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Hello. It’s the best of 2015 on Google Play.
December 7, 2015
Movie fans went to space in search of a new home in
Interstellar
. The citizens of Westeros battled not only white walkers, but also the zombies of
The Walking Dead
and the landed gentry of
Downton Abbey
to claim the Iron Throne of the TV kingdom. Adele no longer had to worry if “after all these years you'd like to meet” up with her music again, as
25
became the best-selling album of the year in just one week. And readers fell in love with Christian Grey… again!
As 2015 comes to a close, we crunched the numbers to find the most popular entertainment this year on Google Play. For complete lists, visit
Google Play
.
Movies of the Year
1.
Interstellar
2.
Lucy
3.
American Sniper
4.
The Interview
5.
Kingsman: The Secret Service
TV Shows of the Year
1.
Game of Thrones
2.
The Walking Dead
3.
Downton Abbey
4.
Fear the Walking Dead
5.
Vikings
Albums of the Year
1.
25
from Adele
2.
If You're Reading This It's Too Late
from Drake
3.
To Pimp A Butterfly
from Kendrick Lamar
4.
Fifty Shades Of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
from Various Artists
5.
Beauty Behind The Madness
from The Weeknd
Books of the Year
1.
Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy
by E L James
2.
Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian
by E L James
3.
Fifty Shades Darker: Book Two of the Fifty Shades Trilogy
by E L James
4.
Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy
by E L James
5.
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History
by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice
Posted by Kara Bailey, Director of Merchandising, Google Play
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gQVk5bSzX_Q/VmXriULHLGI/AAAAAAAARiw/uhmd_VntXFU/s1600/Game_of_Thrones_highlight-tv-us-20150831-3194x1797-080703%2B%25281%2529.jpg
Kara Bailey
Director of Merchandising
Google Play
Music for everything you do
June 23, 2015
Need some music right now to make whatever you’re doing better? Even if you’re not already a
Google Play Music
subscriber, we’ve got you covered. Google Play Music now has a free, ad-supported version in the U.S., giving you a new way to find just the right music—and giving artists another way to earn revenue. In less time than it takes you to read this sentence, you could be exercising with
Drop-a-Beat Workout
, cooling off with
Poolside Chic
, or spending quality time with
Songs To Raise Your Kids To
.
At any moment in your day, Google Play Music has whatever you need music for—from working, to working out, to working it on the dance floor—and gives you curated radio stations to make whatever you’re doing better. Our team of music experts, including the
folks who created Songza
, crafts each station song by song so you don’t have to. If you’re looking for something specific, you can browse our curated stations by genre, mood, decade or activity, or you can search for your favorite artist, album or song to instantly create a station of similar music.
We hope you’ll enjoy it so much that you’ll consider
subscribing to Google Play Music
to play without ads, take your music offline, create your own playlists, and listen to any of the 30 million songs in our library on any device and as much as you’d like. You’ll also get ad-free, offline and background features for music videos on YouTube. And with or without a subscription, you can store and play up to 50,000 songs from your own collection for free.
To help you get started, check out the top 10 most popular activities on Google Play Music, each of which offers several radio stations to choose from based on what you like:
Brand New Music
Driving
Working Out
Boosting Your Energy
Having Friends Over
Having Fun at Work
Entering Beast Mode
Waking Up Happy
Unwinding
Bedtime
The new free, ad-supported version of Google Play Music is launching first in the U.S. It’s available on the
web
today, and is rolling out this week to
Android
and
iOS
. And while you’re checking it all out, we’ll be catching up on our
Blogged 50
.
Posted by Elias Roman, Product Manager
“The Interview” now available on Google Play and YouTube Movies
December 24, 2014
Last Wednesday Sony began contacting a number of companies, including Google, to ask if we’d be able to make their movie, "The Interview," available online. We'd had a similar thought and were eager to help—though given everything that’s happened, the security implications were very much at the front of our minds.
Of course it was tempting to hope that something else would happen to ensure this movie saw the light of day. But after discussing all the issues, Sony and Google agreed that we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in another country (however silly the content might be).
So starting at 10 a.m. PST in the U.S., you can rent or buy "The Interview" on
Google Play
and
YouTube Movies
. It will also be available to
Xbox Video customers
and via www.seetheinterview.com.
Update
3:44p.m. PST
: "The Interview" is now also available in Canada.
Posted by David Drummond, SVP Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer
Conquer the Lonely Mountain in Chrome
December 12, 2013
In “The Hobbit,” a company of Dwarves tries to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor from Smaug the Terrible, a fire-breathing Dragon. While the Dwarves’ quest is fraught with danger, your journey to Erebor is just a click away in “
A Journey Through Middle-earth
,” the Chrome Experiment
released a few weeks ago
from Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM).
You can now follow the Dwarves’ journey to
Erebor
and try to
outsmart Smaug
on your desktop, mobile phone or tablet. But it might be wise to first pay a little visit to the folks who live in nearby
Thranduil’s Hall
and
Lake-town
—locations that recently became accessible in this Chrome Experiment—just in case you need their help against the mighty Dragon.
To best equip you on your journey, you may want to
stop by Google Play
. There you'll find all sorts of Hobbit-related apps, games, books, music and films*. Together with the recent recording of a
Google+ Hangout
with director Peter Jackson and actors Evangeline Lilly and Richard Armitage, these can also help you get up to speed for the upcoming release in theaters of “
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
.”
And for those of you more interested in web development than Dragon-slaying, check out the
second technical case study
on “A Journey Through Middle-earth” (the first one is
already available on HTML5 Rocks
). You can also watch a Hangout with
North Kingdom
, the team of designers and hackers who built it, on December 18. We'll be posting more updates for the developer community on
+Google Chrome Developers
.
Posted by Adrian Soghoian, Product Marketing Manager & a Fool of a Took
*Available content and promotions vary by country.
Get that world to listen: Celebrating the Clash, an iconic band
September 9, 2013
It was clear from the first chords of their 1977 debut album that
the Clash
were more than just a punk band. Their politically charged lyrics combined with their hunger for new rhythms gave them an unparalleled ability to create music that made you think as well as dance. They embraced all genres while still sounding like themselves and redefined what a rock group could accomplish musically, politically and culturally.
From the reggae-inspired social commentary of tracks like “White Man in Hammersmith Palais,” to hip-hop infused cuts like “Magnificent Seven” and even Top 40 hits such as “Rock the Casbah,” their
songs
gave a generation a lifelong connection not just to the Clash, but to music in general.
From time to time, Google Play
teams up with iconic rockers
to help tell their stories. When we heard that the Clash were planning to re-release some of their greatest music, we wanted to celebrate their legacy and create something cool for their fans around the world. They handed over hours of unseen footage of the late Joe Strummer discussing the arc of the band’s career. And the Google Play team interviewed the rest of the members to get their perspective on what they accomplished and how they did it. The result is “Audio Ammunition,” a free, five-part documentary about the Clash that walks through the writing, recording and reception of each of their classic studio albums.
Watch part one of the documentary on
Google Play
, and you can check out the other four parts on our YouTube channel at
youtube.com/googleplay
. You can also buy all five of their newly released, digitally remastered albums on Google Play. And because the Clash’s legacy continues to inspire musicians today, we’ve produced some exclusive cover versions by contemporary artists we admire. These four tracks are available as free downloads for a limited time on Google Play.
The Clash explored a world of ever-expanding rhythms and possibilities and the urgency and power of their music still resonates today. As bassist Paul Simonon says. “We weren’t concerned with playing just on our doorstep. It was to play on any doorstep, throughout the world.”
Posted by Tim Quirk, head of content programming for Google Play
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