Justin Timberlake swept iTunes’ 2013 awards, snagging the Album of the Year prize, as well as spots on the retailers’ lists for Top Tracks and Top Albums.
Apple Inc. this week released its annual lists of best-sellers, as well as a handful of awards for songs, albums and podcasts that its editors handpicked. The lists are particularly interesting because of Apple’s market dominance, owning 63% of digital music downloads in the U.S.
PHOTOS: Justin Timberlake and Jay Z at the Rose Bowl
This year’s big winner is Justin Timberlake, who waltzes away with the award for Artist of the Year, as well as the No. 1 top-selling album with The 20/20 Experience and No. 10 best-selling track with “Mirrors.” Macklemore and Ryan Lewis also are whistling their way to the bank with the No. 1 track, “Thrift Shop,” and the No. 6 best-selling album, The Heist.
One caveat: Though the list includes Beyonce‘s surprise Dec. 13 release of her self-titled album, the list is based on downloads up to Dec. 16, capturing just a few days of her album’s sales, which has already broken iTunes’ records for first-week album sales. The strong performance all but ensures that Beyonce’s album will be No. 1 on this week’s Billboard 200 list.
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Other music-related chart-toppers for iTunes include Pandora, which was the No. 9 most-downloaded free app of the year, and Free Music Download Pro, a $1.99 app that was the No. 7 most downloaded paid iPhone app. The app lets users scour the Web for free MP3 files they can download, irrespective of the files’ legal status.
Find iTunes’ music-related lists below.
Artist of the Year: The 20/20 Experience, Justin Timberlake
Album of the Year: The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Song of the Year: “Royals,” Lorde
Breakthrough Album: Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, Kendrick Lamar
Top Albums:
The 20/20 Experience, Justin Timberlake
Beyoncé, Beyoncé
Night Visions, Imagine Dragons
Magna Carta… Holy Grail, JAY Z
Nothing Was the Same, Drake
The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Pitch Perfect, Various Artists
Babel, Mumford & Sons
The Marshall Mathers LP2, Eminem
Random Access Memories, Daft Punk
Top Tracks:
“Thrift Shop (feat. Wanz),” Ryan Lewis & Macklemore
“Blurred Lines (feat. T.I. & Pharrell),” Robin Thicke
“Radioactive,” Imagine Dragons
“Just Give Me a Reason (feat. Nate Ruess),” P!nk
“Can’t Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton),” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
“When I Was Your Man,” Bruno Mars
“Stay (feat. Mikky Ekko),” Rihanna
“Roar,” Katy Perry
“Royals,” Lorde
“Mirrors,” Justin Timberlake
Best News & Politics Podcast: MSNBC Rachel Maddow (video)
Best Comedy Podcast: The Adam and Dr. Drew Show
Best Social Sciences Podcast: AsapScience Best Society & Culture: Stuff You Should Know
Top Podcasts:
Happy Tree Friends
Real Time with Bill Maher
NPR Programs: Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Coffee Break: Spanish
NBC Nightly News (video)
SModcast: SModcast
APM: A Prairie Home Companion’s News from Lake Wobegon
The Moth Podcast: “10 TEDTalks” (in HD)
