Music

Music videos from Cyndi Lauper, Harry Styles, Justin Timberlake and more joined YouTube’s exclusive Billion Views Club in 2022.

Cyndi enjoyed her first-ever Billions Club video after her 1983 hit “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” which was first uploaded to YouTube in October 2009, was watched over 1.13 billion times this year. 

Cyndi wasn’t the only throwback to amass 1 million views: The Police‘s “Every Breath You Take” and Europe‘s “The Final Countdown” — respectively released in 1983 and 1986 — are also new members of the club. Aqua‘s 1997 song “Barbie Girl” also earned its membership this year.

For Harry, his 2017 debut single, “Sign of the Times,” surpassed the milestone, while “Drag Me Down,” his 2015 hit with One Direction, completed its seven-year journey to join the club.

Two Justins added new members to the club: Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors,” which was uploaded in March 2013, and Justin Bieber‘s 2012 “Beauty and a Beat” collab with Nicki Minaj.

The Weeknd now has five songs in YouTube’s Billion Views Club after two videos — “Save Your Tears” and his Daft Punk collab “I Feel It Coming” — crossed the milestone.

Lady Gaga scored her third entry in the club after her 2008 hit “Poker Face” was viewed 1 billion times this year.

Rihanna‘s “Stay,” her 2013 collab with Mikky Ekko, became her second club entry after amassing more than 1 billion views this year.

Other songs to join the club were Maroon 5‘s “One More Night, fun. and Janelle Monáe‘s “We Are Young,” Pharrell Williams‘ “Happy” and Imagine Dragons‘ “Demons.”

In all, more than 50 music videos earned over 1 billion views this year. YouTube’s Billion Views Club has been going strong since 2012, when Psy‘s “Gangnam Style” became the first song to amass 1 billion views on the platform.

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While the Alternative Nation had Lollapalooza, the Emo Nation has When We Were Young.

Over the last couple years, the emo and pop-punk sounds of the 2000s seemed to be coming back in vogue thanks to artists including Machine Gun Kelly, WILLOW and the many, many projects of Travis Barker. That comeback was cemented in 2022 with the announcement of the When We Were Young lineup.

The Las Vegas festival, originally announced as a one-day event, was set to be headlined by My Chemical Romance and Paramore, while the rest of the bill featured Bring Me the Horizon, A Day to Remember, Avril Lavigne, Dashboard Confessional, The Used, Jimmy Eat World, AFI and Taking Back Sunday, along with pretty much every other band you might’ve heard in a Hot Topic during the George W. Bush administration.

Upon its announcement, the When We Were Young lineup immediately went viral, with reactions ranging from excited to nervous. Even putting aside that the festival seemed like the fever dream of a mid-aughts scene kid, the sheer number of bands on the bill seemed like a logistical nightmare, leading the most skeptical observers to invoke the memory of the infamous Fyre Festival.

After selling out almost immediately, organizers announced two additional When We Were Young days with the same lineup. Those sold out, as well.

After months of hype, When We Were Young was finally set begin in October — and its first day was canceled due to dangerously high winds. While the doubters were briefly proven right, the festival successfully went on as scheduled for its second and third days.

Not only did When We Were Young prove the longevity of the emo and pop-punk scene, it also set the stage for future nostalgia-themed festivals. When We Were Young 2023 will feature Green Day, the reunited Blink-182, Yellowcard, Thirty Seconds to Mars, The Offspring and Good Charlotte, while nu metal fans can look forward to the inaugural Sick New World festival, featuring Deftones, System of a Down, Korn, Incubus, Evanescence and Papa Roach.

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Music videos by Lady Gaga, The Weeknd and more joined YouTube’s Billion Views Club this year. 

The Weeknd now has five videos with over 1 billion views after “Save Your Tears” and his Daft Punk collab “I Feel It Coming” crossed the milestone this year.

He isn’t the only artist with multiple entries in Youtube’s exclusive club. Lady Gaga scored her third entry with her 2008 hit “Poker Face” while Rihanna‘s scored her second entry with “Stay,” her 2013 collab with Mikky Ekko.

Marshmello upped his entries to 3 after his 2018 collabs — Anne-Marie “FRIENDS” and Bastille‘s “Happier” — both earned 1 billion views.

Pharrell Williams submitted two entries to the club this year: His 2014 song “Happy” from Despicable Me and “Safari,” his 2016 collab with J Balvin, BIA and Sky.

