When Spotify released its Year in Music top lists on December 1, Adele and Taylor Swift were notably absent. That's not because the two female artists aren't wildly popular. Rather, Swift pulled her music from the service in 2014, and Adele decided not to make her new album available there.
But when Apple announced Wednesday the top iTunes albums and songs of 2015, Adele's 25 presided as the best-selling album of the year, while Swift's 1989 came in strong at No. 3. Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late ranked second among albums, while the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack, Justin Bieber's Purpose and Drake again (with his collaboration with rapper Future, What a Time to Be Alive) followed Swift.
Adele's "Hello"—25's first single and video, released roughly a month before the album dropped, shattering the record for most digital sales in a week—came in at No. 6 among the year's top singles on iTunes. The category was topped by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's "Uptown Funk," followed by Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud," Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again," Maroon 5's "Sugar" and Walk the Moon's "Shut Up and Dance."
Swift's "Blank Space" and "Style" made it to Nos. 18 and 20. The Weeknd, whose album Beauty Behind the Madness topped the global Spotify list, saw his songs "Earned It," "Can't Feel My Face" and "The Hills" come in at Nos. 9, 11 and 15, respectively, on iTunes.
The iTunes list appeared just two days after the 2016 Grammy nominations were announced. Swift and the Weeknd are each up for seven awards, Drake for five and Sheeran for four. "Uptown Funk" has been nominated for record of the year and best pop-duo/group performance and the Dave Audé remix of the song is up for best remixed recording, nonclassical.
Since the 2016 Grammy Awards only select from music that came out between October 1, 2014, and September 30, 2015, Bieber's Purpose and Adele's 25—released on November 13 and 20, respectively—were not eligible for nominations this time around.
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