Apple Announces Its First-ever Apple Music Awards… Leaving Spotify in the Dust

Apple celebrates the most influential musicians of 2019 by launching its first-ever Apple Music Awards. Billie Eilish dominates this year's Awards, grasping both the Artist of the Year and Album of the Year honors. Apple streamed the ceremony live on December 4, night from its Steve Jobs Theater at Cupertino Headquarters. The cherry on top of this year's premiere ceremony was a custom performance by Billie Eilish that was "unlike anything ever seen," according to a teaser from Apple's newsroom. 

The music community websites now have a lot to digest. It is not a coincidence that Apple plans and executes its Music Awards a couple of weeks after Spotify announces theirs. However, unlike Spotify's Awards, which are going to unfold the next March, Apple Music Awards isn't guided by solely streaming data. 

The company explained that they elaborated on a combined approach that enabled them to pick winners across five different categories relying on both user preferences and editorial choice. The Apple Music's team of experts selected winners for Global Artist of the Year, Breakthrough Artist, and Songwriter of the Year nominations based on the personal input in music creation. Apple stated it designed the Awards to honor the "best and boldest musicians" whose impact on global culture was enormous.

Oliver Schusser, the company's vice president of Apple Music and International Content, mentioned that Apple Music Awards had been created to celebrate "passion, energy, and creativity" of the world's high-profile musicians that resonate. 

We agree that music cannot be measured solely by numbers. Passion, the voice of humanity, innovation, and richness of content are things that define quality music to the fullest. For the awards like Song of the Year and Album of the Year, Apple used streaming data as it is where numbers can speak volumes. It's a good time now to compare Apple's choice with what you were listing to this whole year and greet the leaders.

Winners of 2019 Apple Music Awards 

Billie Eilish - Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Songwriter of the Year

The 17-year-old singer and songwriter that took the world by storm with her bold and stylish music got Global Artist of the Year, the Top Honor of Apple Music Awards. Billie's debut album When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go won in the category Album of the Year as the most-streamed album on Apple Music this year. Also, as the album was produced and co-written by Billie's brother Finneas, she shared the Songwriter of the Year honor with him. 

Lizzo - Breakthrough of the Year

The female rapper Lizzo is a real phenomenon Apple just couldn't pass by. Her hot album Cuz I Love You, and a crazy single Truth Hurts already helped her seize eight nominations for 2020 Grammy. The way the singer redefined what pop music should be about (and what it should look like) really deserved the Breakthrough of the Year honor at Apple Music Awards. Apple mentioned that her "bawdy message of self-love" was a true soundtrack to 2019. 

Lil Nas X - Song of the Year

The single Old Town Road by Lil Nas X claimed Song of the Year honor. The epic song featuring Billy Ray Cyrus has been topping billboard charts during 2019, becoming wildly popular worldwide. In their statement, Apple mentioned that Old Town Road was the most-streamed single on Apple Music in 2019, but they didn't share the exact number of streams. The song is a true phenomenon in itself as it blurred genres and mixed cultures, drawing a catchy portrait of today's meme culture. 

Apple style

So, what does the Apple Music Award look like? Apple approached designing creatively by hiding a symbolic detail that's core to Apple devices. Inside a glass and anodized aluminum body, there is a stunning 12-inch tailor-made silicon wafer. The point is that it contains hundreds of chips which are actually responsible for creating music in all Apple devices. The award sports recognizable and signature Apple design one can't ever confuse with anything else. A truly stylish doodad, we must say. We only wish it could play music.