The Year in CHR/Hot AC 2016 — Justin Bieber’s “Purpose” Becomes Clear

December 29, 2016 Music News Group

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images via ABCIf 2015 was Justin Bieber’s “comeback” year, this was the year he proved he’ll be sticking around.

The Good News
— Justin kicked off 2016 with some Grammy gold, winning his first trophy ever for the Diplo/Skrillex collab, “Where Are U Now.” Following his win, he joined James Corden for a post-Grammys edition of “Carpool Karaoke.”

— Justin scored his third number-one hit in a row with “Love Yourself,” which took the top position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 13. The song, co-written by Ed Sheeran, followed up his chart-toppers “What Do You Mean?” and “Sorry.”

— Following “Where Are U Now,” Justin released another collaboration with his pal Diplo’s group, Major Lazer. The song, “Cold Water,” came out in July and debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. August saw the release of another smash collaboration, “Let Me Love You,” with DJ Snake.

— Justin became the first artist to reach 10 billion total views on YouTube. He accumulated four billion views from September 2015 through late March, pushing him past the record-breaking total.

— Justin racked up six different Guinness World Records, including most followers on Twitter for a male and most simultaneous tracks on the U.S. singles chart.

— Justin’s trophy shelves were overloaded in 2016 with a number of other awards, including four American Music Awards, two Billboard Music awards, a Billboard touring award, a Brit Award, a Juno Award, three MTV Europe Music Awards and a People’s Choice Award, among other honors.

— In December, Justin topped off the year with four Grammy nominations, including nods for Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, for “Love Yourself.”

— Also in December, Justin topped the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart with the #1 song and the #2 songs of the year: “Love Yourself” and “Sorry,” respectively. The last time an artist had both top songs of the year was back in 2004, when Justin’s mentor Usher scored with “Yeah!” and “Burn.” He was also Billboard’s Top Male Artist of the Year, Top Radio Songs Artist, Top Digital Songs Artist, Top Social 50 Artist and Top Pop Songs Artist.

— Justin announced during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on December 5 that he’d be embarking on his first-ever stadium tour in 2017. He also said he was single, despite the tabloids’ constant efforts to link him to various people, including his ex Selena Gomez, throughout the year.

The Bad News
— In March, Justin announced he’d be cancelling all future meet and-greets with fans. He apologized, but explained meet-and-greets leave him feeling “drained and unhappy.” He also said his fans made him feel like a “zoo animal” during the meet-and-greets.

— Justin also quit Instagram in 2016, first threatening fans that he would take his page private if they kept harassing his rumored girlfriend, Sofia Richie. When fans didn’t heed his warnings, Justin shut down his page. At a recent concert, he told the crowd he doesn’t plan on returning to Insta, which he said was “for the devil.”

— In November, Justin was caught on video punching a guy in the face after the guy reached through the window of the singer’s car and touched him. The punch left the guy bloody and incredulous.

— While Justin’s Purpose tour was a huge success, he had quite a few onstage incidents during the trek. In addition to crying multiple times on stage, at his show in Birmingham, England in October, he complained that his fans were screaming too loudly. He made a similar complaint at his Manchester concert a few nights later, and even briefly walked off the stage after the audience started booing.