2024 has been a major year in the music industry. Numerous albums have been released, instantly hitting the top two music charts at their debuts. With the Grammys coming up in a few months, one main question has surfaced: What album will be voted Album of the Year?
On the large social media platform, TikTok, there’s been constant arguments from each fan base defending their favorite artists. The top contenders in fans’ eyes have been Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poet’s Department, Billie Eilishs HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us, and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘N Sweet.
Ariana Grande announced her new album, Eternal Sunshine, on January 17, 2024, after not releasing since Positions, her 2019 album. Eternal Sunshine was released on March 8, 2024, containing 13 songs. Following the release, many of her songs became popular on TikTok – including “intro (end of the world)”, “bye”, “we can’t be friends”, and “yes, and?” According to Spotify, her most streamed song from this album was, “we can’t be friends” with around 850 million streams.
On April 19th, 2024, Taylor Swift released her 11th album, The Tortured Poet’s Department, debuting at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. That same night at 2 a.m., two hours after its initial release, she released a second installment of the album with 15 more songs titled TTPD: The Anthology. This surprise second portion generated even more hype for the long-awaited album. The most streamed song on the album is track one, “Fortnight (ft. Post Malone)” with over 620 million streams on Spotify. The two albums feature 31 songs, with an overall listening time of two hours and two minutes. A few weeks after its debut, Swift added a section on her setlist for the album on her ongoing tour, The Eras Tour, which has been going on since March 2023 and ends in December of this year.
Billie Eilish’s album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, was released on May 17, 2024, and was an immediate hit. This album features 10 songs with the whole album being around 43 minutes long. Track one on the album is “SKINNY” which is focused on body image, while the last track, “Blue”, is a rework of her leaked, unreleased song “True Blue.” Every song has many references or similar beats to other songs within the same album. With that, there’s been lots of hype surrounding the song “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” on TikTok, as well as that being the most streamed song on the album with over 930 million streams on Spotify. Eilish’s album had instant publicity, especially due to her announcement on April 29 about her tour around the world, beginning on September 29, 2024, in Quebéc, Canada.
Gracie Abrams released her album, The Secret of Us, on June 21, 2024. Before its release, she debuted two singles from the album, “Risk” and “Close To You” which were both immediate hits. “Close To You” is the top-streamed song on the album with over 123 million streams on Spotify. Another song that has gained a lot of popularity is “I Love You, I’m Sorry” which is a continuation of her song “I miss you, I’m sorry” which she released in 2020.
The last album that has been competing all over social media is Short ‘N Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter, which was released on August 23, 2024. It immediately debuted as number one on the charts and was extremely successful. Months before the album was released, she debuted two singles, “Espresso” which is the number 1 streamed song from the album with over 1.2 billion streams, and “Please Please Please”. One of the more popular songs from the album is called “Taste” – the music video of the song made it more popular because it featured Jenna Ortega, a popular actress.
Every one of these albums has gained growing popularity all over social media and has shaped the music industry this year. Now it’s time to see which one is viewed as the best in the eyes of the people!
