2015 Had Some Bangers 

This series is making me realize how quickly we all grew up. I was 12 years old in 2015 and now I'm 37

silento performed at my middle school when i was in 8th grade. the only two songs he performed were the first 90 seconds of Watch Me and Watch Me Part 2 (which exists) repeated over and over again. at some point he called up all the teachers on stage to dance to the song which was glorious. my best friend was crying in the corner of the room for the whole performance and he still refuses to tell me why to this day. it was a magical experience and i would do unspeakable things to relive it

Wasn't ready for Fantano whipping and naenaeing for 12 minutes straight

Uptown funk also just totally revitalized Bruno Mars’s career and marks the point where he stopped making good music and started making great music

I'll always have a soft spot for Fetty Wap. In a world of overproduced hip-hop and vocals, his "bad" singing is actually endearing. I had Trap Queen and 679 on blast that year.

I would love this format but for the 2000's. It was such an iconic and interesting moment in the music industry. (both for the good and the bad)

2015 is the year I got into The Weeknd. He really dominated that year alone. So damn nostalgic

so bizarre Silentó went from whipping and naenaeing to murdering his cousin. not meming, cuz that actually happened, I am just like, "dude, all you had to do was wait til my generation get old enough to be nostalgic for your song so you can make a killing performing at high school reunions, wtf?" it's genuinely surreal.

I cant listen to watch me without thinking of the time in my elementary school principal went up on stage during an anti bullying assembly, danced to the song, slipped onstage, had blood all over his extremely shiny bald head, had to be dragged off, and wore baseball caps for the rest of the school year

it’d be cool if you could do this for the 2000’s next. so much great stuff that decade, but A LOT of horrific stuff too.

I was never a fan of See You Again, but that same year, my cousin was killed in a car wreck along with his girlfriend and at his Viewing, this song was playing on the slideshow showing pictures of him. So for that, I can’t hate on the song because of the connection to my family

How was Can't Feel My Face not in the top ten. That's nuts.

Great video as always, but I really do want my family back

Gotta be real. Now that I don’t have to listen to them on the school bus going to high school at 6:30 every day, I can actually appreciate a lot of these songs now.

I worked clubs during Shut Up + Dance's height. I'd forgotten what it sounds like so I gave myself a little primer. The emotional damage of internalising that song has come flooding back and I would like an apology, I'm not really fussed who from, but it would help.

Ed’s single is even colored like C-tier, he knew what he was doing

I’m surprised Anthony is releasing these segments so fast, he could’ve milked them for two years lol

i hope fantano keeps up this series for each year there has ever been music

i’ve always loved the weird mixing about the hills- his vocals being drowned out by the overwhelming instrumental really adds to the song to me

Beauty Behind the Madness is The Weeknd's most underrated album among his fan base imo, i know it is probably the most mainstream one but the amount of fire tracks and cultural impact that record had was crazy

When i first started DJing weddings to make extra money (it's a fun and ridiculous job that i actually kind of enjoy) i would get a lot of requests for terrible songs i had never heard of before. I'm realizing from watching this Fantano yearly Billboard series that they were all right here and I was completely detached from mainstream music in the early 2010s

The Hills is S Tier. One of my favorite tracks of that DECADE.

After surviving the constant barrage of maroon 5 in a post-2018 world, this year was pretty phenomenal for pop music

Blank Space is a certified banger

Someone explain to me how shake it off didn’t make this list I feel like you literally could not escape that song. It was legit everywhere

You putting Blank Space in the D-Row, even for just a second, actually made my heart stop beating. Currently writing this comment from the hospital. I hope you’re happy, Anthony.

Hearing silento's name still gives me nightmares

The Weeknd owned 2015.

I’m mostly a metal head and listen to rock/metal about 90% of the time, but when The Weeknd came on the scene and starting tearing it up, I really liked him. Maybe it’s the darkness/depression that I can relate to in a lot of his songs, but I remember thinking “this guy is something special” when he got big.

Wow didn’t expect Anthony to say “this sounds more like the weekday” for the entire episode.

2015 was also a great year for albums. So many great records that came out that year

blank space is a BANGER

How on earth has Fantano not reviewed 1989 that’s insane

2015 was definitely Abel's year

Shut Up and Dance is an eternal fuckin banger my dude. Especially in 2015 it was nice to hear an actual band playing instruments on the radio. Walk the Moon sadly never saw that same success again so I think they’re pretty underrated.

