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Deezer’s Global VP of Artist Relations, Nigel Harding as provided the following statement concerning the revelation, “It’s fantastic to see so many homegrown artists like Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa continue to shine both internationally and here in the UK. What really stands out is the enduring appeal of older material. The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ and Tones and I’s ‘Dance Monkey’, both continue to dominate the charts more than 18 months after release. And it’s remarkable that Eminem remains as popular now as he was two decades ago”

The category of the top artist has been awarded to British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. The “Shivers” singer topped the list as the number one streamed artist.  Second and third places were taken by American rapper Eminem and The Weeknd. Following the pair was Dua Lipa, the British hitmaker who came in fourth as the service’s most-streamed artist. Fellow British act, Little Mix, also placed within the top 10 and closed off the list.

Dua Lipa not only charted within the top artist list but was also crowned as the top female artist within the streaming service. The “Don’t Start Now” singer beat out big names such as Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande to be the most streamed female artist. Little Mix also made an appearance within the top five and was announced as the fourth most female act streamed in 2021. The “Shout Out To My Ex” girl group also beat out American artists to reach the high position, Lady Gaga, Billie Elish and Rihanna charted behind Little Mix in streams.

Within the category for Top Track, Canadian artist The Weeknd won with his 2019 track “Blinding Lights”. The number one single was released from the 31-year-old singer’s fourth studio album After Hours. “Dance Money” by Tones and I placed in second place and was followed by “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran which charted at number three. British singer Harry Styles closed the top ten list with his single “Watermelon Sugar”.

The most streamed album was awarded to Olivia Rodrigo for her debut album Sour. The Weeknd also featured within this list, the singer’s double-platinum album After Hours followed in second place. Ed Sheeran’s 2021 album Divide was confirmed as the third most-streamed album within Deezer.

The platform awarded Ed Sheeran with another win; the singer won the Top Karaoke Song award with his number one single “Bad Habits”. Eurovision winners Måneskin filled both the second and third positions, the Italian rockers closed the top three with tracks “Beggin” and “I Wanna Be Your Slave”. American rapper Lil Nas X also charted twice in the category, “Industry Baby” landed at number six and “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” placed at number ten.

The announcement also consisted of further categories including Top Playlist, Top Deezer Originals song and Top Podcast. To accompany the list of the service’s most listened to content Deezer has also created a Best of 2021 channel for its users to enjoy.

The compilation sees some critically acclaimed artists take on classic 80s tracks. Including Wolf Alice covering Roxy Music’s ‘More Than This’ and Laura Mvula taking on Toto’s iconic anthem ‘Africa.’ 

 Wolf Alice’s front lady Ellie Rowsell wrote on Instagram about the release of the compilation: “In the wee hours of the morning on a plane journey back from Australia I (ellie) found myself unable to sleep. I began watching ‘book club’ a film about a group of older ladies who collectively read 50 Shades of Grey. I will never get that time back. However as the credits rolled ‘More Than This’ by Roxy Music came on and I was hooked. I always wanted to cover this song ever since i first heard up there in the sky so thanks @deezer for giving us the opportunity and thanks Iain Berryman for making it sound so good! X”

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 The compilation features 16 tracks by 16 artists from around the globe covering some of the 80s most famous hits. Brummy icon of funk and soul, Laura Mvula commented on her cover of ‘Africa,’ “I chose ‘Africa’ by Toto because it’s an 80s classic. It feels like music that I would write today and it fits in with the sound of my album.” 

 UK rising star Holly Humberstone also features on ‘InVersions 80s,’ covering Prince’s ‘I Would Die 4 U.’ She said of the compilation: “I am so excited to be a part of InVersions because the 80s is an era that continues to inspire me. I chose ‘I Would Die 4 U’ by Prince because he’s my all time favourite artist and I wanted to pay tribute to him in some way. I think it’s a beautifully simple but effective song and I love how the melodies are really static. Being able to put my own spin on it felt super special and I hope you all enjoy listening!”

Nigel Harding, Deezer’s VP of Global Artist Marketing, revealed the influence behind their latest compilation, “80s music is seeing a resurgence like never before, with a whole new generation of fans embracing the sounds of this unique decade. So it felt completely natural to invite today’s emerging musical stars to put a modern spin on their favorite 80s anthems, and the results are like hearing them all again for the first time.” Some of their featured artists saw a growth in streams of over 200% after their last ‘InVersions’ project was released.

