by Monica Brewer

2014 has been a plentiful music year.  With albums from new artists, new songs, and breakout artists that have hit number one on the Billboard 100s, there’s many songs that could be great music to listen to.

One of the albums that I loved this year was Ariana Grande’s second studio album My Everything.  Hits from this album include Love Me Harder featuring The Weeknd, Problem featuring Iggy Azalea, One Last Time, and Break Free featuring Zedd.  All four of these songs hold a place in my heart (including Just a Little Bit of Your Heart.)  If you haven’t listened to My Everything yet, Grande includes an intro song that you can only listen to on the album.  I recommend listening to the whole album at least once.  When you hear Grande’s voice, to me, it’s worth the time.

There has been many hits that have been released this year, including the body loving anthem All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor, Booty by Jennifer Lopez featuring Iggy Azalea, Bang Bang by Jessie J featuring Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, Anaconda by Nicki Minaj, Don’t by Ed Sheeran, and Stay With Me by Sam Smith.   All of these songs have been smash hits this year, but their albums haven’t gone platinum.

Taylor Swift’s album, 1989, was a smash hit.  By selling around 1.3 million copies, it has not only gone platinum but is also the “top-selling album released this year.”  According to Billboard, “Album sales are so far down 13 percent compared to last year on top of an 8 percent decline in 2013.”

There’s at least 12 albums in the fourth quarter, December, left to be released, including Nicki Minaj’s The PinkPrint, Charli XCX’s Sucker, and Neon Hitch’s Eleutheromaniac.

An overview of the year for music would be not enough albums going platinum, but there’s enough hits to give you joy for this year.  If Taylor Swift’s album is the only album this year to platinum, then this year is a sad year for the music industry.  Hopefully the numbers for album sales will improve next year.  For now, I give you this parody of Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off.