The Weeknd is best felt then listened to. The bass notes and the synthy siren background of the hills really set a standard for The Weeknd’s signature atmospheric sound, which I really enjoy

Please continue this format going back until the 60s or 50s. That's so much content and helps us all appreciate classic songs and also the songs that we should all forget

Can we talk about how the Weekend had one of the best debuts of that year and ruled the world at one point

that’s clever of you to put every song off Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven in the S tier, Melon.

People who don't like Uptown Funk either don't like fun or are tired of hearing it at weddings

Man, i was working at a grocery store in 2015, shut up and dance would play like 5 times an hour it felt like and I hated every moment of it.

Uptown Funk was definitely a song

Blank Space is S tier IMO. Was pretty Tay-agnostic, then I heard Blank Space in an uber like a year ago and realised I'd been sleeping on some great pop.

This is the first one of these lists things I actually agree with. 2015 was just a chill year.

Mark Ronson deserves the success he has IMO. Dude manages to produce some of the highest charting hits yet you can often tell that they have his fingerprint on them, which is sometimes difficult these days, at least in pop.

Ngl, I still jam out to Shut Up And Dance to this day. That song is a bop imo

I loved it when Taylor Swift went, "I can't feel Blank Space when I'm with you, but I love it, but I love it."

How brilliant for Anthony kinda talk about 2015 music without mentioning Kendrick even once.

You gotta get James Acaster on for the 2016 episode! He wrote a whole book on why 2016 is the best year in music and he owns every album from that year!

2016 is gonna be a rough one for our dear melon.

Unironically, Sugar by Maroon 5 is my favorite song by them since Sunday Morning

Blank space is still one of my favorite songs ever. I actually think the instrumental is really good with the added bass in the second verse

I love this series, please go backwards! 2010 to 2000. Those were the jams.

Shut Up and Dance is still one of my favorite tracks of that year, you can't censor me Melon

love this series. keep it up! was wondering if fetty wap was gonna appear on this list. pretty much all i remember from 2015 musically is it was the year of fetty wap. so was glad when it did, and to see you praise it so much. i never know what to expect from your opinion lol. but yeah it’s so good. i loved it at the time and still do. also although they aren’t as big, he did also have 679 and my way (the drake version i prefer) that were bangers back then aswell. he had a bit of a run but it didn’t last long sadly. also 2015 was the year i started listening to music more. i loved the weeknd and beauty behind the madness back then. i’ll never remember how i got introduced to him though but somehow i did and that was most of what i listened to at the time.

IT’S BEEN A LONG DAY WITHOUT YOU MY FRIEND

Anthony you broke my heart with the Shut Up and Dance section

679 is awesome, even though it didn’t make it to the top 10. Fetty was on fire that year!

S tier: Uptown Funk A tier: Can't Feel My Face, Shut Up And Dance, Trap Queen, See You Again B tier: The Hills, Blank Space C tier: Sugar, Thinking Out Loud D tier: Earned It F tier: Watch Me

2015 was when we learned abel was about to change the world of pop as we knew it

"Shut Up & Dance" is one of my most hated songs of all time. My roommate in college would play this song back-to-back on repeat for HOURS every day for a while. It made me wanna DIE.

Honestly, 2012 and 2015 might be tied as the the best year in terms of top 10 billboards songs of looking in the 2010s. They are def the best for me.

I love it that the best we can expect from Ed Sheeran's music it's just for it to be "inofensive"

2015 was such a good year, both for music and in my life. I graduated high school and started college that year.

2015 is one of my all time favorite years of music. I mean it’s the year 1989 ruled the charts, how can I not love it? Also, you know Uptown Funk is a certified classic when my mom, who normally hates modern music, will lose her mind when it comes on

2015 was such a good year, uptown funk, the weeknd dominated with like 3 songs, take me to church is an absolute banger, great year for music

This is such a great idea for videos and I agree especially with The Hills being held back by The Weeknd’s voice (or lack thereof) not sharply cutting through the mix

Loving this series! Keep 'em coming!

We need this format for the 2000s!

but appreciate blank space as an excellent pop song. it’s perfection

My school always used to play "Shut up and dance with me" at every school event and dance and i bet its still getting played to this day, watching the melon trash it is so gratifying

I love uptown funk but I only enjoy it occasionally. Play it too often and I get sick of it real quick. Shockingly, I'd put In the Night over Can't Feel my Face and The Hills though I enjoyed them all back then. Trap Queen is an absolute banger. I hope Fetty is doing alright.

