Here are the artists in no particular order that ruled the airwaves with their insanely catchy singles, epic video treatments, and their non-stop promotional tours to keep our attention from drifting into the next disposable pop star. 2012 brought a variety of new artists while also bringing some of our favorite pop stars back into the fold. Who was your favorite artist of 2012? Any predictions on who will return to the musical scene? Let me know on Facebook or Twitter.
Carly Rae Jepsen
Take one tweet from Justin Bieber and an add an infectious pop chorus that uses a cheesy pick up line and you get the hard to escape single of 2012, ‘Call Me Maybe.” It ruled the charts for a consecutive nine-week run and inspired many viral videos such as the Harvard’s Baseball Team and Olympic Swim Team.
Fun.
Although this band released their debut single, “We Are Young”, back in November 2011, it was a gradual build-up to their six week run as #1 on the Hot 100 in March of this year. Chevrolet and Apple commercials featured the highly popular single. Recently, the group was honored with six Grammy nominations including for Best New Artist.
Rihanna
If anybody thought Rihanna would take it in easy in 2012, you were sadly mistaken. She continued spawning hits off of her album, ‘Talk That That’, which included the dance-pop gem, “Where Have You Been.” Amidst controversy, Rihanna teamed up with her ex boyfriend Chris Brown to release a remix of “Birthday Cake.” In late 2012, Rihanna delivered the mid-tempo jam, “Diamonds”, to kick off the era for her seventh album, ‘Unapologetic.’
Kelly Clarkson
The original American Idol winner has delivered instant karaoke classics such “Since U Been Gone” and “Because of You” and you can certainly add this pop gem into your repertoire. Clarkson delivered the up-tempo anthem of empowerment and survival in the form of “Stronger” which shot up to the Hot 100 summit and gave the singer her third #1 single. On top of her music career, Clarkson took a foray into being a mentor on ABC’s music competition show, ‘Duets.’
Frank Ocean
If you manage to catch attention from Kanye West, Beyonce, and Jay-Z before your debut album is released, then you must be doing something right. Frank Ocean released Channel Orange in mid 2012 and debuted at #2 with 131, 000 copies. Ocean performed his single, “Thinkin Bout You” on the MTV Video Music Awards. Earlier this month, Ocean was honored with Grammy nominations including one for Album of The Year.
Pink
After taking a break to become a mom, the feisty pop star returned with her 6th studio album, ‘The Truth About Love’, which sold 281,000 copies in its first week of release becoming her first number one album in the USA. Along with her musical comeback, Pink also signed an endorsement deal with Covergirl. Her current single, “Try” sits at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Justin Bieber
While he didn’t garner any Grammy nominations and may or may not be dating Selena Gomez, teen heartthrob Justin Bieber still had a great year. He transitioned into more adult territory with his third album, ‘Believe’, which delivered the Timberlake-sounding ‘Boyfriend.’ The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, becoming his fourth chart-topper. Besides music, Bieber is heading into the television world with ABC as his life will serve as the basis for a sitcom.
Taylor Swift
She’s best friends with Selena Gomez and has the girl next door vibe except for the fact that she’s a singer-songwriter who may or may not write about her exboyfriends. Taylor Swift delivered the ever-so catchy “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, which a marked a new musical direction for the singer. Her album, ‘Red’, debuted at the top of the charts with 1.2 million copies sold in its first week of release. Swift is the only woman in history to have back-to-back million plus selling albums.
Maroon 5
After giving us a glimpse of the musical direction they were heading to with ‘Moves Like Jagger’, Maroon 5 delivered ‘Overexposed’, their fourth studio album that includes hits such as their #1 single ‘One More Night’ which has spent 9 weeks on the top Hot 100. Frontman Adam Levine can also be seen on the next season of The Voice with Blake Shelton and new judges Usher and Shakira.
One Direction
If Barbara Walters picks you as one of her most interesting people of 2012 then this fivesome must have done something right. British import One Direction has taken over the world with songs such as “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Little Things.” The band became the first British band to debut at #1 with their debut album and had the third biggest sales debut of 2012 with their sophomore album, “Take Me Home.”
Well…this was truly unexpected.
I submitted my 140 character tweet to the producer and expected nothing. It was just my two cents about a memorable look. On Friday, I got a tweet from the actual show stating that my tweet would be on the show. The only thing was that I didnt know what tweet would appear on it. So I sent out facebook statuses to promote my tweet’s appearance on the show.
Surprise Weddings!