Post Malone also scored two with 2015’s “White Iverson” and “rockstar,” his 21 Savage collab. 

Harry Styles did the same with his 2017 debut single, “Sign of the Times,” and “Drag Me Down,” his 2015 One Direction hit.

Two throwbacks also joined the club: Evanescence‘s 2003 hit “Bring Me to Life” and Aqua‘s 1997 song “Barbie Girl.”

We also had two Justins adding new club members: Justin Timberlake‘s “Mirrors” and Justin Bieber‘s “Beauty and a Beat,” his 2012 collab with Nicki Minaj.

Other songs joining the club were Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus‘ “Old Town Road,” Maroon 5‘s “One More Night, fun. and Janelle Monáe‘s “We Are Young,” Coldplay‘s “The Scientist,” BLACKPINK‘s “How You Like That,” Sean Kingston‘s “Beautiful Girls, Imagine Dragons‘ “Demons” and Macklemore‘s “Can’t Hold Us” with Ryan Lewis and Ray Dalton.

More than 50 music videos joined the club this year, which started when Psy‘s “Gangnam Style” became the first song to amass that many views on the platform in 2012.

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From cheating scandals to health struggles to K-pop stars going solo, here’s a roundup of some headline-making happenings in the world of pop this year:

— Adam Levine, who’s married to Behati Prinsloo and expecting his third child with her, found himself in hot water in September when Instagram model Summer Stroh claimed the two had an affair. Adam denied the affair, but admitted to acting inappropriately by sending flirty messages online. Meanwhile, Maroon 5 announced a Las Vegas residency kicking off in 2023.

— Justin Bieber canceled the rest of his Justice world tour after being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome in June, which paralyzed the right side of his face. His wife, Hailey Bieber, dealt with health issues of her own, suffering a ministroke in March.

— Bieber’s fellow Canadian pal Shawn Mendes also canceled his world tour this year to focus on his mental health. He came back into the spotlight to promote the film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, in which he voiced the title character.

— Selena Gomez released the AppleTV+ documentary My Mind & Me, detailing her own mental health struggles. The second season of her Hulu show Only Murders in the Building also debuted this year. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role as Mabel in the series.

— In June, BTS announced they were going on hiatus to focus on their solo careers. J-Hope was the first member to release a solo album, Jack in the Box, which came out in July. He’ll be performing on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023. Jin released a song with Coldplay called “The Astronaut” and became the first BTS member to enlist in his mandatory South Korean military service in December. RM released his solo album, Indigo, in December, and V released a Christmas song that same month.

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Getting 1 billion views on YouTube is quite a feat, but plenty of artists reached that milestone in 2022 — including classic tunes from Cyndi Lauper, The Police, R.E.M. and Europe.

Cyndi’s 1983 hit “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” received 1.13 billion views this year, 13 years after it was first uploaded to the streaming channel. 

Also joining the Billion Views Club this year was The Police’s 1983 hit “Every Breath You Take,” which hit YouTube in 2010, and Europe’s 1986 track “The Final Countdown,” which was added to YouTube in 2009. R.E.M.’s 1991 hit “Losing My Religion” also made it to 1 billion this year, 11 years after it was added to YouTube.

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Not everything that happened in the music world in 2022 was earth-shattering, but there were plenty of notable news events that made headlines. Here are just a few of them:

— Maroon 5‘s Adam Levine, who’s married to Behati Prinsloo and expecting his third child with her, found himself in hot water in September when Instagram model Summer Stroh claimed the two had an affair. Adam denied the affair, but admitted to acting inappropriately by sending flirty messages online. Meanwhile, Maroon 5 announced a Las Vegas residency, which will kick off in 2023.

— Justin Bieber canceled the rest of his Justice world tour in June after being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which paralyzed the right side of his face. His wife, Hailey Bieber, dealt with health issues of her own, suffering a ministroke in March.

— Fellow Canadian star Shawn Mendes also canceled his world tour this year to focus on his mental health, telling fans, “I was not ready for how difficult touring would be after this time away.” He came back into the spotlight to promote the film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, for which he voiced the title character.

— The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame went totally ’80s, inducting Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, Duran Duran and Eurythmics, as well as Carly Simon, Eminem, Judas Priest and Dolly Parton.

