“Starboy” is The Weeknd’s realization of his mega-stardom. Transforming from mysterious Canadian act to Billboard mainstay, The Weeknd has come a long way, but with negative consequences in his journey to the top, The Weeknd has developed mixed feelings towards fame. “Starboy” potentially marks a new era for The Weeknd. On the release date of the song, Abel posted an Instagram picture with the caption “r.i.p ‘@abelxo,’” marking the turn of his character and sound. The song features production from French electronic duo Daft Punk, marking the first collaboration between The Weeknd and Daft Punk. It’s the latter’s first single since “Give Life Back To Music” was released in early 2014. “Starboy” is the title track and lead single from The Weeknd’s third studio album, expected to release November 25th, 2016. He unveiled the album cover on Twitter the day before the song was

“Don’t Wanna Know” is a song about past lovers. Adam focuses on not wanting to know what his ex-lover has been up to or who she’s been with since they broke up, while Kendrick shows his ex what she’s been missing. This is the Maroon 5’s first new music since their 2014 album V. Kendrick is no stranger to the occasional pop feature—he appeared on Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood Remix,” Beyoncè’s “Freedom” and Sia’s “The Greatest.”

“Closer” is a millennial romance anthem that celebrates youth and heartbreak. It features vocals from singer-songwriter Halsey and Chainsmokers member Andrew Taggart, marking the first time the Chainsmokers feature their vocals on a track—Taggart previously performed backing vocals for the chorus of “Roses”. It is also their first collaboration with Halsey. At the 2016 MTV VMAs, both the duo and Halsey performed “Closer”. The duo teased the performance as “new level” on Twitter. This was the second time that “Closer” was performed at Madison Square Garden — the first being at Halsey’s sold-out Badlands Tour show on August 13th, 2016 where The Chainsmokers performed as guests. In September 2016, after “Closer” had already reached the summit of the Billboard Hot 100, Isaac Slade and Joe King, respectively the lead singer and guitarist of The Fray, were given additional songwriting credits on the song due to the similarity of its chorus to the verses of their 2005 breakout hit, “Over My Head (Cable Car).” How Blink 182’s “I Miss You” Inspired The Chainsmokers And Halsey’s “Closer”

Released through SoundCloud on October 13th, 2016, Let Me Explain marks Bryson’s first true solo effort since he released his debut album T R A P S O U L. Over somber production from Phonix Beats, Let Me Explain finds Pen Griffey lamenting the actions that have driven his girl to the brink of leaving him and stumbling to find the words that might get her to stay.

Rich Chigga, a stage name for viral Vine star, Brian Imanuel, released “Dat $tick” in early 2016. In the months following its release, the 16-year-old rapper from Jakarta, Indonesia and his music video went viral. “Dat $tick” also received additional recognition when a reaction video of popular rappers responding to the song was released. The video features artists such as Ghostface Killah, Desiigner, and Tory Lanez.

Pusha T’s “H.G.T.V.” comes several months after Pusha dropped the first single off his forthcoming album the Jay Z collaboration “Drug Dealers Anonymous.” In typical King Push fashion, he unleashes a flurry of witty bars, this time over a war-ready Mike WiLL Made-It beat with sparse drums. “H.G.T.V.”is a preview into Pusha T’s forthcoming album King Push, the follow-up to last year’s Darkest Before The Prelude.

“All We Know” is a relaxed song about a struggling relationship. The relationship in question is on the brink of falling apart, but a connection still exists through some sort of love and/or weed, and the lovers don’t know whether to keep the relationship going or not. The song features vocals from LA-based singer-songwriter Phoebe Ryan, and is the fourth original song released in 2016 by The Chainsmokers, following the success of their #1 hit, “Closer.” After previewing the song at various live appearances in late August, The Chainsmokers confirmed the song would be their next single in early September 2016. Phoebe Ryan teased it on her Twitter four days before and the YouTube audio was released one day before the song’s official release on September 30th.

