12 Best Music Videos Of 2015

By Brian Wilson / December 31, 2015

At present, we're in something of a Golden Age of music videos. There are all kinds of different shorts being made, from aesthetically striking minimalist videos to high-concept, narrative driven short films €“ the variety is absolutely endless. Yet artists are still coming up with ways to surprise fans each year. Of course, with the rise in popularity of the internet, many people thought that music videos would lose their relevancy. Sure, music video channels on television are a lot less popular (there's no need to stick one on at a party when you can literally stream whatever you want from Spotify) but what this prediction didn't account for was the phenomenal popularity of video streaming and video sharing on platforms like YouTube. Music videos are now seen by more people than ever, with videos by music mega-stars like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber having reached over one billion views (think about that for a second €“ that's one seventh of the world's population). For this reason even more time and money is invested in making them unique, memorable and shareable, which ultimately benefits us, the casual viewer. Over the course of 2015, a ton of amazing music videos were released into the world, from the simple to the vastly complex. Here are the twelve greatest.

12. Drake €“ Hotline Bling

Even if you haven't seen this music video in its entirety, you've almost certainly seen clips of Drake's sweet dance moves. You know a music video is good when it spawns innumerable gifs, memes and mash-ups, and Hotline Bling did exactly that. It's probably the most prominent example since Taylor Swift became the subject of substantial goat-based editing.The song dropped in July of 2015 and doesn't come from a particular album, but was released as a digital single. The video itself is endearingly awkward, featuring what appears to be Drake's totally improvised dancing, a stark contrast to the music industry's usually heavily choreographed routines. On top of that, it's filled with soft, muted colours and striking lines, as well as a bunch of female dancers. All in all it's a fairly minimalist affair, but it's easily one of 2015's most memorable videos.