Two mega-star pop acts dominated Billboard.com’s annual mid-year readers’ poll, as One Direction and Taylor Swift rose to the top in the 2015 edition of the June fan vote.
Best of 2015 (So Far): 10 Best Songs | 10 Best Albums | 10 Best Videos
Hundreds of thousands of fans weighed in on their favorite artists, songs, albums and performances of 2015’s first half over the course of this week, and 1D walked away with the coveted First-Half MVP prize. The boy band dominated the vote in the category, topping superstar divas Taylor Swift and Madonna in the process. Meanwhile, Zayn Malik leaving One Direction was voted the most buzzed-about moment of 2015 so far, and the group’s On The Road Again tour was named the best tour by readers’ poll participants. Hey Harry, Louis, Niall and Liam: congrats!
Swift predictably earned a whole lot of votes in this year’s mid-year readers’ poll, too: 1989 was voted the favorite Billboard 200 No. 1 album by a wide margin, while her star-studded “Bad Blood” clip was crowned the best music video of the year so far. And Swift scored the Hottest Couple prize — although she’ll have to share it with new beau Calvin Harris!
The other major winner of the poll was Lana Del Rey, whose Governors Ball set was voted the best festival performance; the singer also won best style, came in second for best tour (ahead of Taylor’s 1989 tour!), and her upcoming Honeymoon album was voted the most anticipated music release of 2015’s second half. And give a round of applause to Nick Jonas, who crushed the best comeback category; Ed Sheeran, whose smash “Thinking Out Loud” was the voters’ favorite Hot 100 Top 5 single of the year so far; and Zayn Malik, who earned the breakout star vote based solely on a few leaked demos.
Check out the full results below — including the percentage of the votes that each candidate received — and let us know if you approve of the final tallies!
Here are the final results for Billboard.com’s 2015 Mid-Year Readers’ Poll:
First-Half MVP
1. One Direction (32%)
2. Taylor Swift (12%)
3. Madonna (7%)
Favorite Top 5 Hot 100 Song
1. Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud” (15%)
2. Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Bad Blood” (12%)
3. Hozier, “Take Me To Church” (10%)
Favorite No. 1 Billboard 200 Album
1. Taylor Swift, 1989 (34%)
2. Florence + The Machine, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (10%)
3. Shawn Mendes, Handwritten (9%)
Breakout Star
1. Zayn Malik (39%)
2. Shawn Mendes (20%)
3. Twenty One Pilots (7%)
Best Music Video
1. Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Bad Blood” (21%)
2. Nicki Minaj beat. Beyonce, “Feeling Myself” (11%)
3. Madonna, “Bitch I’m Madonna” (10%)
Best Comeback
1. Nick Jonas (46%)
2. David Guetta (17%)
3. Janet Jackson (9%)
Hottest Couple
1. Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris (16%)
2. Lady Gaga and Taylor Kinney (14%)
3. Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson (write-in)(14%)
Most Buzzed-About Moment
1. Zayn Malik Leaves One Direction (38%)
2. Britney Spears & Iggy Azalea Debut “Pretty Girls” Single (16%)
3. Bruce Jenner’s Interview/Kardashian Reaction (14%)
Best Festival Performance
1. Lana Del Rey at Governors Ball (46%)
2. Drake at Coachella (16%)
3. Florence + The Machine at Coachella (11%)
Best Style
1. Lana Del Rey (27%)
2. Taylor Swift (13%)
3. Fifth Harmony (6%)
Best Tour
1. One Direction’s On The Road Again tour (32%)
2. Lana Del Rey’s Endless Summer tour (26%)
3. Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour (13%)
Best Televised Performance
1. Katy Perry at Super Bowl Halftime Show (24%)
2. Lady Gaga at the Academy Awards (20%)
3. Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth & Lindsey Stirling at Billboard Music Awards (8%)
Must-Have Soundtrack
1. Fifty Shades of Grey (37%)
2. Pitch Perfect 2 (21%)
3. Furious 7 (19%)
Most Anticipated Music Release of 2015’s Second Half
1. Lana Del Rey’s Honeymoon Album (34%)
2. Demi Lovato’s Next Album (16%)
3. Rihanna’s Next Album (12%)
Best of 2015 (So Far): 10 Best Songs | 10 Best Albums | 10 Best Videos