yes to those two questions and with her third crown Beyoncé is 2022's clear music queen for me. I will give the fact that 'Renaissance' is a celebration of Black queer culture as the compensatory element for the absent visuals (and performances). A fun fact - her last two 'proper' albums ('Beyoncé' and 'Lemonade') also saw her win artist of the year, so she's establishing herself as the lethal force in the year she releases music. Also, with this crown, she's fronted by only one act who's earned more artist of the year trophies - Rihanna. I have no idea what awaits us as it concerns Beyoncé and her music. Will 'Renaissance' actually be a three-part series? Will we ever get a damn music video for anything? Is that tour just a figment of our imaginations? 2023 will likely answer some of these, but I will take her 2022 mic drop and bop.

Last Year's Rank: RE
No. of Plays: 1,100
Year-end Songs: America Has a Problem [#6]; Church Girl [#8]; Cuff It [#11]; Alien Superstar [#33]; Heated [#36]
​​​​​​​Year-end Albums: Renaissance [#1]

[Thriller]

Rina, Carly and Beyoncé (I suppose Taylor too) all had amazing years.

[heppolo]

Rina had a great year (unfortunately the official charts records are yet to do her justice)

[Blondini]

Rina had a great year (unfortunately the official charts records are yet to do her justice)

they still don't do Carly Rae justice, either. Even in her homeland.

[Tansike]

10. Maren Morris
09. The Weeknd
08. Years & Years
07. Panic! at the Disco
06. Carrie Underwood
05. Encanto Cast
04. Rina Sawayama
03. Carly Rae Jepsen
02. Taylor Swift
01. Beyoncé

What a fantastic Top10!

The Weeknd and Carrie Underwood's longevity with their careers start to become truly impressive. I never thought The Weeknd would get even bigger after Beauty Behind The Madness / Starboy, but he became even bigger once Blinding Lights hit and his new album Dawn FM has been super consistent too. Meanwhile, while Carrie was declining in her "power" to me and some others too, it's super nice she got back up again with Denim & Rhinestones. I'm still not sure what to think of the My Gift / My Saviour releases, but glad she got back to the Country / Pop she became famous for. With Kelly not releasing new / super successful stuff for a while now, Carrie might be the most consistent American Idol winner by now?

Ah, didn't expect Maren to make the Top10, but that's super nice to see <3 She's right next to Carrie as my favorite Country-Pop singer.

Pop was HUGE in 2022 again and your Top4 shows why. Ok, Beyoncé may not be fully Pop, but Renaissance was more like a Pop (Dance) record than a R&B record, so that may count too. The gap of the points between Taylor and Beyoncé is huge - so congrats to Beyoncé!

Obviously super happy to see Taylor having yet another super successful year!

Yeah, I did listen to 'Mamaru' after loving "Catwalk" so much and it was...uh, awful for me. Did you enjoy it?

Yeah, 'Holy Fvck' is definitely her most cohesive album since 'Demi', but she's put out some great singles between the two albums. And yeah, I read something on Twitter that she's using she/her and they/them pronouns, though I will admit that it's hard to keep up with her changing language. Linking the CNN article below:

Yep, I thought Mamaru was nice for what it was I can see why people don't like it though. My partner truly "hates" when I play Ru songs in the car, he always says they're too autotuned and have cheap production But to me, they're just guilty pleasures sometimes.

Ah, great to hear that! And thanks for clearing up the pronouns for Demi <3