• Music Times 25 Best Songs of 2014: Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Hozier, St. Vincent & More

    2014 was the year of a thousand controversies: Taylor Swift pulled all of her music from Spotify, Sun Kil Moon started a feud with The War On Drugs, Jack White accused The Black Keys of ripping him off (again), and almost nobody went platinum. When you put all of that aside, however, what you're left with is a bunch of incredible songs, which is really what it's all about. Here are the 25 best songs from 2014, as determined by Music Times writers Ryan Book, Caitlin Carter, Joey DeGroot, Kyle Dowling, and Carolyn Menyes.

  • Listen to the Taylor Swift 'Blank Space'/'Style' Mashup She Is Raving About [LISTEN]

    Making it in today's music business can be hard. Trying to get heard through all the millions of other YouTube cover artists, mixtape rappers and SoundCloud producers can be nearly impossible without a well-oiled machine backing you with connections and financial support. For those who do get lucky, though, it is generally a mixture of luck and hard work that gives them their break. Two country/folk artists — Louisa Wendorff and Devin Dawson — may have just gotten that break after Taylor Swift tweeted out a mashup cover of her songs "Blank Space" and "Style" from her hit album "1989."OBSESSED. @louisawendorff http://t.co/gXrXYEZx1B — Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) December 27, 2014The pair put an acoustic spin on the tracks and expertly mesh the vocals together for a mashup that does not sound forced at all. The pair have noticed the love Swift has given them and reacted in kind on social media.YOU GUYS!!!! I'm so overwhelmed by what's happening!!!! Thank you all so much for all your encouragement and support and @taylorswift13! — louisa wendorff (@louisawendorff) December 27, 2014WHAT IS LIFE?!?! pic.twitter.com/ddQ3KiIoer — louisa wendorff (@louisawendorff) December 27, 2014

  • Nicki Minaj's 'The Pinkprint' Tops 'Billboard's' R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart: Third Record in a Row for 'Anaconda' Rapper

    Although Nicki Minaj's "The Pinkprint" is stuck behind Taylor Swift's 1989 on the "Billboard" 200, it recently hit No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It is the "Anaconda" rapper's third effort to take the top spot on the chart, following 2012's "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" and 2010's "Pink Friday." It is also her third album with "pink" in the title."Anaconda" and "Only" hit No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list — "Anaconda" spent six weeks on top. "Bed of Lies" featuring Skylar Grey and "Feeling Myself" featuring Beyoncé are just now starting to make some moves on the charts.Minaj has been all over the headlines recently for differing reasons. She killed it on "Saturday Night Live" earlier in the month. The rapper has also been involved in a public back-and-forth with ex-boyfriend Safaree Samuels.

  • Taylor Swift First Artist to be Number One on Billboard's Artist 100 List for 10 Consecutive Weeks

    Taylor Swift is the first artist to be on top of the Billboard Artist 100 list for 10 weeks straight. The chart, which was introduced in July, tracks data from other Billboard lists like the Hot 100, Top Albums Sales and Social 50, all of which Swift has dominated with her new release, '1989.' Her record will be a tough one to break considering Sam Smith only topped it for three weeks straight and Ariana Grande only clocked in two.

  • Taylor Swift Continues Reign on 'Billboard' 200 with '1989'; Nicki Minaj's 'The Pinkprint' Hits Number Two

    Taylor Swift's "1989" moved back into the No. 1 spot on the "Billboard" 200, bringing its total, nonconsecutive weeks at the top to six. It sold 375,000 copies last week, bringing the total for the year to 3.34 million. The record is on pace to overtake the "Frozen" soundtrack, which sold 3.46 million so far. Nicki Minaj's "The Pinkprint" sits comfortably at the No. 2 spot, "Billboard" notes.Swift is tied with Mariah Carey for total weeks at No. 1 with 30. Only one other woman has them beat with 46: Whitney Houston. The Beatles are still in first for all artists with 132 weeks at No. 1.Pentatonix has the No. 3 spot with "That's Christmas to Me." Minaj was able to crack the top 10 recently, and D'Angelo's new "Black Messiah" hit No. 5. "The Pinkprint" did not perform as well as the artist's previous effort "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded." The former sold 244,000 in its first week while the latter hit 253,000 — it also debuted at No. 1.

  • Taylor Swift Sends Christmas Presents to Fans: 'Shake It Off' Singer Spreads Cheer for 'Swiftmas'

    Taylor Swift loves her fans. And to prove it this holiday season, the "Shake It Off" singer sent gifts to a lucky group of Tumblr followers, "Billboard" notes. This resulted in the social media phenomenon "Swiftmas." The presents were not too shabby, either. One fan received a camera, beauty products from Australia and $200 worth of gift cards.Rebecca Cox and Victor Vinson were two of the lucky fans. Swift even sent them handwritten notes about the gifts. Cox and Vinson have a Tumblr dedicated to Swift, which is how this whole thing came about, apparently. The singer followed them before her management team reached out."At 2 p.m. Rebecca messaged me screaming that Taylor Nation contacted us on Twitter, and they were basically asking for our addresses and our birth dates," Vinson said. "We figured either she's sending us packages, or they just want our information on file."The presents arrived a few days later, much to the delight of the fans — see below.

  • Nicki Minaj, Sylvan Esso, Drake All Included on Noisey's Top 25 Songs of 2014 List: Who Got Number One?

    "Noisey" released its end of the year collection of the top 25 songs from 2014 recently, and there is a great mix of hip-hop, punk and indie rock tracks. Big names like Nicki Minaj, St. Vincent and Taylor Swift were included alongside Sylvan Esso, Beach Slang and Body Count. Atlanta's own iLoveMakonnen topped the list with his tune "Club Goin' Up (on a Tuesday)" featuring Drake."The success of 'Tuesday,' which went from just-slightly-more-than-homemade weirdo artifact to Drake-featuring radio smash to Grammy-nominated late night show performance material, was as improbable as having a wild party on the slowest night of the week right under the nose of your parole officer. But it wasn't unwarranted," "Noisey" wrote about the top song.Check out the full list below."Club" hit No. 2 on "Pitchfork's" list of the 100 best tracks of 2014 behind Future Islands.

  • Taylor Swift Tweets Out Favorite Cover Version of 'Shake It Off' by Jesse Will: It's a Slow Burner [LISTEN]

    Cover songs are tricky animals. Some are done better than the original; others are the same. The best are complete reinventions. Jesse Will pulled off a superb cover of Taylor Swift's pop smash "Shake It Off," turning the upbeat number into a slow-burning epic complete with violin. Even T. Swift loved it."My favorite covers are the ones where the artist has made it their own, changing the way the song makes you feel," she tweeted to her nearly 50 million followers along with a video of the performance.
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