2016 Year-End Review

By Sterling Alic and Katerina Barkhausen, Seniors

2016 was a year to remember. We protested together. We stood up for our rights and took our issues to the streets, yelling anything from “Stop Shooting Us” to “Make America Great Again.” We voted together, the American election sparking fervor across the United States and Brexit electrifying the British public. We remembered together--paying our respects to legends like David Bowie and Muhammad Ali that shaped entire generations of people.
 
But even in our most divisive moments, there was an important common thread throughout—we were together. Our music and movies served as art that transcended language barriers, and the Olympic games crossed cultures around the world. So here is a look back at the moments that defined this tumultuous year.
 
Billboard Magazine Top Music of the Year
This year’s charts were dominated by dancehall influenced tracks like Drake’s “One Dance” and Rihanna’s “Work”. From certified pop hits like the aforementioned tracks to an indie up-and-coming record, Billboard is the premiere place for finding out what’s popular in the music stratosphere, incorporating sales, streaming, and radio airplay, into their weekly-updated Hot 100 list. So here is what they calculated to be the most popular artists, albums, and songs for 2016.
 
Top Artists:

1. Adele
2. Justin Bieber
3. Drake
4. Beyoncé
5. Twenty One Pilots

 
Top Albums:

1. 25 // Adele
2. Views // Drake
3. Purpose // Justin Bieber
4. Lemonade // Beyoncé
5. ANTI // Rihanna

 
Top Songs:

1. Love Yourself // Justin Bieber
2. Sorry // Justin Bieber
3. One Dance // Drake
4. Work // Rihanna
5. Stressed Out // Twenty One Pilots

 
Memes That Should Be Left in 2016
We’ve all been there before. We have seen them online, on t-shirts, and even on Ellen. The memes come from all over the world and die as quickly as they were born. 2016 has been one of the biggest years for memes yet. From the Arthur fist meme to the “tea frog” fiasco, here are some memes that we can all agree need to be left in 2016.

• Damn Daniel
  • One of the most popular memes of the year was started by two high school boys, one with a particular affection for the other one, especially his shoes. Daniel Lara had no idea that he and his white Vans would be such a big hit, but his fame has quickly subsided as the meme became overused. Now, the meme has been dead for so long that if you utter the phrase “Damn Daniel”, people will wonder what rock you have been living under.
• Running man challenge
  • The running man challenge has left many with a hatred of the song in which the meme originated. This meme has been done by celebrities, sports stars, and even schools. (You know a meme is dead when a school makes you do it to gain publicity.) Therefore, this meme needs to be ended in 2016 to make sure that at night, I don’t think of it anymore.
• Harambe
  • The one and only gorilla whose life came to a swift end this year. You wouldn’t think that people would make a huge deal about a gorilla dying when animals in captivity die every year, but you’d be dead wrong. This gorilla took the world by storm with people mourning his death. This meme is as dead as Harambe and needs to stay in 2016 with him.
• The mannequin challenge
  • The way this challenge works is by people standing still in a position and having someone film them staying perfectly still to Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd. We have enough people in our generation standing around doing nothing, so a meme like this needs to stop. Hopefully, if we stand around and do nothing for long enough, the meme can stop being a crowd pleaser.
• Dabbing/Whipping
  • Ahh, the dab. Dabbing has become a plague during 2016. No matter how small the accomplishment, people are dabbing and whipping as a sign of success. This meme, if you can even call it that, has become a sickness that so many are taking a part of nowadays and it needs to be ended.

                        Me: when you successfully end a meme *dabs*
 
Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year
Oxford Dictionary choice for word of the year in 2015 was a daring challenge to the establishment, as it wasn’t even technically a word--the “Face with Tears of Joy” emoji. Now, in 2016, the popular dictionary has taken a poignant turn, choosing a word that showed the controversial political and journalistic landscape that dominated this year.
 

 
The word has existed since the 2000s, but its frequency has largely spiked in 2016, following the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s presidential nomination. Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Dictionaries, explains the choice: “Fuelled by the rise of social media as a news source and a growing distrust of facts offered up by the establishment, post-truth as a concept has been finding its linguistic footing for some time.” Grathwohl continues that “Given that usage of the term hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, I wouldn’t be surprised if post-truth becomes one of the defining words of our time.”
 
Here are some of the words that made the short-list:

Top 5 Movies of the Year
   Animated family films and grandiose superhero epics killed at the box office, Pixar topping the list following Finding Nemo with its new and similarly named sequel Finding Dory and Marvel once again dominating with Captain America: Civil War.

1. Finding Dory - $486,295,561
   1. The famed forgetful fish Dory now has a movie of her own, in which she, along with Nemo and Marlin, swim across the world once more to figure out exactly who she is and where her parents are. This film is able to bring children and adults (or children at heart) out to the theater to watch the long awaited sequel to Finding Nemo.
2. Captain America: Civil War - $408,084,349
   1. Captain America: Civil War was able to bring Marvel fans together to watch their favorite heroes go head to head. Although there was much debate over #TeamCap or #TeamStark, all fans can agree that the Spider-Man cameo was beyond great and most certainly overdue. Through the addition of many other characters, such as Black Panther and Ant-Man, and the return of Vision and Scarlet Witch, this film brought in millions and left fans stunned, unlike its competing movie from the other famed comic company.
3. The Secret Life of Pets - $368,160,875
   1. Max, a simple terrier, has his life completely turned around when his owner takes in a stray dog, who he instantly hates. When walking outside, they get captured and are being taken to the pound, until they are saved by a bunny with an ulterior motive.
4. The Jungle Book - $364,001,123
   1. This live-action rendition of a famed children’s movie brings the story of Mowgli to life as he is guided by his guardians, who happen to be animals, on his journey of self-discovery. While this movie was a hit with fans of the 1967 animate film, it was filled with more action and adventure than the original film itself.
5. Deadpool - $363,070,709
   1. The story of Deadpool begins with Wade Wilson, the sarcastic anti-hero of the Marvel Universe. He attains his powers from a series of tests from a “government agency” that tries to save him from his life-threatening diagnosis of cancer all over the body. Deadpool is born from these tests, and becomes the inappropriate character we have all come to love. This movie is 100% unsuitable for children, which makes the fans go even crazier for him.

 
TIME Magazine Choose President Elect Donald Trump As Person of the Year
   Each year, Time Magazine chooses a person, group, idea, or object that “for better or for worse...has done the most to influence the events of the year.” Their pick for 2016 was President-elect Donald Trump, who has dominated the news cycle from the first time he announced his candidacy back in July of 2015 to his shocking upset victory a couple of months ago in the 2016 American presidential election.

Here is Time’s shortlist:

1. Hillary Clinton -- The Aspirant
2. The Hackers -- The Disrupters
3. Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- The Autocrat
4. The CRISPR Pioneers -- The Trailblazers
5. Beyoncé -- The Messenger