— We said goodbye to Meat Loaf and Ronnie Spector in January, Olivia Newton-John in August, and Irene Cara and Fleetwood Mac‘s Christine McVie in November.

— Beyoncé returned with a new album, Renaissance, and is currently the leading Grammy nominee, with nine nods. Adele has seven, and Harry Styles has six. Also scoring Grammy nominations: ABBA, Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Bonnie Raitt, Ed Sheeran, Kelly Clarkson, Pentatonix, Michael Bublé and Diana Ross.

— Rihanna returned with her first solo single since 2016, “Lift Me Up,” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which scored her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.

— Mariah Carey once again topped the charts with “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” but failed in her attempt to trademark the phrase “Queen of Christmas” for use on everything from music to dog projects to soy milk. Darlene Love, who’s been called the Queen of Christmas for years, objected publicly, and Christmas artist Elizabeth Chan successfully asked the U.S. Trademark Office to reject Mariah’s application, reasoning that no one should own that phrase.

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Måneskin has shared a short film recapping the band’s debut U.S. tour.

The 36-minute video, titled Everything This Way, includes live and backstage footage from the run, which began on Halloween night and wrapped up earlier in December.

“These last two months on the road have been insane and we can’t wait to come back!” Måneskin says. “But until then, please fasten your seat belts and enjoy our New Year’s present we prepared especially for you.”

You can watch Everything This Way streaming now on YouTube.

Måneskin will kick off 2023 with the release of their new album, Rush!, which drops January 20. The group is also nominated for Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammys, taking place February 5.

(Video contains uncensored profanity) 

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Music videos by Rihanna, Dr. Dre, Travis Scott and more joined YouTube’s Billion Views Club this year.

Rihanna’s “Stay,” her 2013 collab with Mikky Ekko, became her second club entry after amassing more than 1 billion views this year.

Travis marked his first club entry with his 2018 hit “SICKO MODE” featuring Drake. On the other hand, this song becomes Drake’s 10th track to join YouTube’s exclusive club.

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg‘s “Still D.R.E.” also joined the club after they performed it at the 2022 Super Bowl.

The Weeknd now has five songs in YouTube’s Billion Views Club after two videos — “Save Your Tears” and his Daft Punk collab “I Feel It Coming” — crossed the milestone.

Nicki Minaj scored two entries with her 2012 “Beauty and a Beat” collab with Justin Bieber and “FEFE,” the 2018 6ix9ine collab she featured on with Murda Beatz.

Lil Nas X earned his first entry with his “Old Town Road” collab with Billy Ray Cyrus, while 21 Savage scored one with his Post Malone collab, “rockstar.” Posty had another billion-views music video this year — 2015’s “White Iverson.”

Pharrell Williams submitted two entries to the club this year: His 2014 song “Happy” from Despicable Me and “Safari,” his 2016 collab with J Balvin, BIA and Sky.

Several late legends also made the club this year: Coolio, with his “Gangsta’s Paradise” collab with L.V., and XXXTentacion‘s posthumous 2018 hit “Moonlight.”

Other songs joining the club this year are Sean Kingston‘s “Beautiful Girls,” fun. and Janelle Monáe‘s “We Are Young“, Black Eyed Peas‘ collab with J Balvin “RITMO (Bad Boys for Life),” as well as Sean Paul‘s Dua Lipa collab “No Lie.”

In all, YouTube’s Billion Views Club added 51 entries this year.

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Albums from Black Sabbath‘s I.R.S. Records era are set to be reissued in 2023.

Guitarist Tony Iommi teased the upcoming rereleases in a tweet this week marking the birthday of late drummer Cozy Powell, who played on three of Sabbath’s I.R.S. albums.

“Cozy Powell would have been 75 today,” Iommi writes. “Looking forward to the release of the IRS albums in 2023, a tribute to his great playing.”

Sabbath released five records on I.R.S. — 1989’s Headless Cross, 1990’s Tyr, 1992’s Dehumanizer, 1994’s Cross Purposes and 1995’s Forbidden — three of which featured Iommi as the only original member. The era’s lineup also included Tony Martin on lead vocals for each album but Dehumanizer, which featured the return of Ronnie James Dio.

Meanwhile, Iommi reunited with the original Black Sabbath frontman, Ozzy Osbourne, this year to play on the Prince of Darkness’s new solo album, Patient Number 9. Their collaboration “Degradation Rules” is nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2023 Grammys.

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