Beyonce
Unless you live under a rock on a distant planet, you are probably aware of Beyonce's new released album - Lemonade, which celebrated black womanhood, and intimated Jay-Z, who had been unfaithful, and basically snapped the Internet in two. With Lemonade, Beyonce made 2016 about her, by having the highest selling album of the year. Through dint of her own genius, glamour, smarts, and artistry, the moment has been hers. You go Queen B!
Drake
It's official, Drake pretty much won 2016. The Canadian rapper, now known as the ''6 God,” “Champagnepapi,” “Drizzy,” celebrated his many wins this year. Summer sixteen has been all about Drizzy after dropping his album Views, which was the second highest selling album of 2016, aside from the other hit singles, ''Work,” ''No Shopping,” ''For Free,” featuring top artists like Rihanna, French Montana, and Dj Khaled. The ''One Dance'' rapper hasn't wasted any time reaching the top of the mainstream music world. He just released his new singles “Sneakin,” “Wanna know,” and “Two Birds, One Stone” last week, which are already booming.
Future
Future is a constant work in progress. After delivering several hits in 2015, which includes ''Low Life'', ''Where ya at'', ''F**k up some commas'', ''Jumpman'' he decided to collaborate with the highest selling artist Drake in his album Views and mix-tape “What a time to be alive” after dropping his own album Purple Reign in 2016. He accompanied Drake throughout his summer 16 tour because obviously the people wanted to see the artist who featured half of the songs in the album. The Atlanta rapper got nominated for 10 awards in 2016 with a net worth of $8 million in the last ten months.
Travis Scott
2016 has been a huge year for Travis Scott, who released his stellar debut album Rodeo in 2015, mercilessly teased a mystery project with Kanye, and finished the year as an opener on The Weeknd’s 'The Madness tour.' Sure, there were some stumbles along the way — like his recent guilty plea of reckless conduct for making a single against the president elect, Donald Trump — but there was still a lot to celebrate. The “Antidote” singer teamed up with The Weeknd for “Wonderful,” a jubilant toast to the good life. Then comes, “A-Team” (no, it’s not an Ed Sheeran cover — I know you’re surprised), finds Travis flying solo for a trumpet-sampling celebration of first-string life, during which he advises, “please don’t try to play us.” 2016 has already shaped up to be another banner year for Travis, who’s released the hottest singles ''Uber Everywhere,” “Whole Lotta Lovin,” ''Pick up the phone,” ''3500,'' and many more featuring top artists.
G-Eazy
When talking about other rappers, the “Me myself and I'' rapper isn't any less. Probably the first white rapper in our generation to have made a place amongst all the rap and hip-hop. Dressed up as Joker from The Dark Knight for all his performances during the Halloween week, we can already tell how dedicated the rapper really is. Of course he had his struggles starting from 2008, but in recent years, his hard work finally paid off. Aside from his hits ''Me Myself and I,” ''I Mean It,” ''Drifting,” he performed with Britney Spears throughout 2016 with their new single “Make Me,” and now he stands with a net worth of almost $4 million.
Post Malone
A freshman rapper Post Malone, takes the world with his singles “White Iverson,” “Go Flex,” “Too Young.” His musical career started in 2014, and his first song was released in the beginning of 2015. This means that the rapper didn’t have enough time to earn a fortune, but he’s already got an amazing increase of his wealth. In 2016, his net worth is around $5 million. The Iverson singer is all set to drop his album Stoney very soon, and the hype is all over already!
The Weeknd
It is of no surprise that the Canadian Rapper has broke into the music scene with the 2011 mixtape, House of Balloons. He went on to work with Drake, Wiz Khalifa, and others, while building his own career as an artist. In 2015, The Weeknd enjoyed huge success with the album - Beauty Behind the Madness. Despite his growing popularity, he managed to hide himself from the public at large. The Weeknd refused interviews for a long time, and chose to use images of women for his 2013 album, Kiss Land, rather than pictures of himself. Some of the mystique he built around himself was intentional, but it also reflected the shyness and insecurities that troubled him early in his career. But he's all over the scene with his new hit single “Starboy,” “False Alarm,” and the new video which just got released yesterday called “M A N I A,” which comprises a sneak peak of all the songs he is soon going to release, and that overall, sure did come late but pretty much summed up 2016 for him.
Partynextdoor
Brathwaite, better known for his stage name “Partynextdoor” is also a Toronto-based artist experimenting with a fractured blend of minimal hip-hop and R&B, that has drawn natural comparisons to fellow Canadians, Drake and The Weeknd. The first artist signed to Drake's Warner Bros, supported OVO Sound label, Brathwaite made his self-titled debut on the label, in July 2013. A low-key release with Drake featured on one cut, reached number 34 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 2016, he dropped his own album P3 which featured the biggest hits of the year, “Not Nice,” “Only U,” and “Come and See me,” which also featured reality star Kylie Jenner in the music video. It's now safe to say that the party is really going on with Brathwaite!
Young Thug
Young Thug is an Atlanta-native rapper, who quickly rose to fame in 2011, after the release of his mixtape I Came From Nothing. Since breaking out onto the music scene, Young Thug collaborated with and received the support of many celebrity rappers, including Kanye West, Drake, Birdman, Usher, T.I, and Gucci Mane. The rapper took 2016 with many hits featuring top artists, apart from his exceptional singles like “Pick Up the Phone,” “Digits,” and many more!
Bruno Mars
This guy here barely needs an intro. It might seem that Mars appeared out of nowhere, co-writing, producing, and performing on BoB's number 1 - "Nothin' On You," followed by Travie McCoy's chart-climbing "Billionaire,” but he makes one thing clear: "It's not an overnight success.” Mars is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, producer, and musician, who feels most at home when he's performing. Throughout the years, he has been giving us a lot of hits even it's one or two per year. He took the internet by storm with his new single “24K” in 2016, and people all over the world are definitely grooving to it!