Earned isn’t for listening to, it’s for Fuggen to.

ngl this made me go back and listen to the Hills, holds up decently :)

The Pizza Hut logo above your upper lip is 🔥

Dont really get the Shut up and Dance hate. Its an inoffensive song that has a fun energy to it. Sugar is WAY worse comparatively imo

Sugar, perhaps is a bad song, but god my life was much better when that song came out so I think that really helped me look back on it really fondly.

Silento really went silento after his masterpiece Nae Nae

Walk the Moon "Shut up and dance" is popular because it made it to the wedding a bar mitzvah DJ circuit, because every kid and old aunt can dance to it and follow enough along with enough of the lyrics to be "fun".

Such a good series, Anthony!

Everybody's saying we need this series to extend to the 00s when the 10s are finished. I agree mainly because the only thing funnier than forcing Anthony to talk about Maroon 5 is forcing Anthony to talk about THE FRAY

im having a hard time believing that Trap Queen and Uptown Funk are even in the same discussion

Not an original thought, but I would love to see more tier lists for the hits of the 2000s. I love Tano's content!

Anthony, I loved your Seinfeld Uncle Leo impression with the emphasis of the “Hello!” when introducing the video. That was definitely one of the moments of all time.

It'd be cool to see you do a redux top ten for each decade. Which spicy little numbers DESERVED to be front and center

For my ranking I would say: Uptown Funk - S Tier Thinking Out Loud - S Tier See You Again - A Tier Trap Queen - D Tier Sugar - B Tier Shut Up And Dance - C Tier Blank Space - S Tier Watch Me - C Tier Earned It - B Tier The Hills - C

It's actually kind of amazing to see how mildly off American popular music culture is in comparison to europe. Like 90 percent of the really popular stuff on the radio around here is the same, as US industry sets the trends and thanks to social media and memes and stuff we share collective memories of songs and moments in musical history - but then there's stuff like Trap Queen by Fetty Wap which I'm hearing about for the first time in this video. Peak position in german charts was 77, this song just didn't happen over here. It's amazing to see how some stuff clicks across cultures and some just magically doesnt.

I have so much love for Shut Up and Dance bc I went to a hardcore house show a few years ago and the entire show was HEAVY AS FUCK but for the encore they brought up a super poppy vocalist and they played SUAD and then jammed that into Mr Brightside and it was the grooviest most high energy performance I’ve ever witnessed

i got really scared melon was gonna shit on trap queen

Omitting Can’t Feel My Face is utterly criminal

Back in those years I didn´t use to listen to radio or toping charts, so I´m having to google all of these songs and yes, I do remember most of them I just never knew their name. Some nostalgia kicking in with this series of videos.

Fantano you provide such concise and comfortable commentary such enjoyable for us music connoisseurs. Cheers

The Hills is EASILY S TIER 🤬

Cool for the Summer by Demi Lovato being THE hit of 2015 and 2022. She's INSANE!!!!!!

Yeah this is the point where I stopped listening to the radio. Going from primary school to secondary. Streaming was becoming a thing with the people I knew my age and I started thinking I was “too cool” for radio music. I still heard a fair amount of these songs. I still enjoy a fair amount of these song. Uptown funk was and is just incredible, sparked the beginning of the new era of Bruno. I had already made up my mind on shut up and dance so sorry Antony but I enjoy it (didn’t even know it was a 2015 song Tbf). I remember vaguely knowing of the weeknd but not really. See you again hit my feels at the time. I didn’t know what a Fetty Wap was. For everything off this list I remember enjoying there’s stuff I just do not remember AT ALLLLLLLL

As a designer, I can't tell you how many time I have seen that free stock TV that is on the cover of that Silento track...

Someone once told me that all mainstream music is bad, I had to remind them about Adele and Bruno Mars having the 2 biggest songs of the decade

Why did interviews stop? I respect it if Anthony stopped it because he felt it’s too hard to maintain both interviewer and reviewer hats (he had incidents where interviewees pressed him on his scores during interviews…), but we can still get conversations with other music critics, produces, maybe retired artists, etc. Also it generally feels like this channel is in a slight little identity crisis - maybe more starter packs videos, more creative substantive videos about general music topics (I would love for example a video where Anthony goes into his relationship with classical music)… much love!!

Something beautiful happened in 2015. Pop music started to take a turn towards something better. Pop music started to become enjoyable again after a very disappointing first half of the decade. Modern pop as we know it started to take shape in 2015.

Does Anthony Fantano like to ask himself rhetorical questions? Yes, he does lol love the series!