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For some people, December brings holidays and family celebrations. But for many Syracuse University students and people around the world, the start of December marks the time that their Spotify Wrapped will come out. Between Drake, Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, among others, here’s a breakdown of some of the most important and influential albums of the year.

Stick Season – Noah Kahan
First teased in fall 2020 with an acoustic clip of the titular song, Kahan’s latest album flew through the charts following its October release. Several songs – a verse from “Homesick,” the chorus from “Northern Attitude” and “Stick Season” – went viral on TikTok, each inspiring their own trend. This year, Kahan tallied a total of 313.8 million streams in 183 countries, and 25.8 million people listened to 17 million hours of his music.

Though the album is listed as alternative, the 14-track collection has been praised for its crossover into the folk genre. Kahan primarily wrote the album while home in Vermont during the pandemic, with motifs of his New England childhood, nostalgia and grappling change laced throughout the lyrics.

Kahan followed up the album’s release with a tour. Within days of the tour’s announcement, new dates were added to the slate and some venues were changed to larger locations to accommodate demand.

Midnights – Taylor Swift
Once again Swift made history becoming the first artist to claim the top ten spots in the Billboard’s Hot 100 after the release of her tenth studio album “Midnights”. The album, inspired by 13 “sleepless nights” throughout Swift’s life, came out October 21.

Since then, songs like “Paris”, “Anti-Hero” and “Karma” have found success inspiring various TikTok trends. Swift has nearly 82 million monthly listeners on Spotify and was the second most streamed artist globally and in the US this year. “Midnights” broke two Spotify records on its release date. It became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day, and broke the record for the most-streamed artist in a single day.

Un Verano Sin Ti – Bad Bunny
For the third year in a row, Bad Bunny is the most streamed artist globally on Spotify. His latest album, “Un Verano Sin Ti”, is the Puerto Rican singer’s fourth studio album and was released on May 6.

The album held 13 nonconsecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, tying with Drake’s 2016 album “Views” and the “Frozen” soundtrack for the most weeks at No. 1. Bad Bunny is the first artist to exclusively sing in Spanish to achieve this feat. He also claimed the #1 spot on Billboard Boxscore’s top tours in 2022 with his “World’s Hottest Tour”, grossing over $373 million. The tour is set to end Dec. 10 in Mexico City.

Megan Thompson | Digital Design Director

Her Loss – Drake, 21 Savage
Drake and 21 Savage’s collaborative album released on November 4th debuted as number one on the United States Billboard, replacing “Midnights” by Taylor Swift. “Her Loss” was Drake’s second album of the year but his first-ever collaborative album.

The album included a feature from Travis Scott along with production features from Lil Yachty, Metro Boomin, Boi-1da and more. TikTok helped the popularity of “Her Loss”, as trends emerged to the songs “Rich Flex” and “On BS.” The songs reflect the title of the album, instilling a braggy tone directed towards women who have betrayed the artists in the past. This hip-hop album remains on Billboard’s top 200 list and is holding onto popularity through various TikTok trends.

American Heartbreak – Zach Bryan
Oklahoma native Zach Bryan rocketed into the country music scene in 2022 following the release of his album “American Heartbreak” which featured an impressive 34 tracks, all written and performed by Bryan.

Bryan’s music career began unconventionally, performing his songs for army buddies in the Navy. One of them posted a video of his song “Heading South” and it went viral. Bryan’s debut album debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top 200 and #1 on the Top Country Albums Chart. The album surpassed Morgan Wallen’s highly successful album “Dangerous” with a whopping 82 million streams in just 24 hours. Bryan’s debut studio album has amassed over a billion global streams and the young artist is just beginning his music career.

Published on December 4, 2022 at 10:57 pm