The Year in Rock 2015: Fall Out Boy & Walk the Moon Reign
Fall Out Boy's 2013 album Save Rock and Roll topped the Billboard 200 in May 2013 and yielded the hit single "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light 'Em Up)."
Fall Out Boy‘s 2013 album Save Rock and Roll topped the Billboard 200 in May 2013 and yielded the hit single “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up).”
The set, and that hit, ended up just the first movement of the pop-punk four-piece’s esteemed resurgence.
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“Centuries” found success in late 2014 with a No. 2 peak at Hot Rock Songs, and once its corresponding LP, American Beauty/American Psycho, reached shelves in January, it bested its predecessor (selling 192,000 vs. 154,000 first-week copies, according to Nielsen Music), also hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Clearly, Fall Out Boy, which arrived on Billboard‘s charts in 2004, was rejuvenated. (Before its 2009 leader, the band had last topped the Billboard 200 in 2007.)
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The success of multiple Fall Out Boy songs, along with the album’s two-week reign on Top Rock Albums and three-week stay atop Alternative Albums, helped the band earn the distinction of Billboard‘s Top Rock Artist of 2015.
“Centuries” follow-up “Uma Thurman” also hit No. 2 on Hot Rock Songs and furthered Fall Out Boy’s pop crossover success for the year, managing a No. 22 peak on the Hot 100, after “Centuries” reached No. 10; the singles rose to Nos. 13 and 7, respectively, on the Pop Songs chart.
AND THEY DANCED: Try as they might, Patrick Stump and Co. never reached the Hot Rock Songs apex in 2015, and that’s thanks in part to Walk the Moon, whose “Shut Up and Dance” is the No. 1 Hot Rock Songs track of 2015. The Cincinnati quartet’s ’80s-flavored dance-rock hit was released in September 2014 and rose to No. 1 in April. It ruled for 27 weeks, shattering the record held by its predecessor, Hozier‘s “Take Me to Church” and Imagine Dragons‘ “Radioactive” (23 weeks each), dating to the chart’s 2009 launch). Alternative (four weeks) and Rock Streaming Songs (27) reigns for “Dance” supplemented Walk the Moon’s breakthrough success, landing the band at No. 3 on the year’s Top Rock Artists ranking.
‘AWESOME’ NEWS: No. 1 on Top Rock Albums for 2015 was similarly released in 2014. The Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 soundtrack leads, ahead of Hozier’s self-titled debut, also a 2014 release.
Hozier is also the runner-up on Top Rock Artists, and his “Take Me to Church” is No. 2 on the year-end Hot Rock Songs marker. He’s also No. 1 for 2015 with “Church” on Rock Digital Songs and Alternative Digital Songs, while Hozier is the top title of the year on Folk Albums.
PILOTS’ FLIGHT: Although fellow Ohioans Walk the Moon overshadowed them as a breakout act, Twenty One Pilots is No. 4 on Top Rock Artists for 2015, owing to the triumph of Blurryface, the duo’s fourth album, a No. 1 on Top Rock Albums for four weeks. They’re also the No. 4 artist on Hot Rock Songs, having charted 13 tracks on the ranking throughout 2015, chief among them “Stressed Out,” No. 12 overall on the year-end tally.
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EZRA RULES ROOKIES: The No. 9 act on Top Rock Artists of 2015 is the year’s No. New Rock Artist. English singer-songwriter George Ezra leads, with single “Blame It on Me” the No. 1 entry on Adult Alternative Songs for the year. Debut single “Budapest” is No. 7 on Hot Rock Songs, while album Wanted on Voyage finishes at No. 5 on Folk Albums.
RADIO ‘RENEGADES’: X Ambassadors‘ “Renegades” is the No. 1 title of 2015 on Alternative Songs, after leading the airplay chart for 11 weeks from June to September. (“Shut Up and Dance” ends 2015 at No. 2.) “Renegades” is also No. 5 on Hot Rock Songs, while the band places at No. 7 on Top Rock Artists.
SUCCESS OF ‘FAILURE: Breaking Benjamin caps off a year that saw the Pennsylvania rockers release Dark Before Dawn, their first album since 2009 and a No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Its single “Failure” is No. 1 on Mainstream Rock Songs for 2015, after spending nine weeks atop the chart. The band is No. 15 on Top Rock Artists.