 Other artists to feature on this brand new “modern spin” of 80s classics, are Germany’s Milky Chance covering the famous 1981 track ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell. And Columbian Audio Engineer Juan Pablo Vega, offering an upbeat backing to Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game.’ 

Last year, Deezer released their debut ‘InVersions,’ which saw The Brit’s British Breakthrough Artist of the Year Arlo Parks cover Angèle’s ‘Ta Reine.’ And American singer-songwriter took on Fleetwood Mac’s iconic ‘Dreams.’

You can listen to Deezer’s ‘Inversions 80s’ originals compilation now.

Tracklist

Benny Sings – Dancing in the Dark [Bruce Springsteen]
Boy – Bette Davis Eyes [Kim Carnes]
Boy Pablo – Don’t You Want Me [Human League]
Cautious Clay – Holding Back the Years [Simply Red]
CSS – Buffalo Stance [Neneh Cherry]
Cuco –Don’t You (Forget About Me) [Simple Minds]
Feu! Chatterton – Joe Le Taxi [Vanessa Paradis]
Holly Humberstone – I Would Die 4 U [Prince]
Juan Pablo Vega – Wicked Game [Chris Isaak]
La Femme – Like A Prayer [Madonna]
Laura Mvula – Africa [Toto]
Lido Pimienta –Orinoco Flow [Enya]
L’Imperatrice – I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) [Whitney Houston]
Milky Chance-Tainted Love [Soft Cell]
Roosevelt – Feels Like Heaven [Fiction Factory]
Wolf Alice – More Than This [Roxy Music]

The singer also included some artwork for the single and a short snippet of the song which features him singing the title of the song in the line ‘look at what you’ve gone and done, baby baby now i’m numb.’ Pre-saving the track, the singer announced, will also give fans early access to tickets for an exclusive, virtual live performance which will feature tracks from his upcoming album. With 2018’s ‘Jubilee Road,’ the last studio album released by Odell, fans have been waiting two long years for a follow up and finally now it has been confirmed that his fourth is coming very soon.

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Tom Odell, who’s debut album ‘Long Way Down,’ reached number 1 on the UK official album charts is known for his simple yet effective combination of piano and vocals to deliver his potent songwriting. However, the clip which he has provided us to preview new song ‘numb,’ features rich production with thumping kick drums and synth sounds added to the simple keyboard and vocal lines which are reminiscent and familiar of the sound he is known for. This suggests a much greater time being spent in the studio experimenting with different sounds, perhaps inspired by the additional time he was able to spend in there throughout lockdown, and gives fans hope for an album which is both original and breaking new ground but also nostalgic and familiar for fans who fell in love with ‘Long Way Down.’

With the UK sill in a full national lockdown and live music in person still of the cards for the foreseeable future, it is only right that British artists like Tom Odell continue to make use of the possibilities of live streaming to create interactions with fans and also to generate an income for themselves in these difficult times. While vaccine passports may bring some hope for the return of live music sooner than expected, with the UK government’s focus entirely being on vaccinating the population and generally refusing to answer any questions regarding when things might be reopening, it may be wise of all of us to settle in to another long few months of live streamed entertainment.

Oh my gosh I can’t believe I’m finally saying this man, I’m tearing up a bit as I write this…can’t wait for you to hear it!!! The vid for green eyes will be out at 7pm. So much news! I’m so fkin pumped You can pre-order my album now!! https://t.co/TBcIrJT1Lu

— Arlo Parks (@arloparks) October 20, 2020

According to a press release, Parks’ album is “a series of vignettes and intimate portraits surrounding my adolescence and the people that shaped it. It is rooted in storytelling and nostalgia – I want it to feel both universal and hyper specific.” When asked by Gigwise what inspires her songs, she declared “My friends, flowers, after-parties, living rooms, parks, beaches and long drives.” Somewhere in these remarkably eloquent and intentional descriptions, you have the full picture of what Parks is capable of.

Latest single ‘Green Eyes’ borrows the talented vocals of US singer and all-round legend Clairo, and their combined voices and Parks’ incredible song-writing is breath-taking at points. ‘Green Eyes’ is sort of a bit dreamy, hazy, indie, a bit beats-driven and chill, and even a bit early 2000s pop all at once. Lyrically, it is nothing short of poetic. Parks delves into her early and bittersweet romantic memories, and her experience of her sexuality growing up. “Of course I know why we lasted two months / Could not hold my hand in public” is heart-wrenching.