“Let Me Love You” is Biebs' ode to a girl who seems ready to put an end to their relationship. Over smooth tropical production from DJ Snake, Bieber pleads with his lover to stick around and receive his love. This subject matter has become a popular topic in Justin’s music as seen on 2015’s Purpose and his feature on Major Lazer’s 2016 hit “Cold Water.”

“Panda” is inspired by the white BMW X6—Desiigner notes the luxury car’s resemblance to the previously endangered animal. The Brooklyn-based rapper had the vision for this breakout track while playing the video game Grand Theft Auto V. Desiigner uploaded the song to Soundcloud during December 2015—it quickly amassed more than a million plays. In February 2016, Kanye West incorporated two verses of this track into “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2,” for his album The Life of Pablo. He’d announce Desiigner’s signing to G.O.O.D. Music at the February 11th TLOP listening session at Madison Square Garden. On April 25th, 2016, Billboard released their Hot 100 chart information regarding the week of May 7th’s top 10, with Panda becoming No. 1. By doing so, Desiigner broke the 41 week streak of non-Americans holding the No. 1 spot in the Hot 100. Manchester producer Menace says he sold the “Panda” beat to Desiigner for $200. He was inspired by DC Comics character the Joker when creating this “He’s dark and gritty and my production is dark, gritty, taking-over-the-world type of production.” A music video directed by Paul Geusebroek was released on May 10th 2016. In the video, Desiigner gets involved in a high speed car chase and a street fight. It features a cameo from Kanye amidst heavy uses of bodycam shots. Vogue magazine also came out with their own version of the “Panda” video featuring model Andreea Diaconu romping around in a swimsuit in New York City. After the tracks release many people started comparing Desiigner’s flow and sound to the one of Future. When Future was asked about the up and coming Brooklyn rapper he responded with, “I never worried about anyone else.“

“The Greatest” is an uplifting song of support for the LGBT community in the wake of the 2016 Pulse nightclub mass shooting. The music video features 49 dancers (one for each victim of the shooting), with one of the dancers confirming this was intended to be a show of

Martin Garrix teams up with singer Bebe Rexha for this 2016 single. The song was premiered an the Ultra Music Festival and released officially on Friday, July 29. Garrix hinted about the new song on the Dutch television programme RTL Late Night.

Portland-born rapper Aminé has been simmering with underground releases, but he appears ready to break into the mainstream with his viral hit ”Caroline.” He’s already picking up famous fans; Miguel Snapchatted himself singing the song. Aminé made the beat along with another Portland producer, Pasqué. Aminé also directed the video, which includes clever visual references to the filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who’s namechecked in the lyrics. In an interview with Genius, Aminé explained the The first time I heard the name “Caroline” was in OutKast’s “Roses,” so that was definitely an influence on me in general. But I wrote this song with the intentions of hopefully making a modern day “Billie Jean.” Caroline represents the handful of women I’ve met in my life that I would put genuine effort in.

“Ultimate” is the breakout hit by Florida rapper Denzel Curry. It became popular in 2016 thanks to a video meme that uses the song’s high-intensity hook to punctuate any unexpectedly “savage” The song marks the climax of aggression on Denzel Curry’s double EP 32 Zel/Planet Shrooms. Ronny J’s chaotic production paired with Curry’s unique brand of wordplay come together for a banger that only gets more relentless as Curry’s vocals intensify in the second verse. When asked about the song’s adoption by viral memes, Denzel I made this a year ago. And to see what it did now is funny as hell, cause its like, damn, this been out, but people just now catching on to it. People feel like they’re ultimate. I feel like its a blessing that all this is happening because its bringing more attention to myself and my music. The use term of “ULT/Ultimate” by Denzel Curry and his C9 crew seems to have originated from this song.

“OOOUUU” is a cloudy club banger from buzzing Brooklyn rapper Young M.A. The spacey production from U-Dubb allows M.A to showcase her skills—dropping witty punchlines as she flows smoothly from line to line.