Photo: WENN
Billboard has resorted to number crunching (or fudging the maths, depending on your point of view) to come up with 'Titanium' producer David Guetta as its Top Dance/Electronic Artist of the Year. And this was despite huge 2015 hits coming thick and fast from the likes of Calvin Harris, Major Lazer and DJ Snake.
The veteran French producer's 'Hey Mama' track, which featured Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha and Afrojack, apparently won the award because the tune notched up a total of 11 weeks at No.1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs list but ended the year as the chart's No.3 title.
To add to the strangeness of Billboard's choice, the single 'Lean On' by Major Lazer, DJ Snake and MØ ranked number one on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs of 2015, spending 18 weeks at No.1 during the year.
What's more, despite being released in 2014, Guetta's album Listen was Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Album of the Year.
Furthermore, in the category of Hot Dance/Electronic Artists (which is not to be confused with Top Dance/Electronic Artists), DJ Snake secured the number one spot, with Calvin Harris, David Guetta and Major Lazer getting second, third and fourth respectively.
Confused? So are we. The full list of awards covered such a wide range of odd categorisations, including both Top and Hot versions of Dance/Electronic Songs and Dance/Electronic Digital Songs, for example, that it is like an reading an article on cutting-edge neuroscience.
We believe that streaming figures and charts are complicated enough without compounding the problem by coming up with confusing metrics, categories and (seemingly) illogical choices.
So, let's keep things simple. Who was your favourite EDM artist of 2015? We're pretty sure it will have something to do with who you listened to the most throughout the year.