Parks is not exactly known for shying away from complicated and potentially heavy subject matter. ‘Black Dog’, the first single from the album now known as Collapsed In Sunbeams, presents the realities of mental illness with stark and tragic honesty. She has been called the “voice of a generation” multiple times, a description which Parks takes seriously. Without becoming hung up on the term ‘gen-z’, it’s true that Parks, like many of her contemporaries, carries a weight in her song-writing that seems to derive from any combination of social media, mental health awareness and the specific experience of being a teenager in the last decade.

Arlo Parks has had a crazy busy year. Some highlights include: putting out three amazing singles and a string of moving covers, embarking on her first headline tour, winning the AIM Independent Music Award for One to Watch, winning over almost every radio DJ and working on some incredible collaborations. The latest of these include her recent appearance on Glass Animals’ live stream for a new version of ‘Tangerine’, and her Radio 1 Live Session with Phoebe Bridgers, recorded in a church. Just recently, she shared her first cover in French for Deezer’s InVersions mixtape (Park’s mother is French, so she considered it a special moment).

When Parks embarked on 2020, she was fresh out of her A-Levels, ready to headline a tour and generally right on the edge of something great. Despite, well, everything, this year has truly been hers. When New Year rolls around, she will be set to release her debut album and we can expect her to well and truly take off.

Among the line-up are Fontaines D.C., with a slow, melancholic cover of The Beach Boys’ ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’. The Beach Boys sometimes have that effect where in completely the right mood they’re perfect – otherwise they’re kind of sickening. Not this cover. The last four lines, which tend to just fade into outro in the original, are haunting. You can catch a clip of it here:

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We recorded a version of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by The Beach Boys for @deezer “Inversions”. Listen exclusively on Deezer.

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This is what they had to say about it: “Covering a Beach Boys song has always been a scary thing considering the genius arrangements, their playing, their harmonies, everything about it … So ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ we saw this kind of naive perspective towards love and marriage in the lyrics, and we were quite curious to see what would happen when you contrasted that approach with a darker musical palette. So we kind of slowed down the tempo and created a draggier tune for those lyrics to sit on top of.” 

A cover is an art form, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s always struck me as a great way to really get to know a band. What Fontaines D.C. say above, for example, shows just how much they understand their industry, and their craft. Perhaps Deezer picked the line-up for InVersions for exactly this reason.

InVersions also presents Arlo Parks’ first song in French: ‘Ta Reine’ by Angèle. Parks explains why this is so special: “I picked ‘Ta Reine’ by Angèle because I find her voice completely mesmerising and soft, and I feel like the topic the song discusses is very important. I’ve always wanted to sing in French since my mum is French and I’m generally just enthralled by this song and her delivery. I hope I can do it justice.” 

Really there is nothing to distinguish one moment from another – all of these covers are spectacular. For me, other honourable mentions go towards Alfie Templeman’s ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, which retains the feel of the original while simultaneously softening everything. It perfectly suits the style that Templeman is really making his own.

Likewise, Orla Gartland’s ‘Nothing Compares to You’ is ambitious – intriguingly, her powerful voice seems to be set against a Radiohead-inspired, subtly electronic take on the melody. When the music falls away for the final refrain, Gartland shows nothing but pure talent.

Robyn we frikin love u @robynkonichiwa & this gem of a song so we made our own version of dancing on my own for @deezer listen here : https://t.co/esJwBHkW6b pic.twitter.com/rh80Xt84P4

— Dream Wife (@DreamWifeMusic) October 6, 2020

But, for me, Dream Wife’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ steals the show. It has all the chills of the first time you heard it. It absolutely puts a spotlight on why we all unexpectedly fell in love with Robyn in 2010. This is not because it’s a carbon copy, though; Dream Wife retain all of the best of Robyn’s original, while giving it a spin of their own. If you listen closely, you catch an endearing whisper of “in a galaxy far far far away” just before the bridge.

InVersions could not be more exciting as a music project, but it also feels like a positive force in these bleak times for the music industry. Nigel Harding, who is Deezer’s VP of Global Artist Marketing, explained the thinking behind InVersions. “We all know the music community has been hit hard by the pandemic, especially Indie artists who rely on live gigs. During this tough time, we wanted to do our part and offer support to Indie and Alternative artists with our new Inversions album … I’d love for music fans from all over the world to discover some new favourites on our InVersions album.”

You can stream